June 9 City Commission Meeting:
This meeting was short, with only a few tidbits relevant to downtown:
1) The first reading of a new, proposed code ordinance occured. If passed at the June 23 commission meeting, major construction projects will be required to submit a plan and pull a permit for employee parking and materials delivery routes. The goal is to minimize traffic & parking chaos in the surrounding neighborhood.
2) During Covid, Governor DeSantis authorized / encouraged the expansion of outdoor seating for restaurants and bars.
After that state authorization "sunsetted," WPB passed legislation continuing that policy, bolstered by DDA support. Commissioner Fox announced that the first downtown restaurant to take advantage of that new legislation is Avocado Grill on Datura Street, and she hopes that other downtown restaurants will follow suit.
3) Commissioner Fox also mentioned that the city is in negotiations with Waterview Towers about connecting the city-owned path along Palm Harbor Marina directly to the north bridge to create a seamless, 3-mile loop for joggers & walkers. In exchange, Waterview Towers wants the city to help pay for secure, metal gates to keep the public off the boat docks. Of course, the city must still get FDOT approval to connect that path to the north bridge. But, at least the ball is rolling on that issue.
City Commission Meeting 6/23:
Nothing of note happened at the brief commission meeting 6/23. But the CRA meeting immediately prior featured a presentation on "Transit Village," a major condo & parking garage project spearheaded by Related Group (owned by Jorge Perez from Miami) on a wedge-shaped parcel on the west side of the Tri-Rail station. That parcel currently is a parking lot. Apparently, "Transit Village" received preliminary commission approval in 2018, but has been delayed by assorted complications. One complication is the land is owned by PB County, which needs to be prodded to sell it. Another is the way Related Group plans to finance the land purchase: via an installment plan using a portion of the property taxes generated by the new units. Yet another is having enough workforce-housing units to qualify for government incentives. The latest design offers 40 workforce-housing units. So, there are many complexities, but the city has high hopes that "Transit Village" will be a hit with commuters. However, there was no discussion of the shower & shave that the bedraggled Tri-Rail station desperately needs in order to attract riders. City officials like to tout the historic aspects of the Tri-Rail station, but "pre-historic" is a more accurate adjective.
N.B.: In the many city commission meetings I’ve attended, I notice how other neighborhoods in WPB are treated to extensive “community outreach” anytime developers want to build something there...and I’m not just talking about the official letters residents receive about some ticky-tacky renovations happening within a 500 yard radius. Except for downtown, residents elsewhere in WPB are always invited to detailed presentations of major projects where public opinion is influential long before the project is eligible for a vote before the city commission. In my 24 years living downtown, I’ve never been invited—and never heard of any other downtown resident invited—to any community outreach meeting on a major downtown building project—and we have far more major development here than any other neighborhood in the city. We at the DNA are trying to change that by convincing city officials and developers that we downtowners are a neighborhood just like any other, with common interests, and a desire to be consulted. So, whether it’s the plans for Vanderbilt University or any other major project under consideration, we’d love to hear about it via “community outreach” and have an influence in its formation and approval.
----Schmidt