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Downtown: at a crossroads?
By TOM GERMOND
| Article published on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 |
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| Opponents of a plan for downtown Largo are concerned about an increase in densities allowing high-rise buildings. |
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LARGO – The vacant restaurant on West Bay Drive has a epitaph on its door.
“While we have enjoyed serving our customers for the past five years, this particular location is permanently closed,” the sign reads.
In the heart of downtown Largo, Crispers, part of a chain owned by Publix, went out of business in late June.
Not enough customers, the company said.
The building is steps away from one of the busiest intersections in mid-Pinellas County – Seminole Boulevard, Missouri Avenue, East Bay Drive and West Bay Drive.
Death by recession? Another theory: a lifeless downtown.
Chris Arbutine, a downtown business owner and mayor of Belleair Bluffs, spoke at a recent City Commission meeting in favor of a plan designed to revitalize downtown Largo through increased densities, mixed-uses and other planning elements.
“We want to make sure we don’t end up like Crispers because there is not enough development,” Arbutine said.
On that evening, July 21, many residents of the area didn’t share his sentiments. They made passionate arguments against amendments to the West Bay Community Development District Plan 2009.
Commissioners listened, asked staff some technical questions and then cast a 5-1 vote in favor of tentatively approving the amendments, reminding residents that tweaking the plan will continue. Of course, commissioners had their say, too.
‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’
Commissioner Harriet Crozier said that the city isn’t “building anything” but has to start somewhere with a plan for downtown. She warned of the consequences for delaying action indefinitely.
“The longer I feel we keep dragging this out ... the plan is going to change a different way and we’re never going to have a plan,” she said.
Consequently, developers are “going to come down and say ‘what’s your plan?’ and ‘thank you so much I’ll go somewhere else.’”
Crozier said there was a “nifty” antique shop that was across the street from Crispers.
“I left two weeks ago to go home and went by and the guy’s packing up. It broke my heart that we have to lose this business,” she said.
Crozier said commissioners have listened to residents.
“We have put a lot of your thoughts and concerns in the plan,” he said.
The plan is recognized by Pinellas County officials as some of the goals they want for the county, she said.
Commissioner Woody Brown said he thought some misinformation was being spread about the plan. He said he lives on the West Bay Drive corridor and spends most of his time there.
The plan that’s exisiting, he said, is very similar in densities to the proposed plan, which has more buffers.
“There’s an old saying that’s kind of a cliché: ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,’ ” Brown said.
Commissioner Gigi Arntzen said “to not have a plan is the worst thing we can do.”
“We are trying to balance the wants of the residents with the wants of the businesses,” Arntzen said, “It’s a very long process. The bulldozers are not going to be here next week, I can assure you.”
Development agreements will address what specifically can be allowed, she said.
Commissioner Rodney Woods said he has listened to many people on the issue.
However, he said, “you’ve got to plan; you’ve got to know where you’re going,” Woods said.
He said he will continue to ask questions on the plan and tweak it “until we can satisfy as many people as we can.”
Largo will keep changing and growing, Gerard said, and the “best thing we can do is manage that growth. I think this is a good plan.”
“We can build more strip malls, we can build more apartment complexes all over the city – that’s not smart growth,” Gerard said
Commissioner Robert Murray said he supports the plan and believes it has improved. Nevertheless, he voted against it because he thought it could be improved more. He wanted to have more discussion on densities, among other issues.
Commissioner Mary Gray Black, who is traveling in Europe until Aug. 6, was not at the July 21 meeting but said in an e-mail she would have voted against the revised plan.
She said she has “repeatedly cautioned against increasing the maximum density and intensity as proposed, and I have repeatedly cautioned against increasing the maximum allowed stories as proposed.”
“The city elected officials must remember that favoring the maximum, as proposed, would have a future negative effect on the city’s resources and infrastructure,” Black said.
Residents voice objections
Many residents of neighborhoods off West Bay Drive have spoken out against the plan at public meetings in recent weeks. At least one resident vowed to fight it at every step of approval in the review process.
They have said that the changes in the plan will allow high-rises and increased densities will lead to traffic congestion, disrupt the quality of life in neighborhoods and put a strain on natural resources, such as potable water. They complained trucks delivering food and raw materials would create noise.
They also are concerned that the changes will impede traffic flow from the beaches during hurricane evacuations. Recent literature distributed by opponents of the plan says that “sound systems located in entertainment and residential units might entertain even those in the remaining neighborhood who do not wish to be entertained.”
A petition signed by 179 residents in opposition to the proposed changes has been presented by city officials.
“We need to protect our citizens’ homes. What you are being asked to do is to protect business people,” said Carol Stupp at the July 21 meeting.
Robert Bullard canvassed the area, collecting signatures.
“I really didn’t have to sell people on opposing the plan,” he said, “because the plan sold itself on being something they opposed.”
If commissioners have difficulty “accepting that people don’t want a part of the plan, the issue should be put on a referendum,” Bullard said.
Leanne Toms asked commissioners to stop the plan immediately.
“This is not order. This is not reason,” she said. “Don’t you spend another penny. We pay community development more than we pay the police department.”
Residents have expressed concerns in e-mails to the city, too.
A couple who live within the district said they like the small-town atmosphere of Largo. They called the plan greedy
“The proposed plans only create urban sprawl, parking nightmares and destroy comfortable suburban neighborhoods,” said David Reid and Lorraine Krause, in the e-mail.
The time is now
Business interests support the plan. Largo/Mid-Pinellas Chamber of Commerce President Tom Morrisette sent a letter dated July 17 to city commissioners, encouraging them to support the plan.
For the past several years, the chamber has supported many efforts presented by Community Development staff that encourages growth within the city “while maintaining a quality of life that we have all come to enjoy and expect,” the letter said.
“Central to our shared vision for the future of Largo is a vibrant center-city downtown hub. We have represented the business community in front of this panel – in addition to those at county and state levels – on numerous occasions in support of the creation of the West Bay Drive and Clearwater-Largo Road Redevelopment Districts,” the letter said.
“If we are to catch the next wave of development, the time to set the stage is now,” Morrisette wrote.
Developing the corridor as a medical arts district is a natural, Morrisette said July 24, in an e-mail to the Leader.
“It’s pretty much taken on that identity on its own. First things will be the opening of the new Diagnostic Clinic and the expansion of facilities for some major medical players already located there,” he said.
Once the economy improves he said, additional medical facilities, doctors offices, etc. “will take root that ultimately will get the attention of developers establishing retail and housing projects to serve the growing needs of the medical community,” Morrisette said.
Arbutine, whose family owns Belleair Coins and the Silver Queen on West Bay Drive, said he sat through numerous meetings as the plan was being revised. He said his family has invested $2.4 million of its “hard-earned” money into the business.
The plan is “not building buildings,” he said, but is going “to make the planning easier so that private industry hopefully will build buildings.”
“Because what’s going to happen if you don’t make a plan,” he said, “is that development is going to happen anyway and if you don’t plan it out, and use smart growth tactics, it’s going to come in haphazardly with variances and problems and it’s not going to be uniform.”
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Article published on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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