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

Now......can we all pull together?

Nov 12, 2004

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Neighbors:

People regularly ask me what does CONA do and what do I do as its President. Frankly, the answer is simple: we are the lobbyists for the neighborhoods. We try to get the neighborhood needs on the agenda of the local governments, primarily the City. Finally, we help each other figure out how to solve problems and build on successes in our neighborhoods.

I view my job primarily as a lobbyist for neighborhoods. Let me share with you some of the efforts I've made in the last six weeks. CONA often gets an invitation to send a representative to groups. Often the most useful part of this is the chance to speak one on one with people who have the power to fix things. During the recent Mahaffey discussions, I had a chance to speak to most of the city council members and urged that the process of what to do with the Mahaffey be open and bidding be competitive. This is the same argument I made about the Florida International Museum block sale to Progress Energy. Competitive bidding resulted in a much better proposal and taxpayers received millions more for the property. I believe a similar result may happen with the Mahaffey Theatre.

Code enforcement is our first priority this year. I have had continuing conversations with both the staff, the Mayor and City Council members about how to improve the process. We gained staff for the first time in 6 years, created a repeat offender landlord ordinance, added cell phones and soon laptop computers and perhaps most important, changed the policies to sharply reduce the number of extensions for code violations. I think the collective result of these changes will be widely visible within the year.

CONA has a representative on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Although it is a non-voting member, it does allow me to provide some perspective from the neighborhoods and to see what the Chamber priorities are. Simply knowing the people who run the Chamber helps. I also attend the lunches of the Downtown Partnership. I helped them/us get additional funding from the PSTA to double the service of the Looper for the next two years. The City Council asked me to serve on the PSTA Board. I believe we will see improving mass transit in St. Petersburg over the next five years.

The police department has asked me to speak for the neighborhoods three times recently. I try to voice our perspective and our needs. Because the police department is really a military style organization, it's tendency is to be more command and control and less open to neighborhood input.

However, we keep trying and I believe our continuing voice for strong enforcement of drug, prostitution, auto theft and the need to be fully staffed is heard. I see efforts to respond to our requests. You may have seen that Council member Kriseman raised the issue as to why the head of the Uhuru could destroy the Halloween display of a child's in front of the police without being arrested. I wondered the same thing. Ironically, today the head of the NAACP was charged with trespassing for being too aggressive in trying to stop the sale of drug accessories.

I have been asked to serve on a homeless/social service funding task force. In that vein, I have tried to voice our concerns that serving meals to the homeless without drug, alcohol, life altering skills and treatment make the situation in several neighborhoods worse. We want to help the needy get off the streets, not attract those who choose to live on the streets.

Finally, every week someone contacts me who needs to find a neighborhood association or a city official to get help. I try to point them in the right direction.

None of these efforts will save the world, but I hope collectively we make our community a better place.

Sincerely,

Karl Nurse
President, CONA



CONA BOARD MEETING
Wednesday, November 17th at:
The SUNSHINE CENTER, 330 5th St. N.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m.; meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.

On The Agenda ?….
Nominations for 2005 CONA Executive Board
2004 retrospective: Goals & Objectives
Re-Zoning for Indoor Mini-storage
Utility Blight


CONA NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Hurry!
Time is running out!
Application deadline November 30th

This program, which begins in January, is designed to: 1. Broaden potential neighborhood leaders?’ understanding of our community, 2) Expand the pool of skilled neighborhood leaders, 3) Encourage the establishment of networks among neighborhood leaders, 4.) Enhance the ability of neighborhoods to resolve problems on their own or in cooperation with other neighborhoods and/or institutions and, 5.) Introduce participants to decision-makers in our City?’s government and throughout our community.

For more information, please call
Ingrid Comberg at 821-2192


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

Annual Awards:

Neighborly Neighbor - Tom Barrett & Len Johnsen, Historic Roser
Newsletter - Jungle Terrace
Website - Historic Kenwood
Best Project - Mangrove Bayou Fire Station Event
President - David Hoover/Riviera Bay Civic
Up & Coming - Oakwood Garden

Council District Awards
District 1 - Historic Park Street
District 2 - Riviera Bay Civic
District 3 - Snell Isle
District 4 - Historic Uptown
District 5 - Bayou Bonita
District 6 - Lakewood Terrace
District 7 - Perkins
District 8 - North Kenwood

Best Neighborhood Partnership Grant application for FY 05 (selected by the Grants Review Team): Bayou Bonita (due to level of communication in preparation for the grant)

Mayor's Community Partnership Initiative Awards (business partnerships with neighborhood to enhance and/or raise the awareness of the community) (3 awards)

Edward White Hospital: Collaborative efforts with the North Kenwood Neighborhood for the past 8 years as a sponsor for their meetings, events and projects. One of the most recent projects is the improvement of Booker Creek Lake Park. The park is the hospital's back door and the neighborhood's centerpiece.

Mount Vernon Elementary School: Collaboration on the City's first joint use playground.

34th Street Federation: Collaboration with surrounding neighborhoods to improve the quality of life (34th Streeet Business in collaboration with Central Oak Park, Disston Heights, Historic Kenwood and North Kenwood)

Neighborhood of the Year: Historic Uptown


REZONING (OR NOT) THE HARD WAY
By Cathy Wilson

The City of St. Petersburg Planning Commission (PC) held a hearing on November 2nd, 2004 to decide two issues relating to Indoor Mini-Storage occupancies. The first issue was a request to add this use to Commercial General (CG) and it was narrowly drawn to apply to reuse of existing buildings only. An article appeared in the CONA Newsletter earlier this year about this proposal. The second issue was a request to rezone a parcel of land at the corner of MLK Street and 30th Avenue N. to CG from ROR-1 (Residential/Office/Retail). Both requests were brought to the PC by a private individual, Bud Rutland, owner of Rutland Mini-Storage with his attorney, Bob Ulrich. City staff recommended approval of both applications but two neighborhood associations (Crescent Heights and Greater Woodlawn) and a few private individuals urged the PC to deny the requests. This was the second hearing on these issues and had taken two years to get to this point.

On the first issue, City Planner Rick MacAuley cited the lack of any provision for Indoor Mini-Storage occupancies in our current code, staff?’s belief that these kinds of storage operations were substantially different than the traditional mini-storage occupancy now allowed in industrial/heavily commercial areas only and that the change would bring our code into concurrence with the County-wide Plan. Staff also believed that this use was a great interim use for buildings that haven?’t yet been redeveloped. Mr. Rutland cited the need to keep his family business running and the many letters of support from business and neighborhood groups he had received. The opposition talked about traffic, loading/unloading and safety concerns (what is stored and who makes sure it can?’t hurt anyone). One of the Commissioners was uncomfortable with restricting this occupancy to reuse only. She was concerned that it smacked of changing the Code to benefit only one business - or in other words; SPOT ZONING. She proposed an amended request that would allow the use in both new and reuse buildings. Yet another Commissioner further changed the request to make the use a Special Exception requiring an EDC hearing. The PC voted 6 to 3 to approve the amended request. What this means is that we now have a new use in CG - Indoor Mini-Storages - unless City Council votes to overturn it on appeal. If one wants to open on CG zoned property near your neighborhood, you must convince the EDC not to approve the application.

The second issue was more hotly contested by the opposition. Staff recommended approval with basically the same points they used in the first issue as did the applicant. They made light of the traffic and safety concerns of the neighborhood folks. Citing the Comprehensive Plan and actual site conditions, the neighbors refuted each point made by staff and the applicant?…
?· The Plan says there?’s already too much commercial land and no more is needed. This request would increase commercial land at the expense of any residential.
?· The Plan speaks against rezoning one parcel of land in a same zone district. MLK is ROR-1 or RS-75 from 5th Avenue N. all the way up to 34th Avenue N.
?· Densities and intensities in CG are approximately double those in ROR-1 and this parcel directly abuts a residential area (Crescent Heights).
?· 30th Avenue, while an arterial road, is only two lanes wide with a short left turn lane and has been blocked for hours by moving vans loading or unloading. The vans can?’t use the 18?’ residential alley in back of the building because utility poles make the turn impossible. The applicant failed to provide any plan for loading or unloading.
?· The staff report listed the wide variety of businesses now on MLK and said that an Indoor Mini-Storage would be in harmony. The neighbors pointed out that many of these businesses were non-conforming and/or grandfathered uses and that the applicant?’s building was one of the largest non-conformities on the street with an FAR of over 80.
The PC had two questions for staff as they deliberated; the fate of the business should they deny the request and how the business got an occupational license to open their business since it?’s an illegal use. The answers provided by staff were 1) the business would have to close or change occupancies and 2) The applicant filled out the application for license in a misleading manner, calling their operation an office with ancillary storage. Staff was unaware of the actual operations until a citizen complained. In a close victory for the neighbors, the PC voted 5 to 4 to deny the request. Mr. Rutland can (and probably will) appeal the ruling to City Council but must gather a super majority to overturn the decision. The neighbors plan to attend and urge Council to uphold the PC?’s ruling. Mr. Rutland?’s last remedy would be an appeal to Circuit Court. Stay tuned for further developments?…


CONA BOARD OF DIRECTOR?’S MEETING MINUTES

The Sunshine Multi-Service Center October 20, 2004


President Karl Nurse called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., and leading us in the pledge of allegiance to our flag.

Karl then thanked V.P. Steve Plice for conducting our September meeting in his absence. He also expressed our collective gratitude to Steve for his dedicated service as Editor and Publisher of our monthly CONA Newsletter.
> Moved, (Whysong), to accept the September Minutes as published. [Approved]
?˜ Treasurer Libby Steel then gave her report of a bank balance of $1.775.50.
?˜ The President then gave a brief update of the activities he attended as our CONA representative.
?¨ The Police Department Retreat
?¨ City Council
?¨ The P.S.T.A. Board
?˜ President Nurse then announced the appointment of a Nominating Committee that will prepare a slate of candidates for our November meeting. They were: Jeff Danner (Historic Kenwood), Kathy Wilson (Greater Woodlawn), Barbara Heck (Snell Isle), and Charles Payne (Bartlett Park).
?˜ Ann McWilliams made a presentation of the CONA Leadership Program for 2005. All of our member neighborhoods were encouraged to schedule a program recruiter to speak at their monthly meetings.
?˜ We next heard an update report regarding the progress with the city?’s Codes Enforcement Program.
?˜ Our Guest Speaker, Bob Jeffrey, (City Development and Historic Preservation Staff), reviewed results of two years of joint effort, (with CONA representation), to revise and update the Land Development Regulations (LDRs) that have not been materially revised since 1977.
?¨ A ?“Use Matrix?” defining 48 categories each with unique code regulations will be the mandated criteria for where any new developments can be approved for construction.
?¨ New zoning classifications, identifying all platted properties, will be published by their staff within four months.
?¨ Compliance with the new LDRs will be prioritized in their execution.
?¨ The new, more definitive LDRs should reduce the requests for variances.
?¨ Major divisions of the codes will include: Neighborhoods, Corridors and Centers, (Indistrial and Commercial).
?¨ Variance processing will still include public hearings, the EDC, and the Board of Adjustment.
?˜ We heard a reiteration of the CONA resolution requiring utility companies to install their local wiring underground for safety and to reduce interruptions during storm. It was further urged that our members insist on appropriate power company tree trimming to support the goals of safety and continuity in storms. [See resolution text in our CONA Newsletter.]
?˜ Our member organizations were encouraged to attend the upcoming series of public Police District Meetings that have supplanted our earlier series of CONA meetings with Chief Harmon.
?˜ We were all invited to attend the Historic Kenwood Bungalow Fest that will, this year, include rides on ?“The Trolley?” and a tour of historic St. Petersburg High School.
?˜ All of our neighborhood associations are strongly urged to discuss the proposed plans and revisions of our city waterfront. It is vital to our future development that we vote on the ballot issues offered and to communicate our aspirations to our City Council members directly.

The President adjourned our meeting at 8:40 p.m.

Conrad Weiser, Secretary