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Letter to the editor

Al Lang backers: City duped us

Park proponents say the city reneged on a promise.

By Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer
Published February 10, 2008

Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg, which was leased to the Rays until 2009 for spring training, is zoned as a multiuse commercial site.
	[Times (2006)]

ST. PETERSBURG - A peace offering attempt by the City Council backfired Thursday when a measure calling for more public discussion on the future of Al Lang Field drew criticism from community leaders eager to see the site preserved as parkland.

Neighborhood activists were told in August that the land would be rezoned as part of the city's downtown waterfront parks, but the council declined to do just that when it left out any mention of Al Lang in a "glitch" ordinance aimed at revising the city's land-use code during Thursday's council meeting.

Instead, the council passed a resolution directing the staff to seek ideas on potential uses for Al Lang, which is also being considered as the future home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Council members later denied accusations that they were going back on their word.

"This is what we would do, I believe, if there was not a stadium proposal for downtown," said council member Jeff Danner, who proposed the resolution calling for the so-called visioning process.

"It appears there were folks that believed when the ordinance came up that there would not be a discussion, that it would be automatically added to the ordinance," said council member Herb Polson. "That was not the intent. The intent was to have a dialogue with the public to find out what they want to do. ... You have to have some input before you can fix it."

But former council member Bill Foster, who stepped down in January because of term limits, said any statements alluding that the council had always intended to hold more public hearings are "misleading."

"Some of them have a problem with recollection," he said. "I was always told we would bring Al Lang back in a subsequent ordinance. To have more public hearings, my point has always been what have we been doing for five years? We built consensus. We had dialogue. Now, give the people what they want."

Opponents of the Rays' proposal were equally skeptical.

"As a voter, I feel betrayed," said Faith Andrews Bedford. "I am very disappointed."

The visioning process could take three to six months, just about enough time for the city to know whether the Rays proposal is economically feasible.

Al Lang, leased to the Rays until 2009 for spring training, is zoned as a multiuse commercial site. Nearly anything from a bank to a hotel can be constructed there.

Community leaders say they want the area to be designated as parkland so that it will be preserved for future generations.

"If we are not going to get spring training back it seems to me that we should use the property, rather than just have it sitting there," said Peter Belmont, a member of the Downtown Neighborhood Association. "The public has said it should be a park."

The visioning process is a "compromise," said Will Michaels, vice president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations.

"It is a big step in the right direction," he said.

Al Lang is already protected as a park under the city charter, which states any substantial private development of a city-owned park must go before voter referendum.

Rezoning Al Lang as a park would further protect it by prohibiting the city from building on the land without voter approval.

But even then Al Lang would still be vulnerable to future development because the council could rezone Al Lang at any time, said City Attorney John Wolfe.

Neighborhood leaders first asked the council to include Al Lang in the city's collection of waterfront parks in August. At the time, the city was revamping its 30-year-old zoning guidelines.

Public documents later revealed that city administrators and the Rays had been discussing the proposed stadium at Al Lang as early as March 2007.

But in a Dec. 20 council meeting, the council seemed set on fulfilling its original promise.

During the meeting, Foster asked the council whether Al Lang would be included in a glitch ordinance.

Bennett said yes.

Polson added that delaying action would be "contrary to what I recall was said to us."

This week, Bennett said the council has not had time to address Al Lang, but he promised he would encourage city staff to speed up the visioning process and set a public hearing date soon.

"We have had a lot of things on our plate," he said. "It's time we address this."

Accusations that the council is working in consort with the Rays are simply false, he said.

"I learned about the Rays proposal when you learned about it," he said to the audience during the council meeting. "Council is doing its job."

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 9, 2008, 23:03:16]