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Future of St. Pete Beach fuels talks

Residents worry that proposed changes to land regulations may not achieve a goal of promoting tourism.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published May 22, 2005

"I'm a developer," Annie Fleeting said Wednesday to a room full of people suspicious of them, "and I don't want to build condos."

Fleeting was one of dozens who spoke before St. Pete Beach city commissioners at the city's recreation center in a meeting designed to get community feedback on proposed changes for the city's future development. The commissioners, who will hold a June 1 workshop on the proposals, have come under attack as of late because some residents think the new development regulations, geared toward promoting tourism, are insufficient, ill-conceived or worse.

"I love St. Pete Beach," said Fleeting, noting she'd grown up in the area. "I'd love to build a property that's for tourism. But I can't do that without a height variance, without an increase in density."

The city's proposed land development regulations would grant Fleeting her wish in the interest of fending off condominiums under the premise that tourists in hotels will support city businesses while condo residents will be part-timers who stay indoors rather than visit restaurants and shops. Most at the meeting agreed with the premise and the support for tourism, but they at times deviated wildly on methodology.

"Families do not want to stay on the 18th floor," said Stephanie Lampe, referring to proposals that would grant developers the ability to build 20-story hotels in order to make it more attractive an investment than the presently allowed five stories. The fear of big hotels and their increased density is why some residents have formed a political action committee, St. Pete Beach Citizens for Responsible Growth, which is seeking to force a referendum on the new regulations. "We don't want huge convention resorts. We don't want to be Las Vegas."

Speakers at the meeting ran about 2-1 in favor of the city's proposals. That may have been the result of a mailing sent by another political action committee, Support Your City's Future, that favors the new regulations.

"I would much rather see tall, slender hotels than short, fat condos," Roger Adams said.

Others said that the city's plan to encourage hotels is also aimed at keeping public access to the beach.

Some of the supporters recalled that the process to create the proposals has been ongoing for three years and has been public and open. Opponents, however, say they now have enough signatures to require a referendum.

The city's existing hotels need updating, their operators say, but, under present regulations, there is much more money to be made converting them to condos.

"We have 40-, 50-year-old buildings," said Gary Renfrow with the Alden Beach Resort. "We'd like to replace them but there's no possibility. We want to keep the hotel in the family for years to come, but (without new regulations) we'll have no choice as a family business but to sell out to a large corporation."

The operators of the Dolphin Village shopping center made a similar argument concerning their property. The city's plan would allow them to add residential space to create a mixed-use development, a potential revenue source the owners say they need to justify improvements.

"Our existing facilities are functionally obsolete," said Henry Horowitz, Dolphin Village's managing partner. He said the prime tenant, Publix, wants bigger and better facilities, and residents seem very interested in keeping Publix in the community. "Redeveloping Dolphin Village will be extremely costly. We need to have some residential component."

Opponents of the regulations fear the push toward big buildings will obscure their way of life, blocking out the sun and perching balconies over their back yards. They also say the city hasn't thought through all the ramifications.

"What about fire? Do we have trucks to handle fire in a 20-story building?" Bill Horne said. "I think not."

Others worried that what are purported to be new hotels might end up being condos in disguise. Continuing a discussion from an earlier City Commission meeting, William Pyle, representing residents of the Silver Sands condos, told commissioners how a prospective hotel developer at one of the information meetings the city organized said the 500 rooms in a proposed hotel would all be condos. Pyle said he was shocked when Mayor Ward Friszolowski said he agreed that could be the case.

In response, Friszolowski said hotel rooms could be condos in the legal sense because the city cannot regulate a form of ownership, but he said the city would require hotels to act like hotels with all the economic benefits of tourism.

In addition, opponents were worried more about the city's ability to provide water and sewer to new, higher-density developments and were not persuaded by the city's reassurances that increased population in new hotels is offset by decreased allowable development elsewhere in the city. City officials say the city has water and sewer capacity for expected developments, but will have to tightly enforce regulations as each new development proposal comes before them for specific approval. Traffic is a stickier issue, they say, but developments can be arranged to mitigate the effects of more tourists.

Development opponents were focused on supporting a referendum in the interest of creating consensus. The controversies that have spawned competing political action committees are threatening to tear the social fabric of the seaside community.

"Something about this process has eroded trust," said Donna Oglesby, a St. Pete Beach resident, political science teacher and diplomat in residence at Eckerd College. She said there are issues at play here that could be affected by a U.S. Supreme Court case concerning eminent domain and governments' abilities to condemn property on behalf of developers. "I hope, through the process of a referendum, we can learn to work together again."

Commissioners say they feel a sense of urgency because nothing prevents developers from building condos now and that any delay, perhaps because of a referendum, will only allow more condos. Opponents offered a new solution to that problem: a moratorium.

"We've got a city divided," said Terry Gannon, the chairman of the political action committee opposing the regulations. "You want to run this thing through because you're afraid we're going to have condos where the hotels are. Let's have a moratorium, take our time, work everything out as a family. If we go fast, we'll end up with something none of us is going to like."

People like Annie Fleeting understand the urgency. She and her husband, Robert, who are building a St. Pete Beach condo for themselves and their family, say the money they can get to sell condos has increased 30 percent in just a few months, making it ever more irresistible.

"You'll be stunned at how fast you're going to lose your hotels," Robert said, pressing for speed and praising the proactive new regulations. "I've seen it everywhere. I'm working on developments now with six different cities, and they're all way behind St. Pete Beach. You are the envy of these other communities.

"This is the most remarkable city I've ever been in. That's why I'm going to be living here."

[Last modified May 22, 2005, 01:07:21]