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Rule change aims to help hotels

The proposed boost to room density is designed to create a level playing field with condos.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published February 9, 2007

An overhaul of Pinellas County land use rules aimed at shielding hotels and motels from the coastal condominium blitz is in the works.

The rule change would increase the number of rooms a hotelier can operate on a piece of land. County leaders will discuss the move at a March 22 workshop.

Depending on the location, developers would be allowed to build 1.5 to 2.5 as many hotel rooms per acre as they can now.

"I'm already getting the phone calls," said Clearwater land use lawyer Ed Armstrong. "I have had a number of developers who are reconsidering their options based on this pending change."

The proposed density boost comes in response to the wave of hotel-to-condo conversions that has washed over Pinellas beach towns in recent years, driving up property values and tax bills.

Since 2001, roughly 5,000 of the county's 40,000 rental rooms have been lost to market conditions that have made residential development more lucrative than lodging.

It's not that visitors to Pinellas can't find a bed for the night - at least not yet.

Rather, tourism advocates say the rule change is needed to nurture the county's No. 1 industry as it confronts the loss of hotel stock.

"We do have healthy occupancy," said Carole Ketterhagen, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. "But, as we increase the number of visitors coming in, there still has to be new product and new choices."

The director of the Pinellas Planning Council, David Healey, said rules now in place grossly favor residential over hotel construction.

For example, in areas zoned for hotels, current rules call for a maximum of 1.67 short-term rental rooms for every residential unit in the area. But from an investor's perspective, Healey said, six rental rooms would be needed to match the return on a single residential unit.

"Our rules impinge on the free market," he said. "We want our regulations to at least create a level playing field."

There are a half-dozen land use categories in Pinellas that permit hotel construction and operation. Depending on the category, the rule change would increase allowable densities between 1.5 and 2.5 times.

The land use category set aside for major beach hotels now permits up to 50 units an acre, for instance. Under the new rules the cap would be 100 units an acre. The maximum would rise to 125 units if the parcel being built on was larger than 3 acres.

To allow for the increased density, Healey said, hotels would have to build upward.

County planning director Brian Smith is concerned that the change could further inflate property values, thus putting even greater pressure on small hoteliers who are already struggling to stay in business.

That issue will be raised at the workshop, Smith said, along with the possibility of reducing the maximum allowed number of residential units in areas where hotel density is increased.

But Healey said trimming allowed residential densities would be counterproductive. Also, he doubts whether the rule change would harm mom-and-pop hotel operators, who are already being taxed on what their land would be worth if a condominium were built there.

"That's a bogus issue," Healey said.

To take advantage of the new density maximums, local governments in Pinellas would have to incorporate them into their own zoning regulations and comprehensive plans.

At that time, communities would have to establish design guidelines to accommodate the new densities, Healey said, and meet the most recent and stringent countywide standards to address traffic impacts.

"We don't want to simply add a bonus for one sector of the economy at the expense of the broader public interest," Healey said.

After the workshop, two public hearings would have to be held before the County Commission could vote on the rule change.

[Last modified February 8, 2007, 22:41:53]