Local Leaders Object to Pinellas Development Plan

A proposed land development ordinance that would allow the Pinellas County Commission to control county-owned properties in other jurisdictions is not going over well with local leaders.

Arguments against the proposal helped push Tuesday night's county commission meeting into the early morning hours.

According to an amended version of the ordinance, which was released to the public Friday, the proposal refers to “county-owned properties … that contain facilities that have a countywide benefit and are operated under the charter powers of the county."     

The proposal was met with dissent from area civic leaders and citizens, who say the ordinance will remove developmental rights from local governments and allow the commission to put unwanted structures, such as digital billboards, on or near its properties within city limits.

“We did have a discussion at our council meeting last Thursday night about this issue … and I can tell you they were not in favor of it as it is presented,” said Tim Cadle, Pinellas Park government relations administrator.

“You are elected people. It’s your responsibility to look out for the people that you represent, and I think our council feels the same way. It’s their responsibility to look out for our people, and they think they may be able to look out for them a little bit better than the people up in Clearwater,” Cadle told the board.

Commission chairwoman Susan Latvala responded by telling Cadle, “Tim, you can assure your council that we represent the citizens of Pinellas Park – all seven of us," she said, gesturing to the other board members.

Rick MacAulay, chairman of the St. Petersburg Planning and Economic Development Department, also expressed his city’s strong opposition to the proposed ordinance.

“The St. Pete City Council is opposed to this ordinance moving forward. We would like to see you deny this ordinance this evening on first reading. We’ve simply not had a lot time, really any time, to deal with this proposed ordinance,” he said.

“The modified ordinance came out last week. We’ve gone back and looked at the modified ordinance, and it doesn’t change the city’s stance at all. We’d like to sit down with your county staff and … talk about the impact that this ordinance will have,” MacAulay said.

Commissioner Kenneth Welch agreed with MacAulay’s request. “We do need to get together and talk about some of these issues,” he replied.

Despite pleas from Latvala to have everyone involved read the amended version of the ordinance, some officials, such as Largo City Attorney Alan Zimmet, said they had done so, and it did not sway their opinion.

“Make this clear: I have read the new ordinance. It makes no changes – in fact, it’s worse. It takes out the listing of the properties that are regulated by the ordinance, and it now says all county owned properties are controlled by the ordinance,” he said.

“We would request, on behalf of the city, that at a minimum you would delay the passing of this ordinance," Zimmet said. "Ultimately, we would request that you vote the ordinance down.”

Maureen Stafford of the Council for Neighborhood Association of Southern Pinellas (CONA) was on hand to express the feelings of the organization's board members.

“Because it has the potential to usurp local control, the proposed ordinance has great significance to the city of St. Petersburg and other municipalities in Pinellas," Stafford said. "The CONA Board of Directors requests that the Board of County Commissioners delay scheduled public hearings on this matter to give citizens and local governments time to review the proposed ordinance.”  

Upon hearing this input, the board unanimously decided to delay the next public hearing, which was originally scheduled for Oct. 11, until Oct. 25 to allow more time for discussion on the matter.

Water, Sewer Rates Going Up

In addition to the land development issue, an increase in water and sewer rates got a lot of attention during the meeting.

Though the budget approved last week included rate increases for wholesale and retail water customers, the commission still had to officially ratify the proposed increases.

Under the new plan, residential water rates would rise by an average of 2 percent per year in the next four years beginning in fiscal year 2012, which would average out to a $1.78 increase per month for the average household, based on usage of 5,000 gallons a month.

Homeowners using reclaimed water would see an additional increase of $1 per month.

Retail sewer rates would also see a 6 percent increase over four years, raising the base fee from $10.50 per month to $13.26 per month by 2015.

Despite arguing that other municipalities have recently seen even larger increases to their water and sewer bills, the proposals were met with mixed reactions, especially in regard to the length of the plans.

“I like the idea of a multiyear plan, though I might not like all the increases,” Commissioner Nancy Bostock said.

Commissioner Norm Roche wasn’t as eager to go along with the proposals.

“What concerns me is this is I think this is already done. This was done a week and a half ago when we approved the budget … so I’m not sure what we’re really doing here today, other than approving the increases beyond next year,” he said.

“What puzzles me is why we are using multiple years and charts here. How we can project into the year 2021 when the market can’t even project what’s going to happen tomorrow is amazing to me,” he said.

Palm Harbor resident Bill Thomas also expressed interest in why the board was voting on an issue that had in effect been decided last week.

“Two weeks ago … you all passed a budget. How often does this happen where after a budget is passed, then you raise fees? I’m just curious,” he said.

When told by Latvala that the rate increases were included in the budget but hadn’t been discussed or officially approved, Thomas shot back, “So the decision’s made, but you’re getting public input now?”

“That’s the way I see it,” Bostock replied, to which Latvala quickly countered, “The decision is not made because we haven’t voted yet.”

The board then approved each of the five water and sewage increases in a 4-3 vote, with commissioners Neil Brickfield, Bostock and Roche opposing each one.

Redistricting Proposal Approved

The last item on the agenda was a proposed redistricting of the boundary lines for the county’s four single-member districts and three at-large districts. The commission operates under a policy that allows for a 3 percent deviation from the average district size based on the population within that district. Based on the 2010 census, the Pinellas County population has shifted only slightly, requiring only minor changes to district boundaries. 

The board voted 6-1 to approve the measure. Neil Brickfield cast the lone dissenting vote, citing the fact that the only response the commission received regarding the changes came from the Barrier Island Government Council, an organization made up of beach mayors.

“The only correspondence I’ve seen was from the beach mayors, who have expressed a desire to have one commissioner represent all beach communities. We got one piece of correspondence from 914,000 people,” Brickfield said.

Tuesday's marathon commission meeting began at 3 p.m and ended just before 1 a.m.