DNA Board Votes to Oppose New Stadium at Al Lang Field
Tim Garling, the new executive director of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), will be the guest speaker at the July meeting of the Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Mr. Garling, who is living in Downtown St. Petersburg, was previously the senior director of operations at the transit agency in Portland, Oregon, one of the country's most advanced regions in terms of public transportation.
He comes here during a challenging time for the PSTA. Gasoline prices have been soaring, leading to increases in ridership on the PSTA buses. But, extremely tight budgets on the part of all government agencies, including the PSTA, mean that services may have to be trimmed. So, it is Mr. GarlingÕs job to try to balance increasing demand for buses with a decreasing supply.
At the same time, Mr. Garling wants to move ahead with plans for bringing new services to area transit riders. A high priority is instituting the proposed bus rapid transit line (BRT) for the Central Avenue corridor in St. Petersburg. Before his arrival, the plan had been derailed by budget problems. In an informal talk with several members of the DNA board, Mr. Garling said he wants that project to proceed.
In general, Mr. Garling seems to favor a new approach to public transportation in the Tampa Bay region. Specifically, he wants to get smaller, focused projects such as the rapid bus line up and running, rather than working endlessly on grand plans for the entire region, which never seem to get beyond the stage of ink on paper.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10, at the Sunshine Center, 330 5th Street North. The meeting is free and open to the public, with plenty of available parking.
By Timothy J. Baker
Editor, the DNA News
For a few years there, the news Downtown was always about some vast new project - a hotel or a condominium or a mixture of retail, housing and offices - while the notion of restoring or re-using the neighborhoodÕs older buildings seemed to be lost in the background.
Now that the boom is bust, perhaps it is time for historic preservation to take a turn on the stage. Several recent events at least point in that direction.
Historic Preservation Awards
Downtown projects took the lion's share of the glory at a recent awards ceremony held by St. Petersburg Preservation Inc., with honors going to a wide range of projects throughout the neighborhood. SPPI is the city's premier historic preservation group, but during the boom years it became close to moribund. It had even suspended its practice of honoring historic preservation projects.
Under new president Will Michaels, however, SPPI is making a strong comeback. Its membership is up , and this year's awards ceremony was well attended and attracted numerous nominations.
In all, Downtown projects accounted for six of the 18 total awards. The Downtown projects that took honors were:
President's Award:
The Old Caretaker's Cottage at 856 2nd Avenue North. This old cottage has been converted to law offices by City Council member and lawyer James Kennedy. |
Restoration-Commercial/Residential: The Princess Martha at 411 1st Avenue North. The owner is WRH Realty Services (William R. Hough). The one-time hotel has become an assisted-living facility, with reatil and office space. |
Rehabilitation-Multifamily Residential (Honorable Mention): Emerson Apartments at 305 5th Street South, owned by Maryann Lynch, looked about ready for demolition a few years ago. |
 Adaptive Re-use: The Lyceum at 737 3rd Avenue North. The Lyceum, which looks out on Mirror Lake, was built as a church, but was converted a few years ago to a meeting facility. |
Adaptive Re-use (Honorable Mention): The Dupont Building at 155 8th Street North was a funeral home that has been converted to office use. |
Adaptive Re-use (Honorable Mention): 319 5th Street North. The 319 5th Street North building houses offices in what was once a residence and doctor's office. |
Baptist Sanctuary
The Downtown Neighborhood Association and SPPI have both long called for preservation of the historic Baptist Sanctuary at 120 4th Street North. However, the owner of that building—the neighboring St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral—has for just as long struggled with various plans to make use of the property that it acquired 17 years ago. At one point, the Cathedral had permission from the city to raze the sanctuary and two other buildings to make room for a proposed high-rise project that would have included condominiums, as well as new office space for the church. That plan, however, collapsed along with the rest of the housing market.
After that came a scaled-down plan for a three-story office building which will replace two 1950s structures that occupied the lots in between the sanctuary and the Cathedral itself. Meanwhile, the Cathedral obtained a contract to sell the sanctuary to the owners of the Princess Martha. That, however, failed to materialize.
On May 11, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new office building. At the same time, church officials announced a new plan for the Baptist Sanctuary, which just may solve everybody's problem. Under this plan, the front portion of the sanctuary, with its columned facade, would be adapted for use as office space, to expand the mission of the Episcopal Church. |
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The Baptist Sanctuary |
Meanwhile, the rear of the building would be demolished, to be replaced with a "gated sanctuary garden with benches, a labyrinth and a water feature."
Church officials hope that this will be a good use of the sanctuary for their purposes, while also pleasing preservationists. It would also alleviate concerns on the part of the Princess Martha that a new building on that site would block the windows on the back of their facility.
4th Avenue Hotel
A 22-story hotel proposed for 4th Avenue North between 1st Street and Beach Drive would drastically alter the streetscape there, and would require the removal of two designated landmark buildings, and a third that is a contributing structure to the Downtown Historic District.
According to an application filed with the city, the hotel itself would include 252 rooms, a 9,000-square-foot restaurant, and 2,100 square feet of retail space. The plans fall well within the zoning rules and would not require any special exceptions. Because of that, the hotel plans have not raised any objections to date.
However, the plans for the two landmark buildings have raised objections from both SPPI and DNA. The two buildings are the Henry-Bryan House at 146 4th Avenue NE and the Chateau France restaurant building at 136 4th Avenue NE. The developer, Punit Shah of St. Petersburg, has applied to the city for permission to demolish the Chateau France building, and to move the Henry-Bryan House to Pioneer Village at Boyd Hill Park. Mr. Shah contends that the Chateau France building is so deteriorated that moving it would be too difficult and too expensive.
SPPI and DNA have argued that the Henry-Bryan House should be moved to a site within the Downtown Historic District, or to the adjacent Historic Old Northeast. They also believe that moving the Chateau France building is feasible. An engineering study commissioned by Mr. Shah does state that the building is in poor condition, but it does not rule out a move.
The plans for the historic structures must be approved by the Community Preservation Commission. The third building—a bed and breakfast at 126 4th Avenue NE—is a contributing structure to the Downtown Historic District, but it can be razed without the city's permission.
The hotel plans were scheduled to be reviewed by the Development Review Commission at its July meeting.
By Marilyn Olsen, President
Downtown Neighborhood Association
The Downtown Neighborhood Association wants to help keep St. Petersburg clean and green, and so is joining the city's Adopt-a-Park program. To succeed, we will need your volunteer help!
The program was designed by the city to augment the regular work done by city crews, and to involve citizens in projects that benefit their immediate neighborhood. The DNA board of directors voted at its May meeting to join in this effort.
While a specific park has not been chosen, the prime candidate is Williams Park, which encompasses a full city block at the center of our neighborhood and is the city's first park. Originally called City Park, it was founded in 1888 and later renamed to honor one of the founders of our city. It has been the site for rallies and celebrations for more than one hundred years. The first bandstand was built in 1894. Most recently, it has been the site for outdoor concerts and the popular Saturday Art Market organized by Council Member Leslie Curran.
The New American Stage Theater Across From Williams Park
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The private sector is already contributing much to improving the area around the park. The new Progress Energy headquarters replaced the vacant Maas Brothers department store last year; a new home is being built for American Stage theater company; and St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral has begun construction on a new building to house offices for its various programs.
We hope that trash cleanups, flower plantings, and reporting vandalism and maintenance problems will beautify whatever park we choose. The Downtown Neighborhood Association welcomes your participation in this endeavor. We would appreciate an E-mail if you, or groups to which you belong, can spare an hour or so once or twice a month to work on this project and network with your neighbors. Let us know when you're available and how you would like to be involved: in painting, trash pickup, planting, or possibly raising some funds for more major projects in the park. Please E-mail . We will try to answer any of your questions.
Members of the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) Board of Directors surround immediate past president Tim Baker at a board meeting in May. Baker has served six one-year terms as DNA president. Current president Marilyn Olsen presented him with a framed copy of the January 2008 DNA newsletter, the last one he edited as president, signed by present and former members of the board. From left are board members Mike Johnson, Marie Stirling, Dick Freeberg, Tim Baker, Peter Belmont, Marilyn Olsen, and John Harte. Other board members are Tim Clemmons, Gene Ormond, Joe Pugliano, Allan Brockway, and Sydni Shollenberger, who snapped this picture.
The City of St. Petersburg in early August will begin converting 1st and 2nd Streets to two-way traffic between Central Avenue and 5th Avenue North.
This is the second phase of a project that was approved by the City Council last year. The first phase involved conversion to two-way traffic from Central to 5th Avenue South.
Since the project has already been approved by Council and is in the current budget, there will not be any new public hearings. The project is in the final design stage, and the Transportation Department is open to suggestions or comments, and will answer any questions that residents may have.
The official in charge is Michael Frederick, the city's neighborhood transportation manager. He can be reached at 893-7843, or by e-mail at michael.frederick@stpete.org.
According to Mr. Frederick, the first step in this phase will be to install temporary traffic signals at the necessary intersections. Those signals will then be covered with bags while the streets are re-paved and re-striped. All of the work will be done at night, as was the case with the recent re-paving of 3rd and 4th Streets Downtown.
At this point, the budget does not include enough money to install permanent mast-arm signals. As money becomes available, the permanent signals can be installed one intersection at a time, and the temporary signals removed. Mast-arms are the large poles that are installed on the sidewalk, with arms that overhang the intersection, allowing the removal of the electrical wires that criss-cross many streets. Mast-arms are also built to withstand hurricane-force winds.
Evan Morey, the city's parking director, said that there will be changes in parking along both streets, but that the total number of available spaces should not change much. Some angled parking spots will be converted to parallel parking, for example.
The city first began looking at converting some of the Downtown 1-way streets back to 2-way traffic in 2000, when the Transportation Department did a feasibility study. Their conclusion was that a number of the Downtown streets could readily be converted, and that there would be benefits to doing so, including increasing pedestrian safety and improving access to major Downtown events and venues.
The 2000 study put all of the 1-way streets into three categories: those suitable for conversion immediately; those that needed further study; and those that weren't suitable. 1st and 2nd Streets were both listed as being suitable for conversion.
Click on the section of street that interests you by clicking on the appropriate link below:
1st Street, 3rd Ave to 5th Ave
1st Street, Central Ave to 3rd Ave
2nd Street, 3rd Ave to 5th Ave
2nd Street, Central Ave to 3rd Ave
By Timothy J. Baker
DNA News Editor
For those of you who make your living by panhandling Downtown, there is good news and bad news. The St. Petersburg City Council recently passed an ordinance that expands the Downtown no-panhandling zone. The new zone, shown in the map at the right, is intended to cover the Downtown business core, as well as the areas most frequented by tourists. In other words, it covers the area where the most people are. That's obviously bad news for the panhandlers. |
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The good news is that the map makes a lot more sense than the old one. The chief problem with the old map was that it did not cover a contiguous area. Instead, it picked out a block here, two blocks there, apparently based on who had complained the most about panhandling. In some cases, it was legal to panhandle on one side of the street, but not the other. How the heck was an honest panhandler supposed to remember where it was legal and where not?
For example, it was a violation to ask for money on the north side of 1st Avenue North between 1st and 2nd Streets, but it was okay to do so on the south side. An expected result of this would be that all the panhandlers would stay on the south side of the street, while anybody with change in his or her pockets would stay on the north side. The panhandlers couldn't just ask for money under these conditions; they'd have to shout across the street.
Of course, it was also a problem to remember just where the boundaries were. What was a panhandler supposed to do, carry a copy of the map laminated against the rain?
But these problems are now history. Now we have a coherent map with a clearly defined no-panhandling zone.
Before the new map was adopted, the Downtown Neighborhood Association asked that the zone be expanded to include the entire area shown in the above map. The city's legal staff argued that a zone that large would probably be rejected by the courts as unconstitutional.
by Marilyn Olsen, DNA President
The very best of St Petersburg has been achieved through the active partnership of Government and the Citizens. This was true as early as 1910 when a group of citizens gave land to the City for creation of the Waterfront Park, and as recently as the Vision 2020 process, a community-driven long-range plan for our future, which culminated in the new Land Development Regulations (LDR's) approved just last year. A guiding objective of both was the creation and protection of a continuous waterfront park system from Coffee Pot Bayou to Lassing Park.
One of the earliest visual plans we have for this area stretches back to about 1913 when the new park was under construction, an idealized vision of open green space stretching from 5th Ave N to 5th Ave S and beyond. Over the years this park has seen dramatic changes. The original open baseball field built in 1916 was replaced by a succession of stadiums, the Yacht Club and Museum of History were built and expanded, the Albert Whitted Airport was built on landfill from port dredging, the Museum of Fine Arts was given four acres of parkland and has just completed a major expansion, the Mahaffey was added and remodeled, the Bayfront Arena was built and demolished to be replaced by the new Dali Museum. Also added were five parking lots and a garage. Approximately half of the parkland is now developed.
Our current Comprehensive Plan has a clear objective (LU17B): "The City shall continue to implement a downtown waterfront zoning district...that enhances the waterfront park system, preserves view corridors and ensures pedestrian oriented, human scale development and redevelopment." How are we doing? This year we added Albert Whitted Park and protected a few acres beside the Mahaffey, the first addition in decades. Of the avenues leading to the Waterfront, the view corridors have been blocked in half.
The DNA has been consistent in its support of the Comp Plan objective through the Visioning and LDR process asking for the creation of new park zoning to include the Waterfront. A new Park Zone (DC-P) was created, but excepted Al Lang Field and the Mahaffey Theater site. In response to the Rays proposal for a new stadium at this location, we established a committee to identify and seek responses to our concerns from both the City and the Rays. After extensive deliberation, at the last board meeting, we passed a resolution to oppose the construction of a stadium at Al Lang based on the appropriateness of a structure of this size in this location, traffic and parking, infrastructure impact, funding and financial issues, environmental and general quality of life concerns. We continue to ask City Council to include this site in the DC-P zone.
In the end, any decision to build a stadium must be approved by the voters. We encourage you to become informed and involved. Email or send us your opinions, and participate in the public workshop to share your vision for the future of Al Lang: Thursday, March 6, 5:30 to 9 pm, at the Mahaffey Theater.
