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Rezoning approved for Golden Lantern property
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Thursday, March 23, 2006 |
PINELLAS COUNTY – The old adage, the third time is the charm, came true when the Pinellas Planning Council agreed March 15 to recommend with conditions rezoning of property at 7950 Park Blvd.
A decision to approve or deny recommending that the county Board of Commissioners allow rezoning of the property, currently occupied by the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park, was postponed in January and February due to a question about whether the property was located in a coastal high hazard zone.
After two hours of discussion Wednesday afternoon, the council agreed 8-1, with Council member Dick Holmes dissenting, to recommend rezoning with conditions as written by Tim Johnson, the attorney representing the owner of the Golden Lantern and Triax, the company under contract to purchase the property for redevelopment.
The rezoning application requests that 19.78 acres on the south side of Park Boulevard change from residential urban to residential medium with 2 acres of residential commercial.
Triax plans to build 225 rental apartments, which would include between 133 and 183 affordable housing units, 108 market-rate townhouses and up to 17,500 square feet of neighborhood commercial retail space.
The PPC conditions would require Triax to not only adhere to the developer’s agreement submitted with the rezoning request, but to also amend the agreement to include mitigation recommendations from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council to increase the property’s elevation.
In a letter, the TBRPC stated that the Golden Lantern property “sits in a bowl” compared to other properties around it and would be in a coastal high hazard on its updated map.
The PPC imposed the condition that the county evacuation zone map and the TBRPC map be updated to agree on areas of coastal high hazard and to include a statement in regard to the mitigation requirements for the Park Boulevard property.
Gary Vickers, director of the county emergency management, said he believed redevelopment would be good for emergency planning purposes, if the property was elevated to FEMA standards and structures constructed that were better suited to withstand hurricane conditions.
David Healey, PPC executive director, said the PPC staff recommended that the council deny without prejudice the rezoning to allow the applicant, Pinellas County, to bring the matter back to the council after addressing concerns. One of those concerns was additional traffic on Park Boulevard.
Pete Yauch, county transportation director, said his staff believed that the traffic management plan included in the developer’s agreement would suffice to solve any potential problems from the development.
After hearing testimony disputing the two biggest objections to deny recommending the rezoning application, the PPC began looking at reasons to approve. The developer’s agreement to include affordable housing became the most persuasive factor.
“We’re all screaming for affordable housing,” said Council member Bill Foster.
Although the council continued to express concern about people displaced by redevelopment, testimony by Jennifer Cocciardi, president of the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Association, convinced most members that residents of the mobile home park were now in favor of the redevelopment.
Cocciardi said 68 mobile home owners in the park had reached an agreement with the developer and would receive $18,382 – equal shares of $1.25 million. She said she was working to find housing solutions for the 30 others who had not entered into the agreement with Triax for a variety of reasons.
The council reluctantly conceded that the state law requiring that adequate and suitable housing be available for displaced mobile home owners and the inequitable amounts the law allowed as payment for their property was a battle to be fought another day and agreed to delay any discussion.
“Let’s not make that decision today,” said Council member Linda Lerner. “Let’s leave the door open.”
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Article published on Thursday, March 23, 2006
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