Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Land drama rises in St. Pete Beach

Residents press for restraint; some shout for a referendum. City leaders express exasperation and even anger.

By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published March 23, 2005

ST. PETE BEACH - At a Monday night workshop on new land development regulations, city commissioners reviewed general design, architectural and streetscaping standards for the Gulf Boulevard redevelopment area. They discussed transportation issues and buffering between commercial and residential zones.

But the residents came to discuss one thing: taller, denser buildings.

Those who contend that city officials have left them out of the discussion on new LDRs - which could allow 20-story buildings, with higher densities in the city - showed up in force Monday to let city commissioners know their side of things.

Half of the roughly three-hour workshop proved more of an outlet for political theater than exchanging information.

At 6 p.m, nearly 85 people filled commission chambers to standing room only, some toting signs with messages like "No condos in St. Pete Beach."

After a brief overview by the city's planning director, Vice Mayor Deborah Nicklaus responded to allegations that her participation in the LDR discussions constituted a conflict of interest because of her family's ownership of the Sirata Beach Resort.

The city attorney said he doesn't think it does but said he would research it.

Each of the nearly 20 speakers touched on issues that have been circulating in the city for weeks, from the plan's impact on infrastructure to how much influence developers had on the process. Some from the audience shouted their wishes for a referendum on the changes.

City commissioners and the city manager argued that the information has been discussed since 2002 and referenced the many public meetings since then.

Mayor Ward Friszolowski said the city intended to find a way to keep tourism viable in the city "for all the reasons we've discussed at the last meeting and the one before that and the one before that." He said the city got the message out via newspaper stories and meetings with homeowners associations.

"It's easy to be a critic," he said. "All of us put a lot of time in this. ... We're just looking for solutions."

In 2002, the city hired a consulting firm to lead a community visioning process to study development priorities. Residents said they wanted to improve the resort and commercial districts.

In response, the Master Plan for the Resort/Commercial District was crafted with a focus on downtown and the beachfront and adopted in August 2003. That served as the foundation for the Comprehensive Redevelopment Plan, which sets the vision for the next 20 years of development.

The proposed LDRs were created to implement the master plan.

Janet Paarlberg said that although residents haven't spoken up in high numbers before, they're ready to now. She said she wants to keep building heights at "a decent level" and resents hearing high density numbers.

"They have been created by people outside our town that are looking for the money," she said. "Numbers are meaningless if they don't meet the townspeople's vision of the end product."

After speaker after speaker talked of the need for restraint and not building more condos, City Manager Mike Bonfield said the city is simply moving to prevent the inevitable.

"The question here is really not, do we want to have five-story hotels, but do we want to have hotels?" he said. "It's going to take larger buildings to create value to offset" the value of condos, which are worth five to six times as much as hotel rooms, he said.

"Clearly, this is a preventative measure," he added. "We are trying to prevent something we know is coming our way."

By 7:25 p.m., the commission had heard from nearly 20 residents. As they moved on to discuss other portions of the LDRs, the crowd thinned out to 19.

Commissioner Deborah Martohue responded angrily, railing against those who say the city never reached out to inform them and who then walked out on the information.

"I'm so offended right now," she said as residents walked out of the workshop. "For all the people who cried for referendum in the last two weeks, the comprehensive plan is not about one issue. It's about 200 issues that are interrelated. ... It's not just about height."

The next LDR workshop is April 18 at St. Pete Beach City Hall, 155 Corey Ave.

[Last modified March 23, 2005, 00:55:18]