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What's Brewing

Another Bayshore bummer

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published April 21, 2006

Some of my favorite Saturdays start with a run along Bayshore Boulevard, followed by a tall reward from Starbucks. I always park in the dirt lot at Bayshore and Bay to Bay Boulevard. It's easy and convenient. I always get a spot.

So the prospect of losing the lot to yet another condo project puts a damper on my Bayshore activities. Where am I going to park?

The developer says not to worry. I can keep my parking spot and he can build his tower. The city just needs to relax an itty-bitty rule called height restrictions.

What a lousy deal, for everyone involved.

Here's what's happening.

Citivest Construction Corp. bought the corner lot last year with the intent of building a condo tower. The zoning allows for a 120-foot building, plus some rooftop mechanical elements like elevator shafts.

Rather than stick with the height limit, the developer wants to go 195 feet, plus the extra, and add a public park.

The park would have restrooms, public art, landscaping and, most important, 35 public parking spaces. It would recognize and enhance Patriots Corner, the name given to the site where locals wave flags every Friday in support of troops.

The city certainly likes the park idea. For years, it leased the site and made it into parking for Bayshore users. It has a water fountain, picnic tables, and a sign and flagpole for Patriots Corner.

The biggest shame is that the city never bought the land. Too pricey for the public sector. Instead, Citivest got it for $3.8-million last year, according to county property records.

Last week, the City Council chose the lesser of two evils. It denied the extra height, thereby killing the park plans. Neighbors fearful that Bayshore will become overrun with high-rises cheered the 5-0 vote. Citivest and many Bayshore users bemoaned it.

As much as I want the park, I more strongly oppose a taller building. An extra 75 feet is a lot to give up for some bushes and even parking.

I applaud the council for sticking to the height limits but with a huge asterisk. Why didn't the city have the foresight to buy the corner years ago when it was cheaper? Why hasn't the city planned for additional parking along Bayshore?

I understand Citivest's position. It doesn't have to include a park. It can build its 120-foot condo tower without any public amenities or special permission.

It's just too bad we can't get both.

John Grandoff, an attorney representing Citivest, said the developer won't build the park and all its goodies without being compensated. A park costs money to build and maintain.

Instead, the area will probably get another monolithic building, Grandoff said, that meets all rules but does little to inspire. People will wish the developer had done something innovative on the corner and Bayshore users will have to park on area side streets, angering neighbors, I'm sure.

City Council member John Dingfelder, whose district includes the site, said Citivest knew the restrictions going into the project and knew that the neighbors would strongly oppose waiving them.

The council called their bluff, he said, and now they will have to redo the plans.

"It's greed,'' Dingfelder said.

To avoid future debates, Dingfelder wants to create an overlay district that would require any new construction along Bayshore to include green space, public parking and greater setbacks from the street.

It's ambitious, he admitted, but long overdue.

The overlay district would come as some consolation to Julie Whitney, one of the Bayshore Patriots founders who circulated a petition supporting the project. While she doesn't want to ruin the look and feel of Bayshore, she also wants the park.

"From a distance, it's not going to look any different,'' she said of the higher building. "It's a hard situation. But if people stop and think and put their anger aside ... I think there's a way around it.''

Grandoff was expected to ask the council on Thursday to reconsider the issue this summer.

In the meantime, I'd better start scoping out a new place to park for jogging on Bayshore.

THE LAST DROP: Saturday is Earth Day. The official party is at the Lowry Park bandshell, but I suspect most of us don't need to wander too far from home to help the environment by picking up trash from along the street.

Susan Thurston can be reached at thurston@sptimes.com or 226-3394.

[Last modified April 20, 2006, 12:10:05]