Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

It's official: Snack Shack petition signatures certified

The commission has about 60 days to consider the proposed ordinance.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA, Times Staff Writer
Published August 10, 2007

MADEIRA BEACH - "Save Our Snack Shack," a citizen battle cry that turned into a successful, certified voter petition, will soon face its next test as a proposed city ordinance, to be decided by a body that earlier this year voted to tear down the beachfront log cabin.

The petition, signed by more than 25 percent of city voters, requires the commission to vote on an ordinance that, if approved, would require the city to preserve the historic 1930-era building at Archibald Park.

If the commission rejects the ordinance, the petition requires voters to decide the Snack Shack's future in a referendum in March.

- - -

The fight to save the Snack Shack began last spring when a group of citizens, angry that the building faced demolition, organized a petition drive to save the deteriorating structure.

Over the next four months, the group held formal rallies, stood in front of the city post office and library and walked neighborhoods to collect enough signatures to force the commission to reconsider its decision.

Just days before the Snack Shack was scheduled for demolition - and after it became clear saving the building was drawing substantial resident support - the commission postponed the demolition.

The group's first two petitions fell short of the 833 signatures the city charter requires to trigger a commission vote. The group succeeded on its third try last week.

- - -

The Pinellas County supervisor of elections certified the petition Tuesday, declaring it contained 846 valid city voter signatures.

"You now have up to 60 days to consider the ordinance," City Attorney Michael Connolly told the commission later that night.

The ordinance would bar the city from demolishing the building, as well as require it to repair the shack to meet building code requirements so it could be reopened. The city could do the work itself or partner with outside groups.

Connolly also suggested the commission simultaneously discuss legal issues raised by an attorney for Alex Archibald, grandson of one of the original donors of the beach park.

The attorneys met several weeks ago to talk about Archibald's threatened lawsuit against the city over any kind of commercial use of the park or the Snack Shack.

Archibald claims that use of property and any buildings on it were restricted in the original deed given to the federal government in 1931.

The Department of the Interior later deeded the park and the log cabin to the city in 1972 with the provision that it be used for public recreation, including recreation-related concessions.

The log cabin was converted to a beach-related snack shack for beachgoers, operated for years by the Disabled American Veterans.

Most recently, a plan to renovate the Snack Shack as a "destination restaurant" collapsed when the Interior Department ruled the building could only be used to support recreational uses of the beach park.

As a result, the city paid $500,000 to settle a lawsuit with the concessionaire, who had already spent money to begin renovations.

Now, Archibald wants the city to amend its 1972 quit claim deed to conform to the original 1931 deed. If the city were to do so, it could prohibit any type of concessions on the beach, including the sale of food or beach umbrellas.

Fast Facts:

What's next

-The City Commission will discuss the proposed ordinance and the legal issues raised by Alex Archibald at a workshop session Tuesday.

-The first of two votes on the petition-sponsored ordinance is scheduled for the commission's regular meeting Aug. 17. The second and final vote is expected to occur at the commission meeting on Aug. 28.

[Last modified August 9, 2007, 22:30:53]