LEALMAN - County officials canceled a public forum after discovering they had not invited enough people.
The meeting, which had been scheduled for Thursday at the Lealman Methodist Church, was to allow residents of unincorporated Lealman to discuss how best to spend about $1.6-million in county money. A new date has not been set.
Assistant county administrator Gay Lancaster said she decided Monday to postpone the meeting after she discovered notices had been sent only to one section of east Lealman rather than to everyone in the Lealman Fire District.
Because some of that financing comes from redevelopment money and must be spent in the Lealman revitalization area, county staff members invited only the folks who live in the revitalization area.
Only a small group would have been consulted about amenities that many people outside the revitalization area would use, such as parks, a fire station and a family or community center.
Pinellas County officials originally decided to hold the meeting after the Lealman community apparently splintered over plans for the area.
Fire commissioners wanted to build a fire station in Lealman Park, the area's only green space. The Lealman Community Association suggested that a community/family center would be a better fit for the park. Lealman Family Center officials doubted an entire community center could fit in the park and said it should be only a family center.
The Community Association also wanted the county to buy and develop some property along Joe's Creek to develop as a park and recreation area.
With the competing demands, county officials became unsure what the wants of the larger Lealman community really are. That's something they still want to know, Lancaster said.
