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Will a high-rise help or harm the Sponge Docks?

A struggle that already has wearied officials in other Pinellas cities is now afflicting Tarpon Springs leaders. They are trying to figure out how much development is too much, and how tall is too tall.

City commissioners, who ultimately must decide, still don't have the answers, but they recently reached consensus on one point, at least: Four of the five members of the City Commission voted against a moratorium that potentially would have stopped the flow of development proposals for the historic Sponge Docks so the city could figure out what rules to place on developers.

In 2001, the City Commission passed an ordinance that discarded the existing 35-foot height restriction along the Sponge Docks and replaced it with a 75-foot cap. At the time, a Clearwater Beach hotelier was talking about building a hotel on the site of the Pappas Restaurant and a conference center and parking garage across Dodecanese Boulevard. City commissioners were eager to get a hotel in the Sponge Docks area, so they busied themselves removing the hurdles that stood in the developer's path.

That developer's proposal dissolved, but in September of this year the owners of Pappas said they wanted to build a 75-foot-tall mixed-use project on their property. This time, commissioners weren't sure they liked the idea, so they put a 90-day moratorium on 75-foot-tall buildings. They said they needed the time to decide whether 75 feet was too tall for buildings in the quaint Sponge Docks area.

Mayor Beverley Billiris was particularly opposed to 75-foot-tall buildings. Repealing the ordinance that allowed buildings that tall would essentially return the area to the same 35-foot cap that exists elsewhere in the city.

Again, there is a development deal in the offing. Successful St. Petersburg developer Grady Pridgen wants to build 75-foot-tall condominiums and a hotel on the site of the now-closed Pappas restaurant. He will not buy the property or develop it, he says, unless the 75-foot height allowance stays in place.

On Nov. 1, commissioners voted not to repeal the 75-foot allowance. Billiris supported a temporary moratorium so the city could figure out exactly what it wants along the Sponge Docks, which is the heart of the city's tourism industry. But in a meeting Nov. 15, four of her colleagues refused to go along with a moratorium. Their vote keeps the 75 feet in place, and theoretically invites developers to submit proposals for projects up to that height.

But would the unique flavor of the Sponge Docks be lost if 75-foot-tall buildings went up there? Or would the commercial strip there, which is showing its age, be improved by new development? And ultimately, will Tarpon Springs invite the high-rise, multiuse development occurring in other Pinellas jurisdictions, or bow out of that trend?

Tarpon Springs officials are caught in a bind familiar to leaders in other cities and the county. People are continuing to move to Pinellas County and are looking for places to live and to open their businesses. There is very little undeveloped land left in Pinellas, and the value of the land under existing buildings is escalating, causing the costs of development to rise. Developers say they need more height - which translates into more density - to finance their land costs. If Tarpon Springs closes the door to that kind of development, the growth, and the dollars that help finance public services and infrastructure, may go elsewhere. What would happen to the city's roads, water system, sewer system, etc., if the flow of revenue began to decline?

Tarpon Springs commissioners are right in two ways: right to be worried about declining city revenues, and right to be interested in maintaining something special at the Sponge Docks to attract tourists. They seem ready to at least consider new development, even if it is tall, along the Sponge Docks. At least until they change their minds.

[Last modified November 29, 2005, 02:15:28]