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Youth sports group pursues chunk of preserve

A second Brooker Creek site is suggested by no less than county czar Steve Spratt.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published April 8, 2007

EAST LAKE - A new option for North Pinellas ballfields has emerged at the behest of the Pinellas County administrator.

The East Lake Youth Sports Association applied last week for a land-use change for 101 acres on Trinity Boulevard in the Brooker Creek Preserve that has been set aside for a proposed water-blending facility that might never be built.

The site could provide up to six to eight ballfields, more than double what the association has proposed for a controversial site on Old Keystone Road that's also part of the preserve. The group has said it needs five to 10 new fields for youth sports.

The association's application is far from a done deal, despite the encouragement of County Administrator Steve Spratt.

Spratt recently e-mailed members of the county's Environmental Science Forum, who voted 11-2 against building fields on 38.5 piney acres on Old Keystone Road. Spratt suggested that at least part of the Trinity Boulevard site could be an option for ballfields.

The county's utilities director, Pick Talley, thinks it's premature to make any new plans for the water-blending site. Environmentalists oppose either site.

"We are already on record as opposing active recreation in Brooker Creek Preserve," said Walt Hoskins, chairman of the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve.

About $12-million has already been spent on design and site work at the Trinity Boulevard site for the blending facility, with 46 acres of the parcel's 101 acres scraped clean. But the price for the project came in much higher than expected, so Pinellas County Utilities is taking another look at the county's options.

The county staff invited the sports association to apply for a land-use change now in case the land becomes available later. John Cueva, the county's zoning manager, said a county lawyer is working with the sports association on an agreement for using the property should its application be approved.

Spratt made clear that the association should only be allowed to build at one site or the other.

Either would require a land use change, as both have a designation of Preservation/Resource Management, which would accommodate the water-blending facility at the Trinity site. For either to be used for ballfields, the designation must be changed to Recreation/Open Space and would require public hearings.

The earliest the sports association might be heard before a zoning examiner is May 10. But that's unlikely because the county's utilities staff isn't expected to finish its recommendations on the water-blending facility until May 19.

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or 445-4170.

[Last modified April 7, 2007, 22:15:29]