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For the Record
By DAVE SHELTON
Article published on Thursday, May 18, 2006 |
Crematorium to get public hearing
LARGO – The proposed crematorium for Serenity Gardens Memorial Park on Wilcox Road will be reviewed by the city planning board and City Commission.
This has been announced by Mike Staffopoulos, the community development director who would routinely have had the authority to approve the proposal without public hearings since it complies with existing land use codes.
The proposed building of the crematory in the cemetery adjacent to Moss-Feaster Funeral Homes property has raised objections from hundreds of surrounding property owners. They have claimed it would reduce their property values and emit dangerous gases into the air.
Staffopoulos was probably facing public hearings if he approved the site plan. The residents said they intended to appeal his decision to the city commission. Under building statutes, Staffopoulos could defer his decision to the city commission if he felt that would be in the “public interest.”
Also under review are the funeral home’s plans to build a new mausoleum on the same property.
City considers ramping up to help handicapped homeowners
The city commission is being asked to consider a program offering $5,000 grants to homeowners who need to renovate their homes to make them meet the needs of the handicapped, such as ramps.
The proposal is part of a presentation the city’s Community Development Department is planning to make to the city commission. City Manager Steve Stanton said the department would also ask for another increase in the home value limits in the city’s Sold on Largo program.
Sold on Largo provides subsidies to help low-income families buy a home. Last year the City Commission increased the most a prospective buyer could pay for a new home to $150,000.
Stanton says that increase, from $144,000, has had little impact on the number of applications received. He said the city planners believe that is because there are few homes available for sale at less than $150,000.
School-aged authors feted by Friends of the Library
Two Countryside High School students took top honors in the 22nd annual short-story contest sponsored by Friends of the Library.
Lauren Munns and Alice Feigel took first and second-place, respectively and third place went to Largo High student Steven L. Buis.
Honor Baily, Seminole, took top spot in the middle school contest; second-place went to Krista Pontzer from St. Paul’s. The third place winner was Rodrigo Sarmento of Carwise Middle School.
Casey McPhee, the library director, said there were 280 entries in the writing contest.
Cultural center ticket sales boosted by online outlet
More than one-third of ticket sales to recent events at the Largo Cultural Center have come through Ticketmaster, according to City Manager Steve Stanton.
The largest percentage, he reported to the City Commission last week, was for recent concerts by Zoso and Colin Hay. Online sales for those concerts represented more than half of the total ticket sales for each event.
Stanton said that, in all, the online sales have generated $38,000 in ticket sales for Cultural Center events.
Birds get new nests in city park
A rare subspecies of American Kestrel, pileated woodpeckers and mallards have new homes in the McGough Nature Park, thanks to a Boy Scout Eagle candidate.
City Manager Steve Stanton reported last week the Scout installed 16 nesting boxes in the park, including the swampy area. Stanton said he learned that the Kestrels had tried to nest in an electric substation but were chased away by exotic parrots that live in the substation.
Broad agenda set for Friday’s City Commission retreat
The City Commission is scheduled at a day-long retreat May 19 to discuss items from its Strategic Plan for city growth to where each commissioner should sit during its regular meetings.
The workshop is being held in the “Collaborative Labs” at St. Petersburg College’s Epi-Center, 13805 58th St. North in the ICOT Center. It is open to the public.
The agenda for the retreat, which opens at 8:30 a.m., shows the commission will delve into the Strategic Plan for activity centers, streets, parks trails and greenways and neighborhoods during its morning session which ends at noon.
After lunch the commission has scheduled discussion of new guidelines for citizen’s comments, commission seating arrangements, promoting more respectable conduct, yielding time to other speakers and other issues involving citizen comments during its regular meetings.
Beginning at 3:15 p.m., the commission was scheduled to review rules for workshop sessions, membership on advisory boards by commissioners, and building communications with communities within the city.
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Article published on Thursday, May 18, 2006
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