Northpinellas: Business interests dominate summit

Business interests dominate summit

Real estate representatives and developers at the county's two-day redevelopment summit call for faster permitting and government incentives.

By MICHAEL SANDLER, Times Staff Writer

CLEARWATER -- It was advertised as the Redevelopment Opportunities Summit for the Pinellas Community. But this week's two-day conference at the Harborview Center offered a platform for developers to rally for less government and more public assistance.

To an audience packed with government planners and elected officials, prominent members of the development and real estate community delivered sales pitch after sales pitch on how best to save a thriving Pinellas economy from what they foresee as impending doom.

Look around, the speakers warned. The area is facing imminent build out by 2006. Government needs to offer more incentives to attract big companies. They need a speedy, streamlined permitting process to keep building costs down.

In return, Pinellas could expect a plethora of manufacturing and high-tech jobs from companies that travel the country in search of the most cost-effective location.

They were invited to speak before a crowd that peaked at nearly 300 people by the Pinellas Planning Council and the Board of County Commissioners as part of an effort to come up with a broad strategy for countywide redevelopment codes that will help shape Pinellas in years to come.

Leading the charge was consultant Bill Fruth, who was hired to analyze the county's workforce. He headlined a first day marked by speeches from local real estate agents to the president of the Sembler Co., the developer of BayWalk in St. Petersburg.

"Economic development is ultimately a real estate transaction," said Fruth, a former Midwestern politician with plain-spoken charm who uses baseball metaphors. Planners and administrators, awestruck by his simple ways of explaining complex theories, spoke about him as though he were a rock star.

Fruth's gospel came down to one rule: Increase the amount of money in the economy, and quality of life issues will follow.

Companies look at the bottom-line cost, and they know that every government action effects the economy, he said.

"Counties that are able to respond the fastest to the needs of these companies are the most competitive," he said. "The days of requiring 15 months to get a site plan approved are over."

While many were impressed with Fruth's grasp of supply-side economics, some in attendance thought he and the other speakers ignored vital issues such as the environment, transportation and quality of life.

"It was very prodevelopment and progrowth," said Fran Harkins, a resident of Clearwater Beach. "So many of the voices here are saying to speed up the permitting process. It takes time for information to filter down. What they want doesn't give citizens in the area time to learn about it, let alone respond."

Even the afternoon panel discussion ended up being a staging area for more speeches, as panel members strode to a podium for more uninterrupted monologues.

Little time was left for questions from the audience.

Fruth had just finished a second speech that discussed economies that performed well in recent years. He cited Texas, which had eight cities near the top in the nation.

At one point, someone in the audience asked Fruth why he downplayed quality of life issues. "Texas is a great place to do business, but I would not want to breath the air there," the gentleman remarked.

City administrators and planners, who perhaps were better equipped to address quality of life issues, were not asked to participate on the panels.

Largo City Manager Steven Stanton said he appreciated hearing the developers' perspective. He said he and other government officials would have plenty of time to discuss a countywide redevelopment strategy before making any changes.

"You have to set the stage to begin the dialogue," he said. "The thing that came out loud was the county's role in coordinating a lot of independent redevelopment efforts."

The second day of the conference drew 158 people and was devoted to surveys and an interactive mapping workshop, which called for groups of 10 people to figure out locations in Pinellas County for 10 hypothetical companies, apartments, single-family homes and a shopping mall.

They companies ranged from a cigar-rolling company needing two acres to an industrial manufacturer requiring 50 acres.

"I'm glad to see this kind of interaction," said Alden Matthews, secretary for the Old Palm Harbor Main Street Association. "Listening to speeches is helpful. But we need to be moving toward implementation."

-- Michael Sandler can be reached at (727) 445-4174 or sandler@sptimes.com .