SAN ANTONIO, Fla. -- The small Pasco County city of San Antonio should make a grand gesture in the face of another winter drought, one city commissioner says, and impose a building moratorium until the city's wells are replenished.

"I'll probably get voted down 4-1," Commissioner Heiskell Christmas said Wednesday. "But it's like they say, "If not you, who? If not now, when?' I feel like I've got to take a stand."

Christmas said that with rainfall scarce and demand growing, the responsible thing for governments to do is limit growth until groundwater levels rise.

Christmas raised the issue as the city is clearing the way for developer Jim Tabb's newest project, a 41-home subdivision on 21 acres near downtown.

Tabb on Thursday said he understands the need to conserve water, but added that San Antonio would be cutting its own access to a significantly higher tax base while making only a small gesture.

Earlier this year, St. Petersburg City Council member Kathleen Ford also urged a ban onnew construction, to no avail.

Job training center adds to school luster

ST. PETERSBURG -- Job training took center stage in Pinellas County's quest for more and better college courses available on its home turf.

St. Petersburg Junior College on Thursday announced plans to build a $22-million job training center in mid Pinellas County.

Despite the program's ambition and promise, it has rankled officials at the University of South Florida, who said that the school had a similar plan that was ignored by Pinellas County officials and administrators at SPJC.

Emotions did not cool until Carl Kuttler, president of SPJC, and Bill Heller, dean of USF's St. Petersburg campus, talked by telephone Thursday afternoon, and Kuttler offered to allow USF to participate in the program.

The program comes on the heels of a report from researchers studying higher education needs in Florida that said most Pinellas County employers they interviewed aren't satisfied with the University of South Florida's efforts.

The Education Commission of the States report drew a pointed response from USF President Judy Genshaft, who complained that "reputations can linger long after they are deserved."

Wildlife tunnels meet resistance from DOT

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The state Department of Transportation is resisting efforts to install four wildlife crossings under State Road 54 during upcoming highway construction in Pasco County.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has asked the DOT to install four of the highway crossings between U.S. 41 and Little Road, considered critical links in the wildlife corridor. One of the proposed crossings, south of Starkey Ranch, is included on a promised cross-county corridor stretching from Cypress Creek in Land O'Lakes to Brooker Creek Preserve in Pinellas County.

"They reduce road kills. Simple as that," said Tom Reese, an attorney for the environmental group Citizens for Sanity.

The Army Corp of Engineers is requesting the corridors. The agency must issue DOT a permit to start SR 54 widening west of U.S. 41, a project scheduled to begin in 2002.

Developers propose resort that would rival Don CeSar

CLEARWATER -- Bay area developers are proposing a $50-million, 250-room luxury Marriott resort that would spur the redevelopment of south Clearwater Beach.

The new resort, which the developers said would be comparable to the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa in St. Pete Beach, would be on the site of the Glass House and Beach Place motels, which flank Third Street.

But Clearwater attorney William Kimpton, Tampa developer Jae Heinberg and Dunedin planner Richard Gehring will have to persuade the City Commission to grant significant concessions, including up to $11.6-million in city financing.

The developers say their top-notch Marriott resort would wrap around the sides of a five- or six-story public parking garage, hiding it from view. New retail space and restaurants would front Gulfview Boulevard. The garage would have up to 1,000 spaces, Gehring said.

Kimpton said it was Clearwater's desire to build at least two new public parking garages on the beach by 2003 that led him to assemble the proposal.

The City Commission will hear more details about it at meetings Monday and Thursday.

Voyeur Dorm must move, judge orders

TAMPA -- A judge has agreed that an X-rated voyeuristic Web site that shows the daily activities of a group of women should get an eviction notice.

At Voyeur Dorm, computer users who pay a monthly fee can watch live video of women, billed as college students, undressing, showering, eating and sleeping.

Tampa said in September 1999 that Voyeur Dorm is an adult business that violates city zoning laws and tried to shut it down. Attorneys for the Web site sued, contending the action unconstitutionally restricted privacy and free speech.

Lawyers for the company have admitted it is an adult entertainment business. However, they also argue that the residence is never visited by paying members of the public and does not have any impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew on Monday granted the city's motion for a summary judgment rejecting the Web site's lawsuit.

Voyeur Dorm won't be shut down immediately and is expected to appeal, Tampa City Attorney James Palermo said.

Pasco may seek freeze on cell phone towers

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Cellular phone towers, those metal skeletons that stab the sky all over Pasco County, have suddenly found themselves on unfriendly turf.

Citing the unsightliness of recently built cell towers, county commissioners voted Wednesday night to prepare an ordinance to freeze construction of towers for up to six months.

Commission Chairman Pat Mulieri said the county needs a breather to decide, among other things, whether recent technology offers a less obtrusive tower, perhaps no higher than a tree.

"We're trying to improve the face of Pasco," Mulieri said. "You need technology, but you also need a county that doesn't reek of visual pollution."

Other communities, including Hernando County, have attempted to put a lid on the cell towers, with little luck.

Coming up this week

The Clearwater City Commission on Monday will reconsider the reverse osmosis plant that Tampa Bay Water says the area desperately needs. The plant would be built by Tampa Bay Water and then sold to the city, but city commissioners were hesitant to commit to the plan in October until they could get a better handle on the financial implications.

Friday is the world premiere of BayWalk, St. Petersburg's newest attraction. The shopping and entertainment complex will offer trendy restaurants, unusual shops, a bookstore and perhaps the biggest downtown attractor: 20 movie screens. City leaders hope BayWalk will create a new energy and foot traffic that will benefit businesses close to it.

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