 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
City may try to condemn beach property for park
By KATHY SAUNDERS © St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2001 TREASURE ISLAND -- Unable to purchase the final parcel for the Sunset Vista Trailhead Park, the city manager has suggested that commissioners take steps to condemn the property. "We need to move this into another arena. The arena I speak of is the legal arena," Chuck Coward told commissioners on Tuesday. "I think a higher order of activity on this is called for given our non-success for the last 18 months." Coward said Harold Noordhoek, representing the estate of his late son, Gary Noordhoek, has refused to sell the half-acre site where Gulf and W Gulf boulevards meet to the city. Coward said he and his staff spoke to Noordhoek twice after Bob Guido of the Trust for Public Lands, who negotiated the sale of the other parcels for the city, spent a year and a half trying to contact Noordhoek. "He has little to no interest in selling the property," Coward said. Adjacent property owners say the former convenience store, which has been vacant for nine years, is a rat-infested eyesore and an attractive target for vandals. Coward recommended that commissioners consider asking their attorney to begin eminent domain proceedings or a legal taking of the land for the public good. "I can hardly believe that you would want to build a park of any kind next to a dilapidated, rundown building," said Ken Brown, owner of Beach Nutts Bar & Grill next door to the Noordhoek site. Sunset Beach resident Heidi Horak said, "This property has proved to be a problem not only to the neighboring property owners but to every single one of us that has to drive past it every day and look at that eyesore." Coward said he would put the issue on a workshop agenda for commissioners to discuss later this month. In the meantime, Coward said, the city can begin work on the future park without the Noordhoek property in hand. With commission approval, he said the city could begin work to restore the beachfront habitats and remove the non-native plants. Next year, the city plans to begin developing trails and other aspects of the passive park. Residents and visitors will be able to view sunsets from a sand platform rising above the dunes. Eventually, the city wants to connect the park to its beachfront trail that extends from Sunset Beach to behind the hotels along Gulf Boulevard near 107th/Central Avenue. If the city continues to pursue the purchase of the Noordhoek property, it will have to come up with more money. Coward said the city spent all but $72 of the $1.2-million land acquisition grant it received from the Florida Communities Trust Preservation 2000 program. The city used $23,188 of its own money along with the grant to buy the parcels for the park from the Trust for Public Lands. The non-profit trust purchased the land and held it for the city to prevent the properties from being sold to private developers. The most expensive parcel was the $731,000 site owned by Martha and the late Earl Dilley. Earlier this year, the city demolished the former Dilley home and bait and tackle shop to open the view to the waterfront from Gulf Boulevard. Coward also wants commissioners to begin improvements to the southern entrance to the city at the Blind Pass Bridge. He recommended they hire landscape architect Phil Graham at their meeting Tuesday to coordinate the project. The meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at City Hall, 120 108th Ave. Under the proposal, Graham, who is working on the beautification of the downtown district, would coordinate the landscaping as well as the work by Florida Power Corp. to bury the overhead utility wires. The project also calls for a new traffic signal at Gulf and W Gulf boulevards -- a stoplight arched over the road instead of hanging from wires.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
