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Midtown gets voice in city planning rulesBy JON WILSON, Times Staff Writer© St. Petersburg Times published February 12, 2003 ST. PETERSBURG -- People pored over maps, thumbing in stick-pins to represent shopping centers, apartments and houses. They looked at pictures of homes and tried to figure out what styles would work in their neighborhoods. And they asked a ton of questions. About 175 Midtown residents and entrepreneurs -- many of whom qualify as both -- crowded the John Hopkins Middle School lunchroom Monday evening. It was the largest crowd to attend one of the city's series of meetings about new land development rules. City planners are collecting information from residents. When they finish, they'll recommend to the City Council how land development regulations should be overhauled, something that hasn't happened in a big way since the 1970s. The process, which will affect the entire city, will continue for more than a year. Previous meetings have discussed city traffic corridors, suburban neighborhoods and the older neighborhoods closer to downtown. On March 10 at the Bayfront Center, the city center -- or downtown -- is on the agenda. But Monday the spotlight focused on Midtown, the older neighborhoods between Second Avenue N and 30th Avenue S, between Fourth and 34th streets. People who live, work and play there had a chance to talk about how they want their business and residential areas to look in the future. They absorbed plenty of information, much of it new and, as Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis put it, "esoteric." Residents asked whether new zoning would allow new designs in neighborhoods. They raised questions about population density, mass transportation and "mixed-use" development to accommodate both homes and residences. They wondered how to better define their neighborhoods. They weren't always sure they were getting enough answers. "It's all too vague right now. I want something concrete," said Carl "Red" Ferguson, who owns Red's Snak Shak on 16th Street S. But there will be more chances to discuss, learn and contribute ideas, city officials say. "Several times over," said Bob Jeffrey, the planner who is guiding the land use meetings. In Midtown, land development -- and what is allowed to be built where and how -- is closely tied to economic health, perhaps more than in other parts of the city. Many business people run enterprises out of their houses, so rules have to be friendly to such situations, residents say. There also is the matter of reviving a community, which in recent years has lost 16 percent of its population. It also has the highest percentage of vacant land in the city. "You can't have a viable business without people to buy the product," said Davis, the deputy mayor. "You can't have a community without those (business) sources."
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