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Liberty withdraws plans for Belleair branch
By HARLAN WEIKLE
Article published on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 |
BELLEAIR – Stung by a neighborhood action group opposing their plans and the denial of a variance request by the town’s Planning and Zoning Board, Liberty Bank has withdrawn its plans to open a branch on Wildwood Way.
Wildwood Way, which parallels Belleview Boulevard and intersects Indian Rocks Road, is in a predominantly residential neighborhood with a small enclave of five or six commercially zoned properties at the northwestern edge of the community. When neighbors surrounding the area heard that the local bank group planned to purchase the residential style building at 310 Wildwood Way and convert it into a community bank location they made their own plans.
Hiring a public relations firm, Hill and Knowlton, the neighborhood ad hoc group quickly began their campaign to keep the bank out by distributing a flyer throughout the community detailing their concerns about decreasing property values, increasing traffic and even the possibility of a rising crime rate and set about informing the town and the media that the bank was not welcome on their street.
Apparently the campaign had an impact even as bank officials tried, by all accounts unsuccessfully, to assuage the neighborhood by hosting an open house to showcase their plans and hold a public discussion. After the planning board denied their request for a setback variance last week, which would have allowed for increased ease of traffic onto the property, bank officials made a decision to withdraw their plans.
In an e-mail to town building official Fred Hawes dated Oct. 10 from TBE Group, project manager Marc Mariano said, “Liberty Bank requested that I inform you that they are officially withdrawing their site plan application and variance application for the site at 310 Wildwood Way.”
Asked Wednesday morning why the bank chose to withdraw its plan, Liberty Bank President and CEO David Stone said, “We have better things to do with our time and energy than fight that battle. There are no other locations in Belleair, however we will continue to look for sites in other communities.”
Also at Tuesday night’s Town Commission meeting, police Chief Tom Edwards informed the commission and citizens that the Breast Cancer 3-Day is this weekend. The walkers, he said, would be in Belleair Friday morning Oct. 19 following a route from S. Fort Harrison Avenue turning west onto Belleview Boulevard and south along Indian Rocks Road. The walk is expected to attract 2,200 to 2,300 participants.
It was announced that the candidate qualifying period for the upcoming March 11 municipal election begins Nov. 27 and ends at 1 p.m. Jan. 10, 2008. Commissioners Karla Rettstatt and Tom Shelly are up for re-election.
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Article published on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
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