C.O.N.A. of South Pinellas County

Showers bring flowers & rich geen lawns

Jul 13, 2004

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Neighbors and Friends:

CONA is always trying to balance the long-term projects and the short-term crisis. This month our meeting has been cancelled because the meeting of all committees reviewing the proposed land development regulations is scheduled for the same evening. The rewrite of the LDR's is the single most important long-term project in the city. I encourage everyone to attend the LDR meeting at Gladden Park on Wednesday evening, starting at 6:30 PM

Because it is the kind of change that will gradually change the layout of our neighborhoods, many people do not see the profound impact of the new LDR. Imagine zoning rules that reinforce both traditional and suburban neighborhoods, that make variances rare instead of normal, and redevelopment that puts people first and cars second. The LDR proposals do this and more. Many neighborhood and community leaders have been working on this since the Vision 2020 process started.

Summer and vacations allow many of us to look at other cities and see similar trends and issues across the country. Last week, I saw downtown condo projects in several cities, LDR's being rewritten in others, city council fights about how best to combat drugs and the conflicting pressures between public space and redevelopment. Every town I visited is experiencing a housing boom in prices and building. The trends and issues are the same across the country. This is the reason it is important to learn from other communities' successes and failures.

Harlem is about a decade into widespread renewal. Boca Raton is one of many cities that created bike lanes in the 90's. Newark has been at the cutting edge of the broken window theory of policing with stunning results in the face of widespread poverty and economic stress. My point simply is that we should share our knowledge of what worked and didn't work in other communities.

CONA will continue to push our short-term agenda of Cops and Codes because more effective code enforcement and law enforcement lay the foundation for neighborhood preservation or renewal. It is not that we are doing a bad job, it is simply that most communities are ALSO doing better. We need to be able to step back and look for solutions to problems that bedevil us. We need to be willing to try something else that MIGHT work. Meanwhile, neighborhood associations should continue to perform the function of "community building". Ironically, whatever gets neighbors to know each other (Easter egg hunts, porch parties, home/garden tours, etc), also reduces crime and improves a sense of community, which we all need.

See you soon.
Karl Nurse
President, CONA

Public Review of proposed Land Development Regulations (LDR) begins on Wednesday, July 21st.

The first meeting to review the proposed LDR is scheduled for Wednesday, July 21st. This meeting will be held at Gladden Park beginning at 6:30 PM

The new LDR is very important to neighborhoods and many neighborhood leaders have been active in the development of these proposed regulations. Since the meeting conflicts with the normal CONA Meeting date, we have cancelled the CONA Meeting and encourage everyone to attend the LDR Meeting.

The City's consultant, Mark White with Freilich Leitner and Carlisle, has completed and delivered the draft document of the Land Development Regulations. Staff is reviewing the draft for completeness and internal consistency, and scheduling the steps for review and editing with community groups, individuals, property owners, boards and commissions and elected officials. These steps will prepare the document for adoption.

Everyone who has participated in any portion of the process to date will be invited to participate in the process, as well as public comment by any and all who wish to have input at this time.

MEETING OF ALL COMMITTEES:
July 21, at 6:30 p.m. Gladden Park Recreation Center. 3901 30th Avenue North.

Each committee will take approximately 15 minutes to describe the basic
regulations behind each district. Maps will display the basic locations
of each area, and all committees will see how each district regulation
works and how they relate to surrounding districts. After the presentations there will be a 15- 30-minute question and answer session. The committees will be asked to ratify the concepts of the districts at that meeting.

DISTRIBUTE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW OF DISTRICTS and REGULATIONS:

By the first week in August, the edited districts, and all other portions of the new LDRs with the exception of the agencies and procedures will be placed on the Citys Website www.stpete.org and placed throughout the City at public facilities (libraries and community centers) for public review. Comments will be solicited via email, letter, fax and notice of public meetings. Also provided will be a brochure that will outline the general themes of the districts and the general locations that each district would apply.

PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS:

GENERAL OVERVIEW PRESENTATIONS: There will be five (5) presentations:
Two devoted to Traditional sections of the City, two devoted to Suburban sections of the City and one devoted to neighborhood related issues (see description below). The presentations will consist of 30 to 45 minute overview discussing the general purpose and intent of the new ordinance and how it will be applied, including visual examples of what could be done within the individual districts. Following the presentation there will be staff available to answer individual questions

SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOODS CORRIDORS AND CENTERS

Meeting 1. August 18th, 6:30 p.m. St. Petersburg College, Lynch Music Center Building, 6605 5th Avenue North, Park by the Lake
Meeting 2. August 23rd 6:30 p.m. Location to be announced

TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOODS CORRIDORS AND CENTERS
Meeting 3. September 9th, 6:30 p.m. Location to be announced
Meeting 4. September 13th 6:30 p.m. Bayfront Center, Sun Pavilion Room, 400 1st Street South

NEIGHBORHOOD ORIENTED PRESENTATION:
A presentation at the Wednesday October 20th CONA meeting will present the information specifically to Neighborhood Associations and their members. The presentation will summarize the topics and issues which effect neighborhoods that CONA has been involved in, IE Grandfathered uses, Adult Use, Social Service Agencies etc. This will cover the numerous topics not covered by the districts.

The presentation will give an overview of the regulations associated with these and allow for question and answer.


CONA LEADERSHIP 2004 WRAP-UP
We?’ve finally wrapped up our Leadership course for the year. We had a very successful class this time, came in under budget and graduated 37 students! Of course, we had VERY excellent students. Listed with their group, they are: Group 1/Our Diverse Community: Penny Flaherty/Broadwater, David & Donna Hoover/Riviera Bay Civic; Travis Jarman/Bayway Isles, Tina Spangler/Crescent Lake
Group 2/City Government: John Bagg/Pinellas Point, Betty Beeler/Bartlett Park, Linda Morgan/Highland Grove, Lee Nolan/Allendale, Karen Schott/Broadwater, Donna Talbert/Coquina Key Group 3/Effective Comunications: Carol Griffths/Disston Heights, Leonard & Liz Hoffman/Azalea, Howard Huntsberry/Coquina Key, Linda Mouriski/Jungle Terrace
Group 4/Crime & Neighborhoods: Nikolas Arrington/Shore Acres, Jane Copley/Disston Heights, Mo Eppley/Woodlawn, David Spangler/Crescent Lake, Sanae Swim/Gateway
Group 5/City Services: John & Agnes Romeo/Northeast Park, Greg Karpinski/Magnolia Heights, Alore Ann Saylor/Shore Acres, Dan Stroud/Kenwood
Group 6/Effective Meetings: Jerri Evans/Highland Grove, Vera Filipelli/Barcley Estates, Willeen Kelly/Bartlett Park,Diane Oakes/Gateway, Kovas Palubinskas/Old Northeast, Gail Rademan/Coquina Key
Group 7/Quasi-Judicial Hearings: Robin Danner/Kenwood, Mark Desaro, Tom Greene/Woodlawn, Laura Guinan/Mangrove Bayou, Anne Marie Wenner

We couldn?’t have done it without the help of our volunteers. They fall into three categories?… Group Leaders are graduates from last year who were inspired enough by the 2003 class to help carry off 2004. They are: Robert Davis/Crescent Heights; Dawn Ricketts/Coquina Key; Willi Rudowsky/Snell Isle; Patrick Jennings/Woodlawn; Ann McWilliams/Isla del Sol; Tom Baggett/Woodlawn; Tim Bryant/Snell Isle; Rebecca Saylor/North Kenwood. Mentors are ?“old hands?” at CONA Leadership who?’ve helped to organize and run MANY classes for us. They are: Teresa McEachern/Harbordale; Mary Darling/Bayou Highlands; Hal Freedman/Snell Isle; Deloris Gabbidon/Lakewood Estates; Phil Whysong/North Kenwood; Mike Palozzi/Woodlawn; Steve Plice/Jungle Terrace Committee Chairs are our institutional memory, having served as overall chairs at least once. They are Ingrid Comberg/Disston Heights and Tom Killian/Jungle Terrace.

Thank you to each and every one of you. It was a pleasure to work with the students and a joy to have the help of so many talented and capable leaders who ran this program. While I?’m being grateful, there?’s one more VERY important person I?’ve not mentioned yet. Susie Ajoc, Neighborhood Partnership Director for the City of St. Petersburg helped find meeting places, arranged contacts and gave her time and advice whenever I needed it. Thank you Susie!!!

We?’ve already begun planning for next year?’s class and will be posting on the CONA website as we have information available. Ingrid Comberg will chair our 2005 class. I hope to see you there!!!

Cathy Wilson, Chair
CONA Leadership 2004


PARTNERSHIP NOTES
Neighborhood Partnership Office
Susan P. Ajoc, AICP, Director
Neighborhood Partnership Program
City of St. Petersburg
P.O. Box 2842 St. Petersburg, FL 33731-2842
Phone: (727) 892-5141 Fax: (727) 893-5323
Email: Susan.Ajoc@stpete.org

Florida Neighborhoods Conference
Please contact the Neighborhood Partnership Department at 892-5141 if you are interested in attending the Florida Neighborhoods Conference in Jacksonville, September 16 - 18, 2004. The Department is interested in determining the level of interest in chartering a bus to the conference.

Neighborhood Partnership Grants FY 2005
Kudos to Jungle Terrace, Snell Isle and Bayou Bonita for submitting their grant proposals before the early deadline of July 2nd! For their efforts, they will receive an additional 20 bonus points. The 2nd early deadline for an additional 10 points is August 6, 2004.

Final deadline is Friday, September 3, 2004, by 5:00 p.m.


NEIGHBORHOODS DEFEND NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN REVIEW IN COURT
By Stephanie Pitts, President, Crescent Heights Neighborhood Association
Reprinted from the June, 2004 issue of the Crescent Heights Neighborhood Association Newsletter

In May, the planning commission and city council overturned the recommendations of city staff (NDR) and Mayor Baker's personal plea to deny a request for a garage and driveway to be placed on an avenue versus a street or alley entry. I know that in many people's mind that this is not a big deal, however, in traditional neighborhoods, most parking is either the street or alley. In suburban neighborhoods, parking is very common in front of the homes but not in traditional neighborhoods. Unfortunately, when this case went before city council, to overturn the planning commission's recommendation, a super majority vote was needed. Since Mr. Lasita was out of town and Virginia Littrell could not vote (she lives within 200 feet of the property) we needed 4 out of 5 council members to vote to uphold the appeal. Mr. Bryan and Mr. Williams voted against the appeal, thus the planning commission's vote was not overturned. I attended that city council's meeting and spoke in favor of the NDR recommendation as did many other neighborhoods associations who have NDR in place for their neighborhoods. As Karl Nurse said, President of CONA and Southeast Neighborhood Association, "Neighborhoods does not lose their character by huge projects but one property at a time."
After that defeat, representatives from NDR and historic neighborhoods along with Virginia Littrell met to discuss the ramifications of this vote and to decide the next step. Steve Lange of Historic Northeast (where this property was located) asked other neighborhoods for their support to pursue this matter in court since it was felt that the city council and planning commission did not follow city codes and ordinances in approving this project.
It was felt by myself and other neighborhoods, that this vote could nullify NDR and all of the hard work that neighborhood representatives have done over the years to put in place ordinances and codes to preserve traditional neighborhoods. In fact right now the city is spending thousands of dollars and many volunteer hours to develop a revision in the land development codes that identify different types of neighborhoods and those characteristics that make up those areas. All of this work could be in vain if city council decides to continually override the ordinances and in this case, city staff's recommendations.
At our last board meeting, board members decided to help this cause by financially contributing to the legal fund. Jim Tolimson, our treasurer, felt that our neighborhood could afford to contribute $500.00 toward legal fees. This motion was discussed and approved by the board members. We are not members of this lawsuit but only providing some assistance with legal fees. Overall, $3500 has been raised to help with attorney and filing fees with the majority of the money coming from Historic Northeast. Additionally, the attorney that has agreed to work on this project has agreed to work at a reduced rate and allow the neighborhoods do a lot of the research needed for the lawsuit.
I realize that some residents who are members of the association might not agree with the board's decision however, it is the responsibility of myself and other board members to do what is necessary for the good of our neighborhood. Over the years, residents of this neighborhood worked to put into place ordinances such as NDR as a way to help preserve those things we cherish in Crescent Heights. Even though this property is not located in our neighborhood, we all know what happens to our surrounding neighbors can affect us. Thus in closing, I want the residents of Crescent Heights to know that our decision to support this lawsuit was made with only selfish motives involved-If this could happen in Northeast, it could happen in Crescent Heights.

Update on this article: Since this article was printed, the Board of Adjustment turned down the property owner's request for a variance. Additionally, the circuit court has ruled that this court case does have merit and that the case can proceed.


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Shelly Schwartz
I was to say the least astounded to see your 6/1/04 edited Refined Recommendations e-mail published in this months newsletter. Maybe I am too naive to believe that it was a working document and nowhere near the point of raising it to the level of a draft for public dissemination and scrutiny. In a 6/1/04 note later that same day, after you received my preliminary comments, you suggested we "reflect" on it. In fact, we have not even discussed this document in any meeting, except the Mission Statement on 6/9 which I suggested was not necessary.
In our meeting on 6/9/04 it seemed clear that we needed more information and were a long way from reaching concensus among the Committee on anything except the issues. In fact it is the reason you drafted a draft -for -comment letter to Ms Eichler asking a number of questions following the meeting.
In order to set the record straight I urge you to inform the CONA members at the next meeting that the article was your early "thinkpiece" and not intended as casting anything in concrete nor binding the Committee to any of the statements. I also request that you include a similar statement in the next newsletter.
I further request Steve Plice, Newsletter Editor, to publish this note in the next Newsletter.
To clear the record further, The information I shared with you and the Committee on Neighborhood Preservation and Enhancement was not provided to me by NCSL. I attended a workshop on that subject at the Sept, 2003 Neighborhood Conference in Sarasota. I guess I should have corrected you immediately but unfortunately waited until our meeting on 6/09 . I never expected to see it in print.....


DALI MUSEUM MOVE ON FAST TRACK
By Timothy J. Baker, President, Downtown Neighborhood Association
Reprinted from July, 2004 edition of the Downtown Neighborhood Association Newsletter

The drive to move the Dali Museum to a new location on the downtown waterfront seems to be on a fast track.

The city recently sent out a notice that the City Council later this summer will consider placing a question on the November election ballot that would allow it to lease public waterfront to the museum for up to 99 years. Under the City Charter, voter approval is required for any such lease.

The Dali us currently located at 1000 3rd Street South, just south of the University of South Florida. That site, too, is owned by the City of St. Petersburg and is currently leased to the Dali. Museum officials for some time have wanted to move to a new location, mainly because they feel that the present building is vulnerable to any hurricane that might hit the area. Just recently, though, they said that the preferred location for a new museum would be on the Bayfront Center property.

The proposed new location is also on the water. But, any new building would be built to better withstand a hurricane.

The city notice, put out by the Economic Development Department, followed the Dali announcement by just a few weeks. It said that some time on or after July 22, the City Council will consider adopting an ordinance that would place the Dali question on the ballot. The notice says that the most likely time for a public hearing would be at 9 a.m. August 5, at City Hall.

The notice does not give any details about what portion of the property might be leased or what the terms of the lease might be.
The Bayfront Center is adjacent to Albert Whitted Airport, and is bordered on the waterfront by Bayshore Drive SE, on the south by 5th Avenue SE, on the west by 1st Street South, and on the north by Al Lang Stadium. The site is occupied by the Mahaffey Theater, the Bayfront Arena and various parking lots and garages. However, the city has decided to tear down the arena, leaving room for the Dali.

If the public allows the lease of its land to the Dali, then the current Dali building might be leased to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus, which is in a growth mode and always seems to be in need of more space. That lease, too, would require public approval.


NEIGHBORHOODS SUPPORT PROPOSED STREET VENDING ORDINANCE
By Tom Killian
President, Jungle Terrace Civic Association
The first reading of the proposed ?“street vending ordiance?” is now scheduled for August 5th. A second reading and public hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Here is the summary of this proposed ordinance:
An Ordinance Creating Section 25-9 of the City Code; Prohibiting Solicitation of Employment, Business, Contributions, Donations or Sales of any kind, the Collection of Monies for Same, or the Distribution of Projects or Materials when such Solicitation, Collection or Distribution of Would Cause the Person Performing the Activity to Enter onto the traveled Portion of a Street or Highway or Cause the Person Performing the Activity to be Located upon a Median; Prohibiting Such Solicitation, Collection or Distribution When the Person Performing the Activity is Location such that Vehicles cannot move into a Legal Parking Area to Safely Conduct the Transaction or Receive the Product or Material.
The Jungle Terrace Civic Association voted unanimously to support the ordinance at our June 21, 2004 meeting. CONA The Council of Neighborhood Associations voted unanimously to support the ordinance 7 day a week 365 days a year for everyone. The Police department want it passed also.

Please call you Council Members at 893-7117 or email them at council@stpete.org . Urge them to support this ordinance. It is important that it be enforced 7 days a week.