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Lealman backed in annexation lull
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, Lealman residents, who solicited county help to protect their borders, received encouraging news last week. The interim county administrator and her staff support their request. Now it's up to the County Commission. "We've taken a carefully supportive position knowing that it's not our decision to make," interim County Administrator Gay Lancaster said. The idea, she said, is to give Lealman some ability to clarify its boundaries so residents can work at revitalizing their community without thinking it's going to be snatched out from under them. Preventing annexations also will give Lealman residents a chance to capitalize on their strong sense of community identity and to determine what their future might be, she said. The idea is simple: Move the lines on a map. The change would limit where the adjacent cities can annex. If the new lines are drawn to coincide with fire district boundaries, neighboring cities generally will have to leave Lealman alone. In a related development, the county wants to form an "American assembly," a committee of representatives from groups that would be affected by an annexation, Lancaster said. This would apply throughout unincorporated Pinellas. This has come about because activists in Lealman have complained that they have been forgotten when it comes to making county annexation rules that affect their future. The assembly would include the cities who annex, residents of the unincorporated areas being annexed, county officials who have to approve and mediate annexations, and special districts whose finances could be affected by losing property from their tax rolls. Lancaster's first idea -- the moratorium -- won preliminary endorsement from some commissioners. "It has my tentative support," said Commissioner Ken Welch, who represents the Lealman area. He has not seen the paperwork, but if the move gives Lealman time to decide its future, then it's a good idea, he said. Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd said, "I think there ought to be a moratorium" on annexations. Lealman has asked people to leave them alone right now to give them a chance to redevelop and form a community, and it's time to do that, she said. "I believe the best government is a government the people choose to have," Todd said. "That's excellent," Ray Neri, president of the Lealman Community Association, said upon hearing of the support. Neri is a member of the revitalization group that asked the county for help, and the community association has actively sought an end to annexations. Pinellas Park has the biggest stake in any decision; it has the largest annexation planning area that overlaps into Lealman. Yet, Lealman may find some support there. Pinellas Park council member Rick Butler said he thinks his city should spend its time working to annex lucrative properties to the north and west and leave Lealman alone. Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said he might not oppose moving the map lines. He would have to see the proposal before making a final decision, he said. "I'm not heavy on this," Mischler said. "I'm very open on this." Cities still would be able to annex into Lealman by referendum, meaning they could take larger tracts of land if enough voters in the area agreed. Cities also could voluntarily take individual properties, but each annexation would require County Commission approval. A year ago, Pinellas County voters approved a map of so-called annexation planning areas. Within each area, a city could annex free from competition. The goal was to prevent the "annexation wars" that had sprung up between cities as they fought over desirable properties. In south Pinellas, the main unincorporated area is Lealman, known mostly by its fire district and which is located generally between Pinellas Park to the north and St. Petersburg to the south. In January, a group of Lealman residents heeded the county's call to form a revitalization team to spruce up the area. The neighbors discovered that repeated annexations were eating away at the area's tax base, leaving a higher tax burden on those who remained in the unincorporated district. They've asked state Rep. Frank Farkas, R-St. Petersburg, to place a moratorium on annexations in the Lealman Fire District for two years while residents work through the process of trying to become a city. Farkas has drafted such a law and plans to introduce it during the 2002 Legislative session.
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