City asks for help in making master plan a reality
St. Pete Beach officials know what they want for the city. Now, they're asking the public's input on how to make it work.
By JADE JACKSON LLOYD
Published April 28, 2004
ST. PETE BEACH - It took more than a year of debate and a $150,000 study to etch out a vision of the city's landscape.
Now, the city's leaders plan to host two public workshops to examine how to put their master plan in action.
"You've kind of painted the picture of what you like," City Manager Mike Bonfield said Tuesday. "Now it's a matter of putting the proper rules and regulations in place to get what you like to work. It's putting the nuts and bolts down."
"This is us updating on where we're at in the implementation portion of the plan and to make sure we're moving in a direction people are comfortable with," he said. The meetings will examine what regulatory changes need to be made and what laws need to be created to "make the plan happen," he said.
At the first meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, discussion will focus on the Gulf Boulevard corridor/hotel district and resort development.
The second meeting, on May 6, will look at the Corey Avenue/Blind Pass Road business district and how the area can be redeveloped, Bonfield said.
Approved last August, the long-awaited master plan will affect the city's comprehensive plan - which deals with land use - and its land development code, the law that puts the comprehensive plan in place, Bonfield said.
Bonfield said public participation in the process is vital.
"These are all significant issues for the long term of the city," he said. "We've had a lot of public meetings. We're pretty confident what we're doing is what people have wanted all along. . . . It's just important to get feedback early on in the process rather than as we're going through."
Early last year the city paid Glatting Jackson, a consulting firm, six figures to define the city's vision for growth and to propose specific projects and timelines, Bonfield said.
After reviewing the firm's report, commissioners decided to focus on those two sections of the city and how commercial and residential areas can intermingle. Glatting Jackson's report gave the City Commission a thumbs up for the city's residential, commercial and tourist destination resources. The city's aesthetics and planning, however, got a thumbs down. The city's master plan addresses the following:
Establishing St. Pete Beach as the best gulf resort community, serving both local and visitor needs.
Creating a memorable identity.
Preserving and enhancing the city's culture, beach and waterfront.
Ensuring the city's economic viability as a prime destination, while balancing public use and access and private economic development.
Addressing transportation concerns, ensuring livable solutions that include a bicycle and pedestrian circulation system.
Using public resources to leverage private investment.
Establishing management and operational systems and programs to support the goals of the master plan.
Establishing a legal framework to support the plan's mission.
- Information from Times files was used in this report.
IF YOU GO
St. Pete Beach commissioners will host two public workshops on the city's master plan. The first will be tomorrow and the second will be next Thursday. Both will be at 6 p.m. in the Commission Chambers at City Hall, 155 Corey Avenue.
