Welcome to the City of St.

Petersburg City Council meeting.

Your elected officials are Mayor Ken Welch.

District 1, Copley Gurtis.

District 2, Brandy Gabbard.

District 3, Mike Harding.

District 4, and Council Chair, Leseth Panowitz.

District 5, Deborah Fake Sanders.

District 6, Gina Driscoll.

District 7, Corey Gibbons Jr.

And District 8 and Council Vice Chair, Richie Floyd.

Welcome everyone to the April 16th, 2026 City Council meeting.

Clerk, could I please have a roll call?

Hannawitz.

Here.

Sanders.

Here.

Here.

Curtis.

Here.

Abbott.

Here.

Harding.

Here.

Today we're going to have our invocation given by our council member Corey Gibbons Jr.

So if you can please stand and then remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Chair.

Let us pray.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way.

Thou who is by thy might let us into the light, keep us forever in thy path.

We pray.

We come, O God, God in many forms and many fashions to say thank you for this day.

Thank you for this hour.

Thank you for another opportunity for us to do the business of this great city that we all call home.

We thank you, O God, for leadership, both at the local level, the state level, and the federal national level.

We thank you, O God, for those who have been willing to step up and to accept the call to serve.

We ask, Lord, that you teach us to put aside our differences and to embrace unity.

We pray, God, that you allow us, Father, to do your will and let your will be fulfilled.

We pray right now that you continue to make a way for those who have no way, mend brokenness, provide a roof over the homeless right now, Father God, and food on the table for those who are hungry.

We pray right now that you will continue to get the glory out of all that we say and all that we do.

In the mighty mattress name of Jesus, we do pray.

Amen.

Amen.

I'd like to allegiance through the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

You may be seated.

Thank you, Councilmember Givens, for that beautiful invocation.

Council members, we have an agenda before us.

I'll entertain a motion for approval.

Move approval.

Second.

You have a motion, a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve the agenda passes unanimously with Councilmember Floyd being absent.

Clerk, I see we have speakers today for open forum.

Could we please read the rules?

The consent agenda, Madam Chair.

Oh, that's right.

That's right.

Forgot the consent agenda.

We have no motion.

Move approval.

Second.

And we have hours for it.

Okay, Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

I just wanted to call attention to item CB5, which is regarding the fire training complex project.

Again, this is always been one of my favorite and most passive most passionate items for many years.

And every time I see something come up, it reminds me that we're taking another step forward in making this come to fruition.

So I just wanted to point that out and thank everyone who is working on that.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Motion in.

We have a motion.

Motion second.

Okay.

Clerk you please open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve the consent agenda passes unanimously with council member Floyd being absent.

Um we have speakers.

Yes, we do.

Please read the rules.

So your three-minute time clock is going to be on the screen up here because the clock's down here working.

Thank you, Clerk.

If you wish to address city council on subjects other than public hearing or quasi judicial items on the agenda, please sign up with the clerk.

Only the individual wishing to speak may sign the open form sheet.

Only city residents or owners of property, business owners in the city, or their employees may speak.

All issues discussed under open form must be limited to issues related to the city of St.

Petersburg government.

If you are speaking to an item on the agenda, you may only speak once during the open form or when the item comes up on the agenda.

Applause is not permitted except in connection with awards and presentations.

In order to provide an opportunity for all citizens to address counsel, each individual will be given three minutes to speak, and after which the microphone will be muted.

If you wish to address city council through the Zoom meeting, you must use the raise hand feature button in the Zoom app or enter star nine on your phone at the time the agenda item is addressed.

When is your turn to speak?

You'll be unmuted and asked to state your name and address.

At the conclusion of your comments, or when you reach the three-minute time limit, you'll be muted.

All raised hands will be lowered after each agenda item.

Regardless of the method of participation used, normal rules apply, including three minute time.

The three-minute time limit on comments, the requirement that any presentation materials must be submitted in advance of the meeting and the rules of decorum.

If live public comment is disrupted by violations of the rules of the decorum, the chair is authorized to accept public comment by alternate means, including by email only.

And at the moment we have none in Zoom.

Dr.

Perigee Washington and Trevor McMallory, please go to either podium, state your name and address for the record, and you will have three minutes to address city council.

It seems like your Washington wants.

Okay, now you're gonna give me three minutes and tell me what to say in my three minutes.

Does that make sense to anybody?

Today's sermon is about send help is time.

Back in the day of slavery, the slave had a had a communication network.

They said things their white masters couldn't understand.

Such as send help is time.

He's killing me.

But they said didn't say send help is time.

You had to understand the language.

S.

H.

I.

T.

This shit is killing me.

It means send help is time.

During my travels around the world.

I understood you had to search, theorize, analyze, network, and defend yourself.

S A N D.

Take a stand.

I was arrested last year for popping people from putting a fence in my yard by the city police.

I this day is a war's day.

That's why you have this many people here.

I have an award.

First to the mayor.

This is the boot for a jackass.

Second boot.

For the chief of police.

And all you're going to make sure my people do their job.

I'm going to make sure everyone knows.

I told you last week I'm running for mayor.

Why?

Because no one else will stand for everybody in this city.

You didn't speak to me all last year.

You think I forgot you threw me out.

Thank you, sir.

Next speaker.

Um, good afternoon, council.

Uh Trevor Mallory.

4501 6th Street South St.

Petersburg, Florida, 33705.

Happy Fair Housing Month, y'all.

Um, I'm here to speak on behalf of a uh third year member, three year member of PCAR, which is an affiliate under the umbrella of NARAB organization.

I'm pretty sure you guys will hear more about that history as today goes on.

So as we observe fair housing this month in April, we also have to recognize that housing is just not a commodity, it is a fundamental pillar for our democracy.

The core promise of a democratic society is equal opportunity, and that promises begins at the front door of every home.

True democracy requires that every individual has the freedom to choose where they live, where they work, and where they raise their families.

When discrimination creates barriers to certain neighborhoods, it limits that freedom and silences the potential of our citizens.

And I see this on a daily basis, um, not only in the city of St.

Pete, but all around our country.

Stable housing is the anchor of civil engagement.

A resident who has a secure home is more likely to vote, more likely to volunteer, and more likely to invest their time and energy into the betterment of their local communities.

Democracy thrives on the exchange of ideas between diverse groups of people.

Fair housing policies dismantle the geographic barriers that keep us apart, fostering the kind of inclusive integrated neighborhoods that are essentially for healthy representatives that are, I'm sorry, that are essential for healthy representation in government.

Fair housing is the realation of a fair housing act in 1968, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that remains that reminds us of our community is only as strong as it as its most vulnerable residents across the oper in across the country.

And it also is most vulnerable to residents access to an opportunity to create generational wealth.

As we celebrate this month, let us let us recommit to the idea that in true democracy, your zip code should never be a barrier to your dreams.

By ensuring housing is fair and accessible, we aren't just building houses, we are strengthening the very fabric of our republic.

Thank you for your time.

Please go to either podium, state your name and address for the rec or cross street, and you have three minutes to address city council.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon.

Much shorter than Trevor, but my name is Keandra Darling, and I live at 873 Newton Avenue South.

I am a proud fourth generation resident of this city, and I am raising the fifth.

Good afternoon, Council members.

I am so grateful to be here with you today.

This Fair Housing Month, I am here on behalf of Pinellas County Association of Realtists, this beautiful group that sits here to my right, and I proudly stand as their political advocacy chair, not to just inform, but to call for urgent action and accountability.

In 1968, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers helped lead the fight for the pass the passage of the Fair Housing Act following the assassination of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

That law made it illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and it has since been expanded to include disability and familial status.

This was not symbolic.

It was a mandate to dismantle housing discrimination in all of its forms.

And yet, today, here in St.

Petersburg, where the sun is supposed to shine on all.

Only 4% of new mortgage originations.

That's a 20 to 1 disparity.

And we know that this is not a coincidence, and it's not accidental.

It's a measurable outcome of systems that are not working equitably, and it demands our intervention.

And here's why this matters.

Home ownership is the number one way for American families to build wealth.

At the current rate of the mortgage originations that we're seeing, the racial wealth gap in St.

Pete is gonna become insurmountable within a decade.

Economic stability, high disparity in origination suggests that black residents are either being denied loans at higher rates or being priced out of the city entirely.

And community retention.

If long-term residents cannot afford to buy homes, they are forced to remain renters, leaving them vulnerable to rising costs and eventual displacement.

A national poll reports an estimated 70% of Gen Zers and 53% of millennials are struggling just to pay rent.

So the question before us is not whether the problem exists.

The question is what is this council?

What is our city prepared to do about it?

Because without direct policy intervention, the market is not going to correct itself.

It's going to continue to exclude accountability must start with data, and we are calling for formal lending audits to examine approval rates, denial patterns, and institutional practices.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Sorry, I'm tall.

That's fine, you can raise it.

Okay.

You don't have to be sorry, be tall.

Okay.

Can everyone hear me?

You can raise it.

Awesome.

Okay.

Hello, my name is Manny Williams.

I live at 300 Eighth Street North, apartment 1202.

Um, my thing I want to discuss here today is there has been some various big, big housing issues within my building.

Um, to the point of where I don't know whether I'm going to be unhoused in October.

Um currently there was a problem with a flood that happened on my floor.

And they had water all over my apartment, and they sent people to come out.

Yet there is still mold in my apartment.

I am asthmatic.

Um, so I'm watching it sitting there growing, and I'm wondering like, is this causing health issues?

Um there have been bugs in our place, they have tented the place, not really tented it, but they've kind of came in and sprayed, and still things are still happening.

Um, they don't go away.

And um, it really is currently I live with my father, and it really is causing a strain, at least on our relationship, depending on what's going to happen as far as do we leave, do we stay, do we go?

Um it's just really hard.

And I've lived there for practically 15 plus years, and I have just watched that building go down and down and down and down.

And um, I really the it's a really beautiful location.

It's a wonderful location, it's a wonderful place.

St.

Pete, you know, was supposed to be a place for people like me at my young age to sit here and start a life and get a house and all of those fun things of being an adult, but it just seems like now that it's not possible.

Um I would just like something to happen specifically for that building or that location because all around there there is life.

And um I think it makes St.

Pete.

So that is all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I believe someone from administration is gonna make contact with you if you can just be here a minute.

Next two speakers.

Greg, I think it's Wasman.

Thank you.

Please state your name, address or cross street.

And you have three minutes to address city council.

Good afternoon, council members and representatives.

My name is Greg Wasmond, and I also reside at 308th Street North, Apartment 1202 with my son.

Um, the Portland Apartment Building.

Um, I would like to address a couple of serious issues that have been happening in the last years.

Uh we were very fortunate to be able to move in when it was first built in 2011, and it was a shining beacon of affordable housing.

Um we've been, as I said, it was very fortunate to live there all these years.

However, the of the habitability and safety crisis in our building now has become almost unbearable.

Um our building advertises a key fob security system to prevent unauthorized entry, but it hasn't worked for several years.

This failure has allowed unhoused individuals to access stairwells and elevator lobbies, creating health and safety hazards.

These conditions violate Florida's implied warranty of habitability under statute 83.56, which would require secure premises.

There is no way that we can afford to stay there at that rate.

Uh to me.

Um I'm just urging city council to please do a full inspection of the building.

There are a lot, there are many violations that have not been repaired.

It recently was bought again for the third time.

We've always been told every time that it's been bought that these things are gonna happen, but they never do.

And I just would appreciate it if you would take some action and as I said, do a full inspection of the Portland apartments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And sir, if you can go with Joe over there, and he you can talk to him about it.

He's with administration.

Thank you so much.

No more speakers.

Okay.

The housing administrator is here, who is gonna present it?

Good afternoon, good afternoon.

Well, we've already heard that it's fair housing month, so uh we're excited to present this proclamation on behalf of Mayor Welch.

We have the city's housing team with us here, a small contingency of them, and then we also have the Pinellas County Association of Realtists.

Whereas the federal Fair Housing Act, enacted in April 1968, was a landmark piece of legislation designed to eliminate discrimination in housing based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and sex, and to expand housing choices for all Americans.

And whereas April is observed as fair housing month, both nationally and locally, to honor the progress made and reaffirm the ongoing commitment to fair housing for all, and whereas the fight for dignity and equal opportunity in housing remains a shared responsibility, requiring action at the local, state, and federal levels to address persistent barriers to access and equity in housing.

And whereas effective local efforts to combat housing discrimination and expand affordable housing options are critical to ensure that all residents have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.

And whereas discrimination in any form, whether based on race, color, national origin, religion, disability, veteran status, or family structure undermines the fundamental right to fair housing and diminishes the rights of all people.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg is proud of its efforts to further fair housing and recognizes that this can only be accomplished through forging partnerships with other government agencies, corporations, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurs, and all persons interested in furthering fair housing.

Now, therefore, I, on behalf of Kenneth T.

Welch, mayor of St.

Petersburg, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Fair Housing Month.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Good afternoon, Mayor Ken Welch, Council members and community.

My name is Tamisha Darling Robertson.

I am the president of the Pinellas County Association of Realtists called PCAR, a local board of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.

On behalf of myself and our members, we thank you for this recognition.

We receive this proclamation with gratitude, but also with understanding, because this moment represents more than today.

It reflects legacy.

NARAB was founded in 1947 out of necessity.

And since then, Realtists have remained committed to expanding access to home ownership and advancing what we call democracy in housing.

This mission is still very real today.

And for me, this work is personal.

I was raised in this city.

My tides run five generations now deep.

So I don't just care about housing.

I care about who has access to it and what it means for families right here at home.

Through PCAR, we are in the community every day, educating, advocating, and helping people move from credit to keys, not for recognition, but because the need is real.

Because housing is more than a transaction.

It's how families build generational wealth, creating stability today that carries forward for decades.

Through our alignment with NARAP and our MOU partnership with the African American Mayors Association, we are part of a national movement.

And it's powerful to see that same commitment reflected here in my city, the city that I love.

So we accept this proclamation with appreciation and with continued commitment, committed to the work, committed to the people, and committed to making sure this city grows with every family who built it.

Five generations brought me here, and we're making sure the next five have a place to stay.

Thank you.

Well thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council, Dr.

Avery Sleiker, Housing Community Development, and I cannot follow that up.

I'm sorry.

But on behalf of the department and on the 2026 Fair Housing Symposium Planning Committee, we do express our sincere appreciation to you all for your unwavering support, your advocacy.

All of this is essential to us to advance fair housing practices across our city.

Through our work, we are strengthening neighborhoods and expanding opportunities.

All of this commitment from the council to the staff throughout the community plays a vital role in making a very meaningful purpose of ensuring that we have access to free, not free, but safe and affordable fair housing standards.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Chair, and uh thank you everyone for coming out today, and thank you, Amy and the entire team for the proclamation.

Looking forward to joining you all at the symposium next week.

Um, and I just want to thank NARAB and the members of the Pinellas County Association of Realtists for your advocacy.

It does not go unnoticed.

And uh I have in my other life as a real estate broker myself, I do have a member in my uh organization that is part of NARAB as well.

And I'm very familiar with the work that you all do every single day, the legacy that you leave to fight for fair and affordable housing for your to your point, Tamisha, generations to come.

And that is critical to making sure that St.

Petersburg remains a vibrant place to live.

And so I just want to thank each and every one of you from one realtor to realist.

And thank you all for continuing to keep up that fight.

It takes all of us to continue to move forward, remembering history, but making sure that we have a vibrant path ahead of us.

So thank you all.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing this forward and for everyone who joined us to um to celebrate this together.

And not just to celebrate what's been done and how far we've come, but also to remind ourselves that we're in this together to link arms and keep moving things forward.

When I was contacted about PCAR and trying to make sure that they were included in today's proclamation, I had a chance to look into the the history of the organization and what it really means.

And it just made me so proud to know some of the people who have been rolling up their sleeves and doing the work as part of the organization.

So wanted to take the moment to also thank you for all that you do and for all of the inspiration that you're spreading out there for others.

Um not just to move towards home ownership, but to look into this opportunity as a career possibility and how they can be what they see.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Skyler, Amy, and your team, you always do wonderful work.

Thank you.

Next up, we have D2, Arbor Day Proclamation.

And I believe Barbara Stahlberg is gonna be reading the proclamation.

Hi, Barbara.

Good afternoon.

Thanks for having us.

Good afternoon.

Managers A dual Yates, Lynn Gordon, and Taylor Thornton.

So with our upcoming Green Thumb Festival, Adule and Lynn have really taken a lead role on planning this event, which is a huge event.

It takes all year to prepare for, and they have put countless hours into it.

Um so thank you to them.

And also to Taylor Thornton, who plants the majority of trees that you see going on in our parks.

Uh, she oversees the horticulture department and forestry.

So um thank you to Taylor for being such an ambassador for our tree canopy.

She does a great job.

So, whereas trees enhance the quality of life by cleansing air and water, providing critical shade, and serving as a natural and vital habitat for a variety of birds and foraging fauna, and whereas trees help moderate temperatures by creating a cooling effect, which can counteract the heating effect of pavement and buildings in an urban environment.

And whereas trees promote social, economic, and environmental health by capturing and slowing stormwater one-off, filtering air pollution, reducing nutrient loading and water systems and flooding of neighborhoods, and contributing to the character and aesthetic beauty of neighborhoods and business districts.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg wishes to create awareness and appreciation for trees among all the residents in its community.

Whereas Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg supports the concept of Arbor Day and wishes to enhance its tree resources through commemorative plantings on an annual basis.

And whereas the city of St.

Petersburg supports being designated a green city through programming to conserve water, plant trees, preserve estuaries and sensitive lands, provide earth-friendly recycling programs, and the city's initiative to reduce its carbon footprint.

Now, therefore, I, Barbara Stahlberg, on behalf of Ken Kenneth T.

Welch, mayor of St.

Petersburg, Florida, do hereby recognize the observation of Arbor Day through our annual Green Thumb Festival held on the fourth weekend of April and encourage all residents to join us in this observance.

I just want to take a quick minute and thank Barb Stahlberg for all of her hard work.

She thanked everybody else.

She is one of the few arborists that we have in the city, and she does an amazing job of protecting our trees, making sure that we're planting the right trees and the right spot.

She works day in, day out to make sure that we're continuing to have our canopy.

She does have the responsibility of removing those trees when a storm rolls through.

And so she does that with Grace as well.

But uh Barb is absolutely fantastic, and I wanted to make sure that she got recognized as well.

I will say it before Councilmember Gerta says uh this, but uh we are in the West Side with uh Green Thumb.

Um I happen to live in the West Side these days, so uh it is the best side.

So uh we'll we'll we'll we'll go with that.

So uh oh, I'm getting some eyeballs.

I'm I'm losing some friends on the on the dais.

But um again, we are so excited about uh Green Thumb.

It is one of the uh events that is all hands on deck.

Um you're looking at the leadership of Green Thumb, but almost all of our staff work green thumb.

We have something for uh children, for adults, for seniors.

Um, there are many departments that are involved in Green Thumb.

Uh, if I started to name some of them, I will miss uh some of the others.

But um I I I think uh Administrator Gertis, I think every department is there represented.

So um it really is an amazing uh event.

Plant people are good people and they are uh fun to be around.

And uh we look forward to welcoming to Walter Fuller for Green Thumbs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gavard.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the entire team.

Um, you know, this we do this proclamation every year, and I always say I actually think it should be kind of Green Thumb Festival proclamation, right?

Because that really is our celebration of Arbor Day and being Tree City USA.

So I think that you know, it's kind of apropos that today in our hers committee this morning, it was all about trees.

And so um just want to thank you because you weren't there for any of those presentations this morning because those were specific to a different department.

But I think that it's important to for all residents to understand how many different departments focus on our tree canopy, how many different people within the city that is part of their DNA and everything that we do to make sure that we are promoting trees, planting trees, protecting trees.

And so um, we missed you this morning, but we're glad to see you here today, and really just wanted to shine a light on the number of people within the city who really take our trees and our uh Tree City USA uh designation to heart.

So thank you for everything that you do, and I look forward to being there with you on the Green Thumb Festival.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Thank you for the proclamation.

I'm so glad that you were able to read it.

Um that makes it extra special because I know just how passionate you are about this topic, and I know how much you've done in the last few years to bring a focus um on trees in our parks.

Um honestly, like we haven't seen before.

And um I just appreciate you so much.

And I do well, there is everybody.

You are just an amazing team.

Um when it comes to this, and just to in taking care of our parks overall.

Um, we're so fortunate to have you all here.

I do wish that you had um we had had this as part of our discussion this morning in hers.

I know, yes, that is from a different department, but we don't operate in silos.

Um, I just want to make it clear that you know that that you know, Maven from OSR, um, Stormwater, everybody truly works together with that common goal of increasing our tree canopy.

And I love seeing how it's not so much, oh, it's this department or that department.

It's here's what we can do in our department.

Here's what we can do over here.

It's about how we can and not whose job it is.

But the work that you do really just stands head and shoulders above any other city around, they've got to be so jealous of us.

And what you all have done to recover our parks since the storms is nothing short of miraculous.

So you're all my heroes.

I cannot wait to see you at the Green Thumb Festival.

It gets better every year.

I'm bringing my own wagon this time, so I don't have to wait my turn to borrow one.

Um yeah, it's on.

I I was gonna ask if you had a budget this year, Councilmember, because I know that you you you buy a ton.

You you uh almost brought this out.

And I gave up buying plants for Lent, so it's time to make up for all that.

Yeah, I'm saving it all for Green Thumb.

So uh get ready.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gertis.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh I'm just picturing on the 39th day of Lent.

Councilmember Driscoll itching to get to Home Depot.

Councilmember Driscoll, I'm really glad you brought up after the storms.

Yeah.

I think I I think I've had this conversation with Mike where having the largest debris site that we had kind of in my backyard watching all of the branches and debris come in truck by truck and understanding that yes, we were doing such good work clearing, but knowing what work it was going to get back because of everything we lost.

A lot of that was tree canopy.

And just I'm just so thankful for the work that's already completed in just a year after that.

Not just getting it all out, because I know that's what we talk about a lot, but working our way back towards um getting back to our tree canopy back to where it was pre-storm.

And so I'm very thankful for Councilmember Driscoll to bring that up because I think it's really important not to just talk about you know the 90 days and all that, but now a year later, all the work that's gone in to getting it back and all the dedication that that's taken, not over just 90 days, but 18 months.

And so I'm just so thankful for all of that work.

So thank you.

That what I really wanted to talk about was I'm I obviously super selfish selfish about the Green Thumb Festival, but I'm just so thankful because when I walk the Green Thumb Festival, it is one of those times where you see just this wide swath of our city come together, all ages from all across the city, just happy all because of plants.

And you know, and it just tells you like how passionate people are, not only about getting together as a city, right?

But celebrating what I think makes St.

Pete so special, which is being able to celebrate something, you know, it's I say it's simple, it's not, it's so complicated because it's part of our ecosystem and it's part of what make again we're part of what makes St.

Pete special.

But just the the ability to walk through and whether it's a flower or whether it's a cactus or whether I'm gonna run out of names because I'm not good at it.

That's what the arborists are for.

But like all birds, I mean, all of the things that we do at Green Thumb, it's just such a celebration, and we're so blessed um that we have teams willing to put that type of investment into make sure something like that happens for our city.

And so I'm just so thankful for all the work and uh Mike, thank you for bringing up that it's a year around.

We talk about it.

And I'm just so thankful.

And so please, to the whole department, leadership down, please give all of our thanks for all the work, and we'll be out there celebrating with you.

I was gonna talk about Councilmember Driscoll's wagon, and so I'm happy to hear it'll be making an appearance again in District One.

If you need a map on how to get there, Councilmember Driscoll, a reminder, I'm happy to provide one.

Uh but thank you so much for all the work and can't wait to celebrate with you in a couple weeks.

I w I was gonna do it at announcements, but happy we can talk about it.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Well, my colleagues have said everything.

Um, but I I have to say there has to be some data how much the festival has grown.

Because I remember going to that festival when I f when I first got to the city 20 years ago.

Yeah, that was a key.

And right.

I I'm just yeah, I'm just seeing curious at some point, Mike, because the growth has been incredible.

It absolutely has been incredible.

And I will tell you that there are some vendors and some folks that aren't happy with us because they don't get in.

I mean, we we are at the place.

We we we're at the place now we were at capacity, and there is a mad rush to get in, and we constantly hear from vendors that well, we want to we want to get in.

We we want to be part of it, and it's we have limited space, and we want to make sure that we're respecting the park and we're respecting the neighborhoods as best we can.

So it's it's a balancing act, but um it's definitely a uh uh an event that's at capacity, both vendors and uh spectators and participants.

So it's it's a success story, and it has absolutely grown.

Yeah.

We appreciate the patience uh from the the residents that are around Walter Fuller because it it's an impact, it's definitely an impact, and um we don't take that lightly.

We do our best to be good neighbors and we look for ways to work with Pineals County schools and and churches for parking, and but you're exactly right.

This festival has grown and um is just unbelievable.

We get calls regularly from folks that want to emulate it in their city, and um, you know, it's it's kind of a it's a special, it's a special event and a special time.

So we appreciate all of your support.

You all, each and every one of you have been nothing but supportive of this event and our department, and that absolutely um is appreciated, and um we're so thankful for that.

Thank you.

And I also the other thing I wanted to touch upon was the storms.

Great job, obviously, with the trees and and all the debris.

Um, Barbara, we met, and the first time we met, we talked about trees because that's what your role was, and I was a neighborhood president.

So I'm I'm happy that you're part of this endeavor, you know, with your background because you know the saying goes the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now, and back then they were planting laurel oaks, and now we just know much better.

Right?

So and it's an opportunity.

So, as devastating as it was to lose the number of trees we did in those storms, it actually created an opportunity to replace those trees with more diversity.

Yes, and with a new generation, and it's always very healthy in any urban environment to have generational trees.

So it is an opportunity as well.

I'm glad you said that because that's extremely important.

A lot of people don't understand that, and that's just much better for our city, our environment, you know, just the canopy, the whole thing if there's disease, all the things.

So good to hear.

Well, thank you, and it's great to see your smiling faces.

Okay.

Um, next up we have E1 New Ordinances setting May 14th, 2026 as a public hearing date for an ordinance approving amendments to City Code Chapter 6, aviation updating terminology and regulations to comply with federal and state law.

Clerk, if you could please read the ordinance.

Amending City Code Chapter 6 Aviation, updating terminology and regulations to comply with federal and state law, creating consistency with primary management and compliance documents and the Albert Witnut Master Plan, providing for servability and providing an effective date.

The public hearing law for this item is on May 14, 2026, and we do not have any cards.

Move approval second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally and also vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E1 passes unanimously with Council Member Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

And next up we have E2, Clerk.

If you can read that ordinance.

St.

Petersburg City Charter authorizing the public transportation grant agreement, PTGA, and the assurance grant, excuse me, the assurances, grant assurances, which are attached to the PTGA to be executed by the city as a requirement for receipt of a Florida Department of Transportation, F D O T grant for the design for the design phase of the taxiway A rehabilitation project 21266 at the Albertwood Albertwood Airport, authorizing such encumbrances for or restrictions not to exceed 20 years from the effective date of the PTGA.

Authorized authorizes the mayor or his designee to accept the grant in the amount of $9,600 authorized the mayor or his design to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this ordinance and providing an effective date and providing for expiration.

The public hand for this item is also on May 14th, 2026.

And we do not have any cards.

Move approval.

Second, we have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Sorry.

Seeing that all council members that are present have voted, Clerk, please tally and now the vote.

Adam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item E2 passes unanimously with Council Member Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

Next up we have I one, and you're not Ken.

I'm not Ken.

It could be good or bad, depending on how you want to think of it.

Council good uh Madam Chair.

In fact, I was gonna say, Madam Chair, last time I saw you, we were both shown by police officers.

I'll let everybody else ponder that.

Um I'm here covered for Ken McCollum.

We're just dealing with a personal issue.

Um settlement regarding Charlotte Heff versus the City of St.

Petersburg.

Uh you may recall Mr.

McCollum, I believe sent a memo around.

Um garbage truck ran a red light, uh, struck a vehicle, uh, Ms.

Hef suffered a fracture.

We could settle the case for 125,000.

I independently reviewed the file as well.

I completely agree with Ken's assessment of it.

And so I would recommend that we uh uh in fact approve the settlement.

Move approval.

Second.

We have a motion and second, clerk.

If you can open the machine for voting, council members please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk please telling us to vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item I one passes unanimously with council member Floyd being absent.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you.

Next up, we have reports.

We have F1, a resolution accepting the 13th Street Heights neighborhood plan.

Hi, Kaylee.

All right, good afternoon, council.

Here today to talk about the 13th Street Heights neighborhood plan.

I know we were just together talking about uh Palmetto Park, so today's PowerPoint might seem a little familiar.

Okay, so starting off by talking about some of the benefits of conducting a neighborhood plan.

Again, these things not only help us identify residents' priorities, but they also give us a chance to get out in the community and talk with our citizens about existing programs, and then we can take some of their feedback back and know uh what kind of projects we should be funding as we discuss our annual budget priorities.

This uh neighborhood plan was completed as part of the neighborhood planning program or NPP.

This is a CRA program created back in 2022 to help neighborhoods reduce blight, preserve their identity, balance their growth with long-term stability, and improve public infrastructure.

And within the NPP, there are three separate funding opportunities.

The first is for neighborhood planning, so that's what allowed us to hire a consultant.

This plan utilized Kimley Horn and Associates.

And then there's also two buckets for funding, one for project implementation and another for traffic plan implementation.

And we'll talk at the end of the PowerPoint about some of the things that those funding mechanisms could pay for.

Community input is obviously very important when we're writing a neighborhood plan.

We want to make sure we capture all the voices of every resident in the community.

So to that end, um, the consultant, along with the neighborhood relations department, completed a variety of different outreach methods, including neighborhood walk and talks, a community survey that was online and available as a hard copy at community events.

There was an interactive mapping tool on a project website, and we utilized postcards, door hangers, flyers, and even street signs to help get people out to these meetings.

Then we also hosted two community workshops this past January.

So when I took this position, I met with the president of 13th Street Heights, and he expressed some frustration and just wasn't that happy with the outcome of the plan based on the work that the consultant had done.

Felt like not every voice had been heard, and that the neighborhood needed a little bit more time to come to the table and really evaluate the recommendations before the plan was finalized.

So we scheduled these two workshops in January to do exactly that.

Um, and the neighborhood is much more happy with the finalized plan as you see it today.

Here's a look at the timeline of events for those outreach initiatives I just discussed.

Um, neighborhood meetings starting back in February of 2025, um, the two neighborhood workshop dates in January, and then the bottom three bullets are our approval schedule.

So I will go ahead and talk about the CIC.

We went to the CAC on April 7th, but they did not have quorum.

So that's why you have a new resolution on the dias in front of you today.

Um, it just has the line that we had in there previously about CIC approval removed.

And my understanding from legal, correct me if I'm wrong, um, is that doesn't impact your ability to approve uh the plan today, but we will have to go back to the CAC sometime this summer before we can use any CRA funding.

Okay, so before we get into uh plan recommendations, I wanted to just kind of give you a look at the neighborhood.

So this map really highlights 13th Street's um location within the South St.

Pete CRA and its proximity to a lot of other uh landmarks.

So the gas plant district, 22nd Street South Business District, and Deuces Live.

I also wanted to touch on some of the neighborhood demographics.

So in the past 10 years, there's been some pretty significant investment in this neighborhood, which has led to some uh demographic and cultural shifts.

So compared to the city overall, 13th Street Height residents are younger, more diverse, and earn nearly half the income as the city's average household income.

So stats like these um not only highlight the need for economic opportunity, job growth, and income advancement, but also the fact that we need to ensure we're bringing long-standing residents and new residents to the table when we're working on initiatives like this.

So a brief look at the um community engagement summary that was conducted with the consultant.

These six things were identified as the greatest strengths of the neighborhood.

So residents reported liking the sense of community and culture, the parks, playgrounds, and community centers, schools, volunteerism, gathering spaces, and proximity to downtown, and places of worship.

And then these six things were identified as the greatest challenges in the neighborhood.

So accessibility to grocery stores and affordable food options, safety and crime, transportation, housing, and accessibility to services and job opportunities.

Okay, so getting into some of the recommendations that we worked kind of hand in hand with the neighborhood to tweak based on the consultants' initial uh ideas.

Residents said that they would like to see improved tree coverage and landscaped medians throughout the neighborhood.

They'd like to enhance their neighborhood signage.

Uh right now they only have two welcome signs, and so they'd like to do a little bit more placemaking, and we can uh likely pay for that through our neighborhood partnership grant.

They'd also like to um work with the city and the neighborhood association to continue to provide education on proper waste disposal and the code enforcement process and encourage the development of vacant lots throughout the neighborhood for green space, recreational uses, businesses, housing, or other mixed use.

In the parks, green space and community spaces domain, um, residents had some recommendations for Silver Lake Park that are pretty simple and we can likely do pretty quickly.

Um so they'd like some trash cans with lids so litter doesn't fly around when the wind picks up.

Um, some cleaning and repairs to the existing gazebo and water fountain, and then potentially adding some additional seating shade or pedestrian scale lighting.

There's also some flooding concerns in the front of the park.

Um, and then as you all know, the Davis Johnson community project will be huge for this neighborhood.

So that um the neighborhood was very involved in the uh community input sessions for that project, and I believe the project is in uh design right now.

And then finally, in this category, um, they'd like to increase education and outreach efforts about existing city housing and renter support services in the transportation and mobility domain.

Uh residents would like to see uh potholes filled and paved alleys throughout the neighborhood where feasible.

They'd like the city to continue their partnership with PSTA to improve bus stop locations, seating shelters, and shade, and then implementing a lot of the improvements that we've already identified, either through the South St.

Pete CRA Mobility Plan, complete streets implementation plan, or the forthcoming sidewalk master plan.

And then our last slide here of strategies um for community redevelopment and safety.

Residents would like to see some grants for local businesses to help improve building facades, expanding expanded opportunities for skill building, trade schools, education, and networking.

The neighborhood association is working to continue to engage those new and long-standing residents.

They'd like to grow and maintain fruit trees and improve local food options and awareness, and then for safety, um, request additional park walks and talks and expand the awareness and use of the Eagle Eye program.

So I won't go through these next two slides line by line.

Um these were presented and discussed at the CAC meeting as well as the CPPC meeting, which was earlier this week.

Um, but these just kind of show some of the recommended actions from this plan and their alignment with the South St.

Pete CRA plan and comprehensive plan.

And so with your approval today, um, as I mentioned, we'll have to go back to the CAC this summer before we can utilize any CRA funding.

Um, but once that's official, we can start talking about uh prioritizing some of these projects based on the neighborhood's feedback and getting some of these projects um into the implementation phase.

So with that, I'll take any questions.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gurtes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh Kaylee, thank you for the presentation.

I know you mentioned that CPPC was earlier this week, so that two days ago obviously wouldn't be a part of our backup.

Can you give us any feedback or that they had?

Did they provide any feedback?

Um, there were a couple comments.

It was generally positive.

Um, nothing specific really.

I just uh obviously having been on that commission rely pretty heavily on their feedback, so just wanted to double check and again.

Like I know in the past I've talked about CPPC backup, but uh it was two days ago.

I'm not worried about that part.

I just was wondering if there was any overarching themes.

The really um only feedback they provided was that they were happy with the time of resident engagement meetings and that kind of thing.

It was more focused on the resident engagement component.

Thank you very much.

That that's actually the only thing I was gonna bring up.

Thank you very much for seeing the opportunity to re-engage the neighborhood in a different way.

Um, I I when I hear that I love seeing that, that means we're being nimble enough to make changes in the process that allow us to do that.

And so I'm just very thankful for that.

Uh, but otherwise, uh very excited to move this forward, and I'll move approval.

Second.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Do we have anyone from the neighborhood here at the meeting today?

I know it's the middle of the day.

Yeah, it was it's it's hard.

Um but I know that they will watch this later, and I I hope that what they see is a city council and a city staff that fully supports the work that they're doing.

This is a neighborhood that the neighborhood association itself has been building for quite some time, and to be able to do this plan is um uh a huge achievement for the neighborhood.

I applaud how thoughtful they were as they went about doing this, and I hope that they see continue to see support as we start moving through the budget and um what those um capital needs might be, what the funding is that's needed.

But there were a lot of things on here that um that really don't cost extra money or maybe just a little bit that can really make a difference.

Absolutely.

Um if you go back to um on slide nine when you did the community engagement summary, um the second I mean 49% of the residents listed um safety and crime as one of their top um um challenges as one of the neighborhood's top challenges, and then a little bit later when you talk about solutions, um requesting additional park walk and talks, expanding awareness and use of the Eagle Eye program, which is a personal favorite of mine um has the police department has the CSO and and the others, you know, in um the district one have they stepped up and said we can help with this part.

Let's my point is there are things that we can start doing right now, and they don't have to wait for the next budget year or anything like that.

I mean, and I'm just using um I'm using PD as a as a great example because they're always there and engaged, including our wonderful chief Holloway.

Thank you.

We're seeing Chief.

Well, while Chief Holloway is coming up, Councilmember, I will just mention that I happen to have been on a number of emails um before Kaylee's tenure with the neighborhood association and their CSO, as well as others in the police department, and so I know they've been very engaged.

Um, and they've even come to some breakfast with the mayor, the chief and his representatives participated in around violence and and talked about solutions.

So I know that they're a part of the solution, but since Chief is here, I'll let him speak to it.

Yeah, hi Chief.

Thank you so much for being here.

I'll just I'll just continue add on what uh director Falls said.

Yeah, we'll be more than happy to engage with more park walk and talks, and again, the CSOs are out there, and we'll make sure that uh we continue to do those.

The Eagle Eye program, the initiative that you started continues to grow, and as we have more contracts with uh one of our vendors, we're gonna be introducing more where we can look at more camera footage when people give us access to those.

Oh, that's great.

That's great.

I know that's been a big part of um uh solving some of the crimes that have happened throughout uh different neighborhoods, and um you can combine the two, like we've done in um some of the other neighborhoods in in my district, I'm sure elsewhere too, where you have sort of a community park walk and talk with um residents, and we have those eagle-eyed info door hangers.

Um so it's a canvassing with the police and the residents together, so it's like a special edition PWT.

Sure.

I'll check with the district commander today and see where we are with that, make sure we increase more.

Yeah, and if you do something, I always love joining in if I can.

So um I'd love to do that.

I I I just know from talking to some of the residents that um public safety and and and just feeling safe when you're in your neighborhood is extremely important, and um you've got the the best people right there in that area working um on that and and engaging with the community, and I appreciate that so much.

Thank you, ma'am.

Um what is okay?

So didn't the 13th Street Heights Neighborhood Association win one of the mayor's neighborhood awards this year?

They did.

I believe they were neighborhood of the year.

Yes.

And we hadn't even approved this yet.

So look, I mean, overachievers, um, it's just fantastic, and I'm I'm so proud.

And their president is the vice president of Kona this year.

I mean, they've just got it going on, right?

They've been great to work with.

Yeah, and they say the same about you.

And I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of the work that you're doing with our neighborhoods.

I'm hearing nothing but positive, just extremely positive feedback on the work that you're doing with our neighborhood.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Givens.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you so much for all your hard work on this, Kayleigh.

I appreciate it.

I think Councilmember Gibbons was looking at Councilmember Givens.

Council Member Driscoll was looking at my notes, excuse me.

One of the things that I was going to bring up was code enforcement and then also police, because again, I think there's ways for us to work together.

How do we work smarter, not harder?

So I I want to talk specifically about Silver Lake Park because I know that's a perfect public gathering place and they can do more there than what they're doing, but a lot of complaints have arisen as far as the conditions of the park, um, safety concerns, that sort of thing.

Uh so I see that was one of the number two strengths that was listed in the presentation was their parks.

So how do we plan beyond just beautification to make that park a place where this neighborhood can start hosting more public gatherings?

Yeah, I the neighborhood did say they think um some lighting, additional lighting in the park would go a long way towards the safety concerns.

Um and then just having like the additional police presence in the neighborhood, I think would be helpful.

Um other specific suggestions.

The only thing that I would add to that, Councilmember Gibbons is you know, similar to something I think you brought to our attention recently, or even from a code compliance standpoint, you know, we can look at the immediate area around there and see if there's any issues that we can address, you know, use that education assistance to go out and touch base with those residents, you know, let them know that these are code violations, how that can impact the surrounding neighborhood, um, and really work with them on getting those resolved so that way that gathering place becomes you know a better place for everybody to be.

So thank you for that, Joe.

I appreciate it.

Um, and then lastly, I think it's the community liaisons.

Do I have the correct title?

How do they fit into this plan?

Um, because I I feel like there's a lot of benefits from both the position and also where this plan is going to take this neighborhood, but I want to see if there's a way for perhaps these liaisons to help fill some of the gaps so that way we don't fall back to where we were before.

Yeah, that's that's a great um suggestion.

So there was a few slides or a few bullet points in there about the education opportunities.

So to me, that's where I see the liaisons really kind of stepping up and filling in the gaps.

So they are planning as we continue to evolve their positions to carry resources um about all of the city programs in their trucks.

We're rebranding the trucks so people know to flag them down, ask them any questions like that.

So when they're out in the neighborhood, they'll be educated about all of our programs.

So whether it's code enforcement housing, whatever um someone else might need, they'll be able to provide a phone number um and at least some initial information about those programs.

Awesome.

Thank you so much, Chair.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F1 passes unanimously with Councilmember Floyd being absent.

Well, thank you, Kaylee, and congratulations to the 13th Streets Heights neighborhood.

You got a plan.

Okay, next up, we have F3, which is parent protect, Councilmember Gabbard.

I believe this was your item.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Uh, very happy to bring this item forward to everyone today.

Uh, this is really an awareness uh campaign, and so it was important to kind of bring it here to all of you and start here because um the power of partnerships with the city being a key player in the success of this program, uh, really wanted to uh help JWB get the word out.

So I'm gonna just give you a quick history lesson as to how we got here today.

Uh so back in September, October or so, um, Miss Uh Becca Gross-Teater reached out to me and had kind of a shared concern over as moms with kids in our public school system about how we could work together collaboratively to keep our kids safe online.

Um, she's gonna talk about you know a lot of the issues, but specifically as it relates to human trafficking um, and how you know people have all of these predatory practices for our kids online and how scary that online world is and how little control oftentimes parents have over that sort of exposure.

And so you know, kind of fast forward, we talked a little bit and we decided to reach out to the chief and bring him on board because all of his work in combating human trafficking specifically, we wanted to make sure we were having some cohesive conversation.

Fast forward to where we are today in a very short period of time, uh, the JWB was able to partner and bring forward this program, which they have rolled out to our public schools.

And I want to recognize that in the audience today, we do have a couple, I think one member at least of the juvenile welfare board, and also we are joined by the St.

Pete Chamber because the business community is a very important partner in this as well.

And so we're coming to you together with this idea that's already been implemented in the schools, really looking for your help and your awareness.

And so, with that, um, would love to go ahead and introduce Rebecca Gross Teeter and Rebecca Albert with the juvenile welfare board to teach us all about parent pro tech and how we as the city can be a partner in getting the word out.

Man, and I thought the Arbor Day stuff with the tree festival was going to be the highlight, but Brandy, you needed it.

Thank you.

Um as the honorable uh councilwoman Gabbard said, I am Becca Gross Teeter, and the other part of R Squared is Becky Albert, and we are honored to be here.

And I gotta say, I mean, I'm a bit of a governmental nerd, so but I've had a blast.

Thank you for a wonderful meeting.

Um why is this a priority for JWB?

Well, obviously, we're focused on youth and families, but we were trying to address two problems.

Number one, life is hard, right?

We all everybody needs a little more breathing room, and technology moves so quickly.

We wanted to be able to get something that subject matter experts told us was going to make life easier and better for all of our neighbors.

I like it.

So the schools, all the smart people who have a lot more degrees than than I do, sat with it and said, This is exactly what we've been looking for.

And I was like, all right.

Problem number two, as was referenced, um, the city of Clearwater, years ago, about a decade or so ago, had won all these incredible awards for their efforts in fighting human trafficking, and we hear about it, but I didn't know of any local solutions.

But I did know one of the brilliant minds who from my city, you were right to uh take him from us, the honorable and remarkable Chief Holloway.

So I had reached out to Councilwoman Gabbard and I said, Will you tell me, or would you kindly try to get me with your honorable chief to say, can I kill two birds with one stone?

And what he said we needed was exactly what this was, and he kindly with with limited bandwidth had his officers investigate to make sure it would be a valuable product because that is not my expertise.

And so we were delighted to be able to say we negotiated so every household there's no limits.

Every household in Pinellas County has access to this.

There is no cost.

Every household, if you have a zip code in Pinellas County where you live or work, we want you to access it.

Um, and that's one of the things we're most excited about is that there are no limits on this.

Thanks, Becca.

Um, so really what we would like for you to do is help us spread the word because this resource is available to all parents and caregivers throughout Pinellas County.

Why is this important?

Well, heading into the months of summer, we know that kids are out of school, they're gonna be spending more time on screens.

We also know that kids are gaining access to uh technology and devices at an earlier age.

So, really, we're trying to offer resource to parents and caregivers to make it easier for them to keep their kids safe online.

We had heard um many for many new years that it's just too much to keep up with the changing climate of technology.

I can't possibly monitor everything my child is doing.

Well, here's a resource that actually is working and helping not only parents but grandparents too.

And I want to share a nice little short email that we received from a grandmother who said, I just want to say thank you.

I'm a great grandma, and keeping up with technology can be hard for a lady 72 years young.

It's simple to sign up, and really that's that's where we need some support because we can talk about this all day long.

But when we walk away, it's one more thing for people to do.

But you should have a postcard in front of you.

Uh, we have many different varieties of them.

So depending on the audience that you're serving, uh, we can hopefully meet that need and make it relevant to the area that you're serving.

Um, but help people get signed up.

It's simple, scan the QR code, visit the website, and once you're in the platform, you realize this is useful.

Um, from Snapchat to TikTok too, we know locally that the topics that people are searching for the most is how to parent differently in a world filled with technology, how to keep my child safe online from cyberbullying, TikTok, Snapchat, and Roblox.

So gaming platforms, social platforms, all of the things where kids can become victim to uh predators.

And and one of the things that we really love about this relationship with Parent Pro Tech is they it's it's it's very symbiotic.

So if you are hearing from your constituents a concern, they address those in real time.

So when we find there's a new fill-in-the-blank, we reach out and communicate with them because they want to meet our needs as a community in real time, and that to me is just a wonderful partnership.

Additionally, they previously were only speaking really to children six to sixteen, and they've been working with the juvenile welfare board to integrate even earlier.

So again, it is very symbiotic and it's very it's very Saint Pete, if I can say so, as a non-resident but super fan.

So ultimately, we're working to bridge the gap between the knowledge that children have with technology and helping uh someone like myself, or I hate to say the older generation, uh but keeping us in tune with the ever-changing climate.

Technology changes so quickly.

Um, and this company, Parent Pro Tech is actually keeping up.

So if you have a subscription and you log in, you can see the updates that they're making in real time.

You know when they update the material, and they're really keeping pace with the uh technology companies.

Um I think we've covered a lot of it.

I mean, I feel like we tried to be efficient and respectful of these fine people's time.

Absolutely.

Um again, it is and and just for the people who are concerned, but what about my business?

You give away very little personal identifying information.

Um we don't have access to it.

All we do have access to is, and I'm gonna give a little drum roll here so you can see how successful this has been in our first quarter since we kicked this off in December.

Becky, what are our numbers look like?

Uh we're at 900 subscribers so far, and uh really with this rollout in December, uh, we're we're seeing some progress, but really we need more people to sign up for it because it's actually working.

And you have our commitment to show up, whatever you need.

We want to be your partner in making sure that this is the best place to live, love, and grow.

So, what questions might we be able to answer?

Oh, and maybe get a train.

Council member givens.

Thank you so much, Becky and Becca.

I think that's right.

So great to see you both.

Um, and thank you to the juvenile welfare board, Melissa and the rest of the group for what you're doing.

Um, I appreciate uh Mike and his team.

Um, I do have a question as far as outreach, because you said you're looking for more people to sign up, more subscribers.

What is your outreach?

What's your marketing look like?

How are you trying to get people to enroll?

Well, it sounds like we missed an opportunity at the uh green thumb or two.

Uh but maybe we can get there next year.

Uh we do a lot of outreach in the in the um throughout Pinellas County, so from neighborhood family centers to some of our uh out of school time programs.

I know there's several here, uh, Walter Fuller being one of them, Tasco programs.

Uh we're in the community doing grandfamilies events, and we have one of those in uh North, Mid, and South County.

We're bringing computers and we're helping people to get signed up in real time because that's what we find is most effective.

We're also doing outreach with scouting organizations, PTAs, any kind of parent-based uh group or caregiver or concerned citizen, right?

Like my father's a really engaged grandfather, and so he he is has interested, plus that you can find things just how to protect your modems and and give yourself more online security.

But uh Becky is really the brains in this operation, and she oversees our children's mental health initiative, and just to give scope.

How many events did you all have last year?

Oh you're putting me on the spot.

I don't have the number in front of me, but yeah, we had close to 300.

Uh, but that's you know, in conjunction with our partners.

But we try to make all of these things available because this the juvenile welfare board is truly a benefit of residency in Pinellas County.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

And each of us we have newsletters and other streams and methods to connect with constituents in St.

Pete's.

So I certainly hope others will do what I'm going to do, which is share this uh with our neighborhood associations.

You know, I'm even thinking about you have groups like Family Support Services, the Children Home Network, um, even the junior league, you know, and in these groups, they focus specifically on educating parents, you know, um, with technology continuously transforming the way that it is, it's hard to stay in the loop and up to speed with things as it progresses.

So thank you all so much for making sure that our children remain safe.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gerdas.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you very much for the presentation and all the work.

I was able to get um, and Councilmember Gabbard, thank you for bringing this forward.

I was I was able to get a little bit of a sneak peek the week before Protect uh Parent Pro Tech was announced.

And so uh I just want to say, just from being the father of an eight-year-old and a seven-year-old, this is certainly a gap that needed to be filled.

Um my wife constantly asks me how do we fix XYZ and our kids on iPads and televisions in a world that are completely connected pretty much at all times.

And uh, you know, you're always very hypersensitive to what they're trying to do and what they're trying to accomplish, and frankly, what somebody else is trying to accomplish when your kids are online, and so we we are constant Googlers of how to uh figure that out.

And so this this gave us the opportunity for one place to try to help navigate that.

So I just wanted to say thank you from me because we certainly experience this all the time.

And um, and I know at the end of it all, when my kids get through this learning how to deal with technology and all this, I know this will have helped us navigate that.

So thank you so much.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, madam chair, and thank you for the presentation, and thank you for your passion for our our children.

Very, very important.

And as a parent, just thank you for continuing to bring resources and guidance so that you know we can really protect our kids because at the end of the day, that's our our shared mission, right?

And so um we are coming up on summer, we are coming up on that time of year, as you mentioned, kids and you know, more screen time, but it also gives us an opportunity because we have a lot more kids engaged with our rec centers.

So I wanted to ask the administration is it possible if JWB gets us enough of these that these could go into all of our rec centers where we have summer programming because this would be a really great way to get this information in front of those parents.

Uh, my child has since aged out of our summer programming, but I know um, you know, in those summer months, I relied a lot on our rec centers for information, activities.

So if we could get enough of these, could we get these all in the rec centers this summer?

Yeah, we'd certainly be happy to do that.

Let me talk to the team, the communications team, just make sure that there's no issues with that.

But okay, great, thank you.

And yeah, and if you'd care for them in a digital format or if with with the city of St.

Petersburg logo, because we're proud to be able to work with y'all, we will life is our favorite team sport, so let us know how we can be a format.

If you could send all of that, um, that would be fantastic because to council member given's point, we all have newsletters, and the easier we can drop that stuff into our newsletters, the better off.

Um, the last thing, madam chair, is I don't want to put you on the spot, Chief, but you were instrumental in all of this.

And so I wanted to ask if you had anything that you wanted to add, um, because I don't know that this would have taken off without you.

So, first of all, I want to thank you for getting it together and thank these ladies behind because again, once we came forward, we introduced it to the other police chief and the sheriff that they said we did a kickoff to this program.

Uh, just so you're aware of the council is very supportive of we still here at St.

Petersburg average somewhere between nine to ten hits a week of child predators online.

We have a unit dedicated just toward that uh called ICAT Internet Crime Took's Children, and those detectives work on this all the time.

This program, I was kind of I told them I'm not sure, that's why I asked the expert to take a look at it.

This program is only going to work if parents get involved.

Councilmember Gertes, I love what you said.

If we were to give parents to take the time to look and see what their kids are doing, we could solve this problem.

We don't let strangers into our home, but when you get this technology, you let strangers into your home every five seconds.

So please be a parent, look at it.

I'm sorry I'm preaching to you.

No, but again, this was the best part of it getting this program.

Like I said, I wasn't really sure of going to work, but after seeing it and talking to you, the police chief, if parents sign up and get to go, it will work.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

So, first of all, thank you both uh for what you're doing and for JWB.

Melissa, thank you for taking the time out of your day to come here as a board member.

I'm representing JWB.

Um, and thank you for the support of the city of St.

Petersburg because we also have programs that we have that are supported by JWB.

Um, I sit on the Shirley Proctor Polar Foundation also, and you all support uh Shirley Proctor Polar.

So you do so much great work, and this is fantastic.

In another life, I was a prosecutor, I did child crimes.

This was 16 years ago, this was happening.

And I had a case where it was to catch a predator thing where the police took over the computer because a child had made a relationship, and the number one threat online is online predators and the grooming that happens.

And it's a building of trust with each with children, and they pretend that they're minors, and eventually that's how they get the kids, and parents don't understand that.

And if that risk was there 16 years ago, I think it was an eye touch.

Imagine now.

And this was someone in Georgia who traveled to Florida to meet a minor.

So you're exposing, like the chief said, not just to individuals here, all over.

And I think it's incredible work, and I think it's true.

Parents are the ones that need to get involved.

So the outreach is great.

Get us that digital information, and we'll get it out to our outlets.

And hopefully, Chief, I don't know if they have it on the St.

Pete Police website.

Um, but this could also be something that maybe they can also have as a resource, and the community service officers could share this at the neighborhood meetings, and I think that would also get the word out.

So thank you all for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Chief.

Next up, we have F4.

This was an item that I pulled for good news.

This is the construction that's going to be happening on Beach Drive and North Shore Drive Northeast.

It's going to be a huge water main replacement project.

And part of the reason I pulled it is because the area, as you will see, is a very heavily trafficked area.

A lot of people are going to be affected, and uh and we may start getting calls, and it's important for everyone to know what's happening with this project.

So thank you, Brajesh, for being here.

Good day, Council Chair, and City Council, Prajish Premium, Engineering Capla Improvements Department, and thank you uh for making the time to attend these meetings.

Uh, your support in these meetings was uh astronomical with the amount of questions we were getting from the residents.

And also thank you for bringing this forward as well.

So this is such a major project for us because you know, this is really a network, the old Northeast, and the entire water system is a network interconnected, but the entire network feeds that feeds all northeast and even within that community dates back to the 1950s and 1960s.

So it's a mix of PVC, cast iron and galvanized pipe, which at this point, due to its age and the environment, which it's been exposed to, uh, may be corrosive, uh, may have resulted in corrosion, but also the pipes are approaching the end of their service life and in need of replacement.

So this project is a continued commitment by the city for improving and replacing aging infrastructure.

And this project is obviously located within the Ulnauties neighborhood association.

This project will replace approximately 14,000 linear feet of pipe, six inch and eight-inch water mean uh within the community itself, while the engineering department is administrating, administering the project.

We did conduct two public meetings, and we did have a decent turnout from residents, uh, which we were grateful for.

And we also did facilitate quite a bit of feedback through our questions and our website as well as the telephone numbers.

Now, this is the general location of the project.

I am not really going to go into detail on this because we do have a project website that is gathering information and any feedback on the project itself.

But as the council chair mentioned, it is along a major roadway section, which leads towards.

Um, and I'll touch a little bit on before I get into it, but really the project goals and the objectives.

Improving water service, reliability, capacity, and the operational efficiency of the system, while reducing the loss and risk of water lead main breaks or failures or service interruptions, improving the fire service protection and maintaining that quality of drinking water supply.

So, what can we expect during construction?

To be honest, the road in these sections are about 40 feet from curb to curb.

40 feet with major construction equipment, backhows, it will have operational impact.

So during the day, we expect construction between 7 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

7 a.m.

really is where the construct contract is going to start staging.

We don't anticipate lane closures at that time.

We try to keep our lane closures to after the rush hour traffic and reopen lanes before the rush hour traffic.

But again, this is just where residents may hear the beeping of the trucks because they're staging, they're getting ready to start working because we want them to start as soon as that rush hours done.

So there will be heavy equipment within the right-of-way during construction.

We do not anticipate any service interruptions.

Typically, water means uh are constructed by constructing the new line, then we clean it, disinfect it, test it, get our clearances through our water department, and then the department of health DEP before we can actually put in the service connections.

So again, we build up we build a new line parallel to the existing line where the all the service connections will be.

We have everything up to the point at the private property.

We clean, disinfect to test everything.

Once it clears, then we sequence our tines and switch off from the old line to the new line, usually during times of low service or at times at night where there's low operational need.

Those tyrants come in very quickly.

Usually it's not something that the residents could even tell that we just did that quick tire off.

Usually they'll probably want to switch it on, they'll just get a little water hammer, but nothing significant.

Now the contractor will employ dust control measures during construction, and physical struct construction is expected to begin next month.

Now, activities will primarily take place on the right-of-way.

However, there will be times that we'll have to coordinate with a private property private property owner.

And if we do have to do any work on the private property, that will we will coordinate any temporary construction easements if needed.

Public access will be maintained at all times.

Now, this is I just want to make it clear, we will have lane closures, which is different from public access.

So there will be pedestrian access.

There may be some points we'll have to reduce lanes or shut lanes down during construction, not only for the worker safety, but for the general safety of the public.

So what does that mean?

Typically, once we award the contract, we notify everyone within the corridor.

This project is coming up.

Now, once we do the pre-constru the pre-construction meeting with the contract and we set that date, you're going to start work on this day on this block.

I'm going to treat this circle as the block.

They are starting on this end of the block, you get notices seven days ahead of when we come to your block to start work.

So they're constantly moving that way.

So as we clear each segment, by the time we get down to council member Driscoll, she may not get notice yet because we are not at that block.

The seven-day notice.

She got the notice that this project is coming, but she hasn't gotten the seven-day notice.

So as I'm moving down each block section, seven days in advance, you get that notice that we're going to be in your front of your block working.

And that's how we continue on.

Now, the other element as it relates to the construction sequencing on this, and I want to go to this section to really show you all, is it's a long section of roadway.

That everything's good.

Then we come back and pave the road.

And when we pave it, we'll pave that entire section at one time.

It's more cost effective and will be less impact on the community as well.

So as we get started on construction, there will be lane shifts during construction.

I said, as I mentioned, most of this roadway section is about 40 feet in width.

So it's not that wide when you really think of bring about bringing a backhoe, a dump truck, staging pipe, and all that equipment.

So as we start construction, we will do temporary closures.

And again, we will coordinate that with the residents.

During the day, we'll close a section.

At night, it'll be reopened.

All this has been discussed in the public meetings.

And we've also coordinated with some of the major entities along the corridor, meaning some of the condos associations or some of the other type of facilities along the Vanoy and other multi-family or uh multi-residential units.

So that way we have the specific points of contact that we need to coordinate with during construction.

Now this is the general information as far as what the public can reach out if they have any questions.

But to the general public, they will be getting a notification letter once we award the contract.

And that letter will have the city's point of contact that they can contact that they can reach out to if they have any questions.

On top of this, seven days before construction, they'll have a door hanger which has that point of contact again.

So thank you for this.

This is going to be a very impactful project.

These smaller projects in these projects within these smaller blocks and neighborhoods is always much more challenging.

Thank you.

I'll take any questions.

Thank you.

Well, I appreciate all the information you gave.

I attended the meetings and they were well attended.

And you have representatives also from the Benoit and other businesses that are going to be affected.

So your team did a great job.

You did a great job, Rajesh, uh handling the questions and also easing people's concerns about some of the impacts that they're gonna have.

Um so I'm I'm glad that this is going forward.

It's been many years.

So with that, I'll entertain the motion.

We have approval.

Second.

We have a motion and second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F4 passes unanimously with Council Member Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

Next up we have F5, and it's yours also, Rajesh.

Thank you, Council Chair and Council members.

I'm here to give a um update.

And before I get started, I'll ask Councilmember Harding if there's anything.

I mean, do you want to share about the project before you get started?

No, sir.

I think you've uh you understand it about 100% better than me.

There's like go to 101 if I can.

Um thank you for your time with us.

No, I think uh you've you've count Councilmember is being very polite in the fact of the amount of time he's actually committed in understanding this project and also in supporting us in the public engagement processes, which we are grateful for.

So that's we're really one of the first things I'll get started on.

Is that we've done a public meeting back in March of 2020 March 4, 2026 on this project, and it was you know I would have liked to see a more little bit more people there, but I think we'll continue our engagement process.

This um element, and this I think is one of the big benefits of uh alternative project delivery.

So the project is approaching 60% design, and this GMP that we're bringing to you all today is really for those long lead items, the generators, the pumps, um, the box culverts, the HTP pipes, the fittings, things that we know we are going to put in that's not going to change.

By example, the pumps that are going to go into this pump station, each one of those pumps is about 10 feet tall.

So the pumps are actually bigger than the pumps in the lift station 85 on capacity and size-wise.

So this gives us the ability to maximize the ability because this project is grant funded, so we can advance these purchases to use the grant funding as quickly as possible, and then also get the ability of leveraging tax savings through the owner direct purchases.

While this is being done and we put in these orders, we're also working on the 60% design, which just completed and we're moving towards 90% and permitting.

So we could complete the design while these elements are being ordered, developed, manufactured, and being shipped to the site.

By summer of 2026, we'll then be putting down the utility adjustment package for all the water lines, all the reclaim lines or sanitary soil lines that have to be adjusted within the project limits.

And then following quickly with the GMP for the actual construction, at which point we will then start receiving all these long lead items that we've ordered.

So we've she that's how we can shave some time on the front end of these contracts, leverage tax savings, but also utilize the grant um funding as part of it.

We do plan another public meeting in the fall of 2026 before we actually start the heavy construction on the pump station.

And with that, take any questions.

Thank you.

Councilmember Harding.

Chair, thank you.

Rajesh is uh is underselling himself.

The uh the last item that we heard is replacement of pipes critical to the infrastructure, uh, harder than anything that I could ever imagine.

Um, but but upkeep of what we already have.

Um, what Brazesh and his team have taken on this time will change lives.

Um it will by the time we're done, it'll eliminate the uh the daytime flooding in at least a third, if not more of Shoreacres.

Um it will it will give life back to to those that uh that have to check the weather to see if they can get back to their house.

It will um never cause the the LCC day school to have to call parents to tell them that they can't come to Carline because it's a king tide.

Um this will change our community and Brazesh.

I I think that and it's the first time that we have done this or utilize this technology or utilize this uh this this level of engineering um and after successful, it'll be something that according to Brajesh will use in other parts of the city.

But this one is different.

Um this one isn't bringing us up to code.

This one isn't replacing stuff that we have.

This isn't re-engineering and making a system work better.

This is literally changing the lives of uh of folks who live in our community.

Because Mother Nature decided to act in a different way, which uh which she will whenever she chooses to do.

Um so I cannot thank you enough.

Um my gratitude is is uh is underscored by um how impressed I am with you and your team and what the city is capable of.

So thank you very much, Brazesh.

And with that, I move approval.

Second.

I have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item F5 passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brajesh, for joining us and giving us all this great news.

Thank you for the support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have F2 advanced metering infrastructure update.

Hi, Claude.

Council Chair, Council, good morning, good afternoon.

Sorry about that.

Um so yes, uh, as promised at the last council meeting, we come with an update on the uh the AMI process.

Uh we posted yesterday the notice for um for the public to see that we have received this unsolicited proposal and to invite others who may want to submit their own proposal to do so within a 30-day period.

And so we've kicked that off as of yesterday.

Okay.

Well, that's great news.

I think that was what we wanted to hear.

So it doesn't seem like anyone has any questions for you, so I'm glad that we got this done.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, ma'am.

Okay.

Next up, we have new business, G1.

Referral to hers.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Let me flip my page real quick, past my post-y notes.

Hold on one second.

All right.

So before you, you have uh respectfully requesting a referral to the Health Energy Resilience and Sustainability Committee or other relevant committee for a presentation and discussing discussion regarding the impact of House Bill 1217 on the integrated sustainability action plan.

And uh I'll move approval, but I do want to give just a little bit of context.

Um, so this is what is affectionately known as the net zero bill.

And um, while this has not been signed by the governor yet, we do anticipate that it will be.

And um, as a member of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, this is something that they're looking very closely at.

We received an update from their legal council at our Monday meeting specific to really all of the work that the planning council does around resiliency, uh, some grants that they have gotten from the federal government on net zero, and just knowing our uh ISAP plan so well, I know that there will be implications to the work that we are doing, some of our goals around uh purchasing electric vehicles and things like that.

And so I think that you know, even though it hasn't been signed yet, it's important to go ahead and get this in the hopper so that our team can go ahead and start looking at all of the implications from this massive preemption bill.

So um with that, I move approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G1 passes unanimously with Councilmember Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

Next up we have G2.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, this is respectfully requesting city council approval of a resolution that is attached supporting the development of the Water Resources Development Act and urging Congress to include dredging of canals in St.

Petersburg for flood mitigation in the WRDA.

And you do have a resolution here before you that we worked on with our legal team.

I believe Jane is here if we have any questions for legal.

And really, I just want to speak to the residents of District 2 and thank them for their continued advocacy.

Since the storms of 2024, you have all heard me talk about the need for dredging of our canals.

This is something that you all approved some initial funding some time back for us to start laying the groundwork.

Unfortunately, um we need our federal partners to help us with this.

And you know, that is a massive undertaking, specifically Army Corps of Engineers, and the list goes on as to kind of the steps we have to go through.

So this being one that I think is important to kind of helping us show our support as a city towards this need.

And I know I think even district one, there's some issues with dredging out there, maybe also in district three, district five, district six, across the city, really.

Um, and we cannot do this work alone.

We need our federal partners to help us with this, and so I am urging that we pass this resolution today.

So with that, I move approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second, Clerk.

If you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes, seeing that all present council members um big standard.

Council member.

Oh, there you go, you're good.

Um seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tell announced to vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item G2 passes unanimously with council member Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

Next up, we have council committee reports.

We have H1, the April 9th, 2026 H L U T action item, and on behalf of Vice Chair Floyd, committee vice chair Harding is gonna present that.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh respectfully requesting the administration move forward with a scope of work for phase two of ULI Tampa Bay study of the historic gas plant site within the next two weeks and provide an email update to city council.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you.

Uh so I wanted to ask the administration we're a week past when this was passed at HOUT.

We're now a week away from when we um wanted this to be um moved forward.

So can you just give us a quick update as we approve this item today?

Sure.

So Mr.

Corbett recently met again with uh Miss Lowry and the downtown partnership um to try and keep moving forward on a scope.

We're waiting on ULI to respond to us still with that scope, and we're doing the best we can to move it forward.

Very good.

Uh I'll expect to probably speak with them for an update myself since I'm the one working on this item.

Uh so I'll continue to urge them to get back to you as well.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, madam chair, and I move approval.

Oh, was there already would you move that as the one?

Okay, because I was gonna second if you already did it.

So yes, I move approval.

Okay, council member Gerdas.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh I guess this is probably a question for Councilmember Gabbard.

And I w I watched this meeting and then went back to the transcript.

And I I'll just be very honest.

I'm I'm a little confused, and so I I'm hoping you can help me because it I to me it seemed like an administration jump in as well.

To me, it seemed like we needed phase one in order to get a phase two scope.

But maybe I'm yeah, I understand.

If you could help clarify that to me, because yeah, I I don't have a problem moving forward in the process that's been laid out.

But I just I don't want to leave things out in phase two.

Yes.

If we need phase one to be completed, that's my concern here.

Yeah.

So if just some clarity from whoever would be super helpful.

So phase one is the gathering of all of the information that we already have, all these plans, all these studies, everything that's been done.

Um, the downtown partnership has volunteered to step forward and be the financial stewards of that.

And so that is currently underway.

Phase two is the one that we need the scope of work for so that um we can speak with legal to understand procurement.

We won't know all of that until we have that scope of work.

And so that is um, you know, really the request is that administration and ULI move forward on that scope of work.

So then legal can weigh in, they can evaluate that, they can understand it, and all of that piece of it does take a little bit of time.

Phase one will be working.

Um, the partnership will be our steward on that.

We will be working on phase two to figure out what that looks like from procurement.

The partnership is also working with other partners who could potentially help to fund phase two along with whatever the city contribution might be.

All of that also has to be worked out.

But until there is a scope that is agreed upon between ULI and the administration for legal to even be able to look at, we're kind of stuck.

Okay.

And I appreciate that um explanation.

What I guess my understanding was is the gathering of information and some of the interviews that happened during phase one help develop.

Okay, maybe that's where I'm getting confused.

Yeah.

That happens in phase two.

That is a phase two act.

Okay.

Yeah.

So then a part of that, again, this is helpful, thank you.

How do they know?

How do they know who to interview just because of everything they've gathered?

Is that how is that how that's so that's where I'm missing.

What questions do we ask?

Things like that.

And I want to make sure we're not I'm we're not missing anything.

That's absolutely.

Um, so the partners who will come together on the funding, if you will, um, led by the partnership.

So uh Jason was there that day, Mr.

Mathis, and he spoke about some of those partners.

Um, and you know, he's going to be talking with the chamber, he's going to be talking with the Urban League, he's gonna be talking with the Foundation, the Sun Coast Tam uh Tampa Association of Realtors have stepped up to put some funding forward.

They will all during phase two work on who these individuals are throughout the community.

Um, I have also talked with Jason because he was part of the work that I did to get us to this point.

Is that the descendants of the historic gas plant who were present during that conversation?

They will be very instrumental in this.

Um, it will be a wide collection, but that group, along with the city and ULI will decide ultimately who these hundred individuals are that end up getting selected to be interviewed for the ultimate end product.

Okay, all right.

Thank you for the clarification.

Absolutely.

Um and administration is working towards this now, and you're okay with I mean, it seems a little bit of it seems like it's relatively the same path, but a little bit different.

I mean, you're okay with moving this way and going forward and and I don't want to speak for Mr.

Corbett, but it's my understanding we don't need the results of phase one to do the scope of phase two.

Maybe maybe that's sorry.

No, it doesn't question I should have asked from the beginning.

I'm sorry.

But that was that was helpful because the conversation during the meeting, um, you know, it it bounced, and then with with Zoom speakers, it it was a little tough.

And then the transcript again, it's still the transcript, it's not the minutes quite yet.

And so I I I'm very much appreciated.

Thank you, colleagues, for a little bit of patience with me.

I just wanted to make sure uh I I was seeing through the right lens.

So I appreciate that, and uh thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

We have a motion.

I need a second.

Oh, second, sure.

Okay.

We have a motion second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item H1A passes six to one with council members Driscoll, Gabbard, Curtis, Givens, Hannawitz Harding voting yes, council member Fig Sanders voting no, and Councilmember Floyd being absent.

Thank you.

Okay, the next up, we have public hearings.

That's Five O one.

So we have a little bit of break.

So with that, we're in recess.

Thank you, everyone.

I've been trying to breathe on the water.

City Council meeting of April 16th is back in section.

Now we're in the public hearing section of our agenda.

First up, we have J 1 and J2.

Approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted.

Clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda items J1 and J2 passes unanimously with Councilmember Floyd Jane Abson.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joe, for being here.

Next up we have J three.

This is setting the May 14, 2026.

Setting May 14, 2026 as the second reading, second public hearing for an ordinance amending the city code creating a new section 16.30.060 transit-oriented development overlay providing for transit-oriented development districts, including establishment of the thumb runner BRT.

This is the first reading and first public hearing.

I'll read the ordinance.

You can read the ordinance.

So that is the code as written today, and those are the allowances along the corridor shown in the graphic.

We then can jump ahead to 2019.

There was the Union Central District Plan that was accepted on December 2019.

And I included this master plan in the presentation today because this particular graphic shows the Central Plaza location as a recommended transit scale development option.

When we get to 2022, we now are starting to look back at the 2012 land use and zoning regulations and asking do those compare appropriately to the transit investment that has been made in what is the now realized bus rapid transit system.

The stations are in, we know where they're located, and so this Sunrunner Rising Development Study was prepared and accepted in April of 2022, which shortly preceded the ribbon cutting on the actual bus rapid transit system, which started operating in October of 2022.

In 2023, you had the Grand Central District Master Plan that was presented and accepted in August of 2023, and this had some different recommendations relating to Central Avenue corridor along the Grand Central portion between the interstate and 34th Street.

And so this is something that may come up in public comments.

You did receive one public comment that talked about some of the proposals and recommendations in that master plan.

Also related to this discussion, 2023, the city adopted map amendments related to missing middle housing.

And this is important because there was missing middle housing and parcels that were rezoned and implemented along the bus rapid transit corridor.

And then finally, we wanted to highlight that in 2024 you had approval or adoption of the Sunrunner Target Employment Center Local Overlay, which was essentially the first station area plan for this TOD development option, and this was at the 22nd Street station location, which is shown on the map here.

When you go through the Sunrunner BRT plan, there are four different station types identified within the city of St.

Petersburg.

Downtown, urban, village, and neighborhood.

And what we are talking about tonight based on the geographic footprint of the Sunrunner Activity Center are the urban neighborhood and village station types.

And you can see on this map the outline of the activity center boundary and the location of the three stations and their station types.

So here we're looking at the urban station type at 22nd Street, 32nd Street, and now we start to transition to a slightly smaller scale, the neighborhood station type, which is here at 40th Street, 49th Street, and 58th Street.

And then finally, as you move out to the furthest west end of the activity center, you have the village station type at 66th Street.

So what we are proposing here is the creation in the city's land development regulations of a new overlay section called transit-oriented development overlay.

And this is a new section that will create the framework for us to consider the current proposal, Sunrunner BRT, but also be ready if there are future proposals for other bus rapid transit systems.

For example, the Spark BRTs running down 34th Street, and also there have been different discussions and master planning for Alt 19 out near Tyrone Boulevard, where a bus rapid transit system could potentially run Alt 19 down into St.

Petersburg, circulate at Tyrone Gardens, and then head back out of the city.

We think that creating this transit oriented development overlay is the best framework to insert and accommodate those proposals if they come in the future.

But tonight we're talking about Sunrunner BRT only.

And there has been some debate and discussion over the years.

Should this Sunrunner action be a rezoning or should it be an overlay?

And some of this decision making has been dictated by state preemption decisions, telling local municipalities what we can and cannot do with different land use and zoning decisions.

I've previously explained that right now we are under a prohibition from creating new land use and zoning regulations that are interpreted as being more restrictive and burdensome.

And so by proposing this overlay, this is a strictly voluntary opt-in option.

The zoning that exists along the corridor today will continue to exist, and any development entitlement that the owners have today will remain using that existing zoning.

However, if that owner wants to opt into the overlay, then this is what we are considering tonight.

What does the overlay look like?

And so the flexibility of this overlay option, the voluntary action to opt in, keeps us compliant with state preemption rules, but still moves this action forward in a way that accommodates the bus rapid transit system and is consistent with the many goals, objectives, and policies that we have talked through over the recent years.

Okay, when we're discussing use standards, the idea with any transit-oriented development overlay is to promote pedestrian connectivity and connect those pedestrian users and residents with the transit system, and in this case the Sunrunner BRT.

So one of the first things when we are thinking about land use is we want to move away from vehicle dependent or vehicle oriented uses.

But if you are opting into the overlay, would uh be prohibited by the overlay.

And so we have that list on the screen.

These are very obvious vehicle-oriented uses, bank with drive-through gas stations, car washes, any drive-through facilities.

These use references are used in the use matrix today, and so that's why some things like bank with drive-thru and drive-through facility seem duplicative, but they are individual lines in the matrix.

The second thing we're doing is adding TOD supportive uses because the underlying zoning might not allow these uses as permitted principal uses.

So I highlight those if we want to come back and discuss them.

Next, we move into the individual station types and what is the development allowance.

Starting with the urban station type, which you can see in the graphic here.

This graphic is showing the quarter mile radius, and it sets the development standard.

The graphic table in the bottom left corner of the screen is taken directly from the Sunrunner Rising Development Study, which again was adopted also as the county required special area plan that is the foundation for what we can and can't do with this text amendment.

And in that study and special area plan, it had a maximum FAR cap recommendation of 5.0.

And you can see in the table at the top of the slide, that's exactly what we're recommending.

A FAR cap of 5.0 with an FAR base of 4.0, and you would use FAR bonuses to get from 4 to 5.

But that is a top cap of 5.0 FAR.

And for anybody who doesn't know and may be watching, FAR stands for floor area ratio, and that is the calculation of square feet of land area to the square feet of building area.

So if your land area is 10,000 square feet, you can build a maximum 50,000 square feet with a 5.0 FAR standard.

Okay, moving through the middle section of the corridor, you have the neighborhood station type.

Again, the Sunrunner Rising Development Study recommended a maximum of three.

Our recommendation here is a maximum of three.

No bonuses here.

And so the idea of including bonuses here didn't make sense.

We are just recommending a clean 3.0 FAR cap.

And then finally at the village location, the recommendation in the study was a maximum four.

We are recommending a maximum cap of four with a base of three and bonus of point one point 1.0.

Sorry.

And that's what's highlighted here on this graphic.

The blue parcels are situated between the stations.

They currently have an FAR of 2.5.

The study and the recommendation here is to increase that number to 3.0 FAR, again using a bonuses.

So what are the FAR bonuses?

Here we have a collection of bonuses that are borrowed from other sections of the city code that are already in use, primarily the downtown center, and also the Sunrunner Target Employment Center Local Overlay at 22nd Street.

There's a combination of workforce housing, historic preservation, TDR credits, and different streetscape design and street frontage options.

And this is a little different from what we presented again to the HLUT committee.

At that time, we were referring to an affordable commercial space program.

And in the alternative, we have put in language from the 22nd Street example that talks about activating or finishing out the first floor space for immediate occupancy.

And so we have substituted some language in here based on your feedback from that committee discussion.

On the bonuses in the footnote, there is an exempt an exemption to floor area ratio calculation that was included that refers to, as you see on the screen, square footage of a designated local landmark that is retained and restored as part of the site, is exempt from inclusion in the gross square foot area of the project.

And so this is something that we do in the downtown center now as an incentive towards historic preservation.

It was recommended by the development review commission that the council consider accepting or this exemption for all buildings 50 years in age or more, regardless of whether they are listed on the national register or local landmark designation.

And so again, I've highlighted here if you want to come back and have additional discussion on that.

Regarding building height, there is a slight increase to the building height that is recommended in this package.

The code today was established based on an interpretation we made of the Florida Building Code.

And I confess that it was an erroneous interpretation because we had interpreted the number to mean the top height of the overall building, but the Florida building code refers to the floor of the top occupiable space.

And so we were able to correct this at the 22nd Street adoption for the target employment center local overlay.

And we are recommending the correction here to bump that number up to 86 feet overall, which would accommodate for and properly coordinate with that Florida building code definition.

And that Florida building code definition is a threshold where a low rise building is interpreted to then become a high-rise building, and the building standards change.

So it is an important number in the Florida Building Code.

Now for the central plaza portion of this, which you see highlighted in purple, the recommendation there is 150 feet.

And that is based in part on some of the existing construction that is on site today.

But also this graphic, which was included in the Sunrunner Rising Development Studio, identifying for this area a maximum of 12 stories with some staging on the perimeter, but we are recommending here 150 feet.

And again, that is consistent with the transit classification in the Union Central Master Plan, which I highlighted in the timeline to open.

In the code today for setbacks along this activity center, you have in this graphic that we have on the screen, a base requirement, a height of uh 45 feet, at which point there would be a required 20 foot setback from that front property line.

We are recommending moving that 42 45 foot number up to 50 feet to be consistent with downtown center where we use 50 feet, and we're also recommending decreasing that front yard setback above the base from 20 feet to 10 feet.

Okay, parking.

Minimum number of parking.

This is to be clear, a minimum number of parking required.

It is not a mandate.

So it just sets the floor.

And the expectation is that most developments are still going to incorporate some level of parking in their project.

Um that would be set by the builder developer and not necessarily by city code.

So this is simply setting a minimum requirement.

It is not prohibiting or setting a maximum cap of zero.

It is setting a minimum.

Staff has taken those different inputs, and we had earlier put together an original recommendation, which we continue to include in the text amendments for your consideration, which is shown on the screen here, which is a zero minimum parking requirement within one quarter mile of the station area locations, and then applying the downtown center parking standards in the blue areas, which indicate the gaps in between the quarter mile locations.

Now, as we've gone through this, as you can see in the city council report, staff report, as you can see in the public comments that you've received and we've distributed since then many of the recommendations coming in from the public are asking you to consider zero parking throughout the entire overlay, and that is represented in this graphic here.

Now it the development review commission when they were reviewing this proposal for consistency with the city's comprehensive plan, they did vote to make that finding of consistency unanimously 7-0, but they also included a recommendation that you consider going to zero parking throughout the entire overlay, again as shown in the graphic on the screen.

In this graphic here, we are illustrating for you a second alternative that is referenced often in the public comments you received, which is to consider zero parking requirement within a quarter mile of all station locations, regardless of whether you are in the overlay boundary or not.

And so in this illustration, we're trying to show what parcels outside the overlay would be impacted from that kind of decision.

And you can see we have those highlighted here.

Now, some of you may be wondering how can we go outside the boundary when you have consistently told me that for land use and zoning, we have to stay inside the boundary.

And the answer here is that the parking regulation is in a separate text section, which we call the parking overlay in the section number you have on the screen.

And in there, there's a subcategory called administrative adjustment of standards.

And in there, we do have individual parking reductions for things like grand trees, uniquely shaped parcels, substituting bicycle or motorcycle parking for vehicle parking.

And so what we could do is a text amendment in the administrative adjustments of standards in the parking section that uses language that we have on the screen.

So again, we can uh come back and talk through this a little bit more after.

And if if both of those proposals are combined, this is an illustration just showing you what that would look like.

Finally, uh we have building and site design standards articulated in the text recommendations, and uh those are featuring or focusing on site layout orientation and design, pedestrian circulation, um designing buildings to have activated storefronts to the streets that are within those station locations, um, as you see them listed here on the screen.

Finally, I want to go over some resources because this is the first reading and first public hearing, and there's a month's time until the second reading and uh adoption public hearing on May 14th.

So for anybody who's been following this initiative or is just picking up this discussion tonight, please visit St.

Pete.org forward slash Sunrunner TOD, where we are uh updating all the information in real time.

Um if you go there, you'd be able to access interactive maps.

You'll be able to access all the different reports, um, archive videos and presentation decks really over the last three to five years, uh, even as we have been taking action on the other comp plan and related changes.

In terms of schedule, um, this is where we are in the process.

We are uh here at the city council first reading and first public hearing, and uh as I just mentioned, there's the second reading and final adoption public hearing scheduled for May 14.

We did intentionally pad a little extra time in here so that we would be able to make any adjustments that you might direct us to do tonight, and then uh finally, regards to public engagement.

We have had invitations out to neighborhood and business associations.

Some of those have invited us to speak.

Uh, you can see on the list here.

We've presented to Kona, the downtown partnership, Central Oak Park neighborhood, historic Kenwood.

Um, we talked to the Live Oak neighborhood, it was not a presentation at a neighborhood meeting, uh, but they did have several questions about the process and content.

And you've also received uh a number of public comments.

It looks like most of the public comments coming into our office were coming to your office and simply copied to us.

But uh to the our best ability, we did collate all those and then we package those updates and sent them over to you, and those also have uh been published up online at the website.

And then yesterday morning, uh, we also attended the mayor's bicycle pedestrian advisory committee, and this was uh a late action that they took yesterday, which is why you don't have a print material on it.

But um, I'm just gonna read this here because this came to me from the chair of that committee.

Uh, the mayor's bicycle pedestrian advisory committee supports in general the lowered or eliminated parking minimums proposed in the Sunrunner BRT transit oriented development overlay per both alternatives presented.

And so that was from the mayor's bicycle pedestrian advisory committee.

And that concludes the initial presentation.

And like I said, we have uh different resources over here to help answer your questions or also support the discussion that you might have after.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, Derek, fantastic job as always of um talking about this in a way that we can understand, even though there's a lot of moving parts, but I think the presentation was done really well given how complicated.

That doesn't mean we won't have questions.

Um, so now we move to the public portion uh public comment portion of the meeting.

I just want to say before we start that I see a lot of familiar faces.

I think a lot of you know how this goes.

There's a lot of people here that feel passionate one way or the other.

The only thing I asked is, you know, you come up here, say your name and street address and cross streets, and then when someone else is speaking, please just let's maintain quorum and no clapping or anything else because you know I know people get very passionate and it's very easy to lose control, but um, we just still have to maintain quorum.

So, with that being said, clerk.

I'm gonna call two speakers at a time.

Uh when I call your name, please go to an open podium, say it's your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

First two speakers are Kristen Ehrlich and John Tyler.

And go ahead and start.

Hi, my name is Kristen Ehrlich.

I live at 2386 Granada Circle West, and I'm here today representing Connect Penillas.

I did want to make a note right before as a personal note, I do live near the Spark Line.

Um, so this is really interesting for me to see how this works out with the Sunrunner.

And also uh I really do support the um historic preservation provision that is in here that on a personal level.

Um so I'm gonna read a portion of our letter that's in your submission packet.

On behalf of Connect Millis, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing trap transit and alternative transportation options throughout Pinellas County.

We would like to express our support for the proposed transit oriented development zoning overlay.

We also want to acknowledge and thank the city staff for the extensive work and thoughtful consideration that has gone into developing these proposals.

The Sunrunner has become a nationally recognized example of successful bus rapid transit, and the city's continued efforts to align land use policy with this investment, demonstrate strong leadership and long-term vision.

As an organization focused on expanding transportation choice and creating safer, more accessible communities.

We believe that thoughtful development around high quality transit is essential.

The Sunrunner Corridor represents a unique opportunity to support housing, businesses, and community activity in ways that allow residents to rely less on driving while still maintaining convenient mobility.

For this reason, Connect Penellus respectfully requests that city council consider creating greater parking flexibility by removing parking minimums within the Sunrunner zoning overlay and for parcels located within a quarter mile of Sunrunner stations.

Parking mandates often require property owners to build parking spaces based on standardized formulas rather than actual demand.

This increase this in this can increase development costs, reduce opportunities for smaller housing options, and require residents to pay for parking spaces they may never use.

While many residents will continue to rely on cars for some or most trips, it is equally important to recognize that others choose to live car light or car-free lifestyles due to affordability, age, disability, or personal preference.

Providing flexible flexibility in parking requirements near high frequency transit allows property owners to provide transit allows property owners to respond to the actual needs of residents and businesses while supporting the continued success of the Sunrunner.

Eliminating parking minimums does not eliminate parking altogether.

Most developments will still provide it where it demand exists, but but it allows projects to a better line with evolving transportation patterns and the presence of high quality transit.

And you can see the rest of our letter.

We reference the flexibility around ADU development, allowing parking choice, which we think is really important, particularly with an aging community where we have to take care of maybe not just ourselves, but extended family members.

And so we'd really like to thank you for actually having this meeting.

And I personally, when I moved here in 2010, I couldn't even dream that the transit would exist the way it does.

And so it really is very impactful.

Everything that the city has done in these past uh 15 years, 16 years.

Thank you.

And I just wanted to mention, as you notice the clocks are not working down here.

That's the clock up there because that's the clock you have to keep track of.

And she did a great job.

Uh yeah, I'm John Tyler.

I live at 3701 13th Avenue North.

And uh my Sunrunner stop is the 40th Street stop.

Um I just wanted to come up today and talk about how you know I got involved in this, and uh one of the reasons I got involved is my wife and I currently like when we want to go out in the evening, we we try to take our bikes or walk, and we have to make that treacherous crossing across 34th Street to get over to Grand Central, because where all the great restaurants are and things we want to do are always over there.

On our side of 34th Street, it has not experienced that kind of revitalization.

It's a lot of you know, parking lots where there'll be like 30 spots and five cars and vacant office spaces, all this kind of stuff.

Uh, this package of reforms, including getting rid of the parking mandates, is going to be a really great step, I think, in revitalizing the west side of uh 34th Street and getting us you know a lot of the same amenities that people on the east side currently get to enjoy.

Um just the second point I'd like to make is you know if you what if you go over into Grand Central, you'll see Slim Charmer, Twisted Indian, Wild Child, what they all have in common is they're locally owned, they're delicious, and they don't have off street parking.

Um my side of 34th Street, you'll get you know things like the Carabas and Burger King and all this stuff, and it's just surrounded by Ciza asphalt, and it's you know, you're kind of your placeless anywhere USA corporate chains.

So one of the reasons why I like to see just do away with these parking mandates is the parking mandates definitely seen in you know favor the corporate chains and disfavor the local businesses.

And you know, I want my neighborhood to have businesses owned by my neighbors.

So that's one of the reasons why I support getting rid of the parking mandates.

Plus, I just think having that side of St.

Pete, having people living in loft apartments, condos, uh over these, you know, small businesses, and just be able to walk right down out of their homes and get on the sunrunner and ride it to their office job or ride it straight to their St.

Pete Beach job rather than having to make a bunch of different switches means they're gonna have more time to spend with their spouses with their kids because they're having they're gonna have shorter commutes to these jobs at the beaches or to these jobs downtown.

Anyways, I want to thank you all for your time this evening.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers are Bill Hellman and Mac Feldman.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Good evening.

Hello Bill Hillman, uh 2828 Central, 2901 Central, and 2927 Central.

Um I'm here to uh support uh transit-oriented development.

Uh I'm in favor of removing the uh parking requirement for development along the entire length of the uh the Sunrunner DRT.

And I'd like to address some of the what I see as as problems here that we're having with the with the floor area ratio matching the height.

Um if you have 86 feet of height and you're able to build on a building lot, that would require that would require uh a floor area ratio of nine to to get to 86 feet.

So it it uh it's not in alignment.

And um so we we should err on the side of increased floor area ratio, not decreased.

Um zoning inconsistency.

I like the last speaker, I'd like to see the whole district uh upzoned so that so that everybody's building and has yeah, everybody's building from from Grants from 16th Street all the way up to 66.

It was the original conversations 20 years ago in 2003.

That's what it was supposed to be.

It was an awesome idea then, it's an awesome idea now, where people can take the bus from the beach or downtown and go in either direction, and then they'll hit nodes that are being revitalized, and then be able to go.

I live I had a house in um uh Central Oak Park and it was a nice house, but it it was a ghost town out there.

There's nothing there.

So we I think that that's a great idea to have standardized um density throughout the entire district.

Um I haven't seen any initiative.

I'm assuming that we're doing all of this to increase the number of uh residential units along the corridor to help address the housing shortage and availability issue, but I haven't heard anybody address what these initi how these initiatives are going to create X number of units.

It's like nobody's talking about that, and nobody's reviewed the last 30 years on Central Avenue between 18th Street and 31st.

There's been four mixed use buildings constructed that have only contributed 23 residential units.

This is on Central Avenue only, not the First Avenue North, First Avenue South.

And from 19th Street to 31st.

And there's two blocks that were that's um were added to through the Grand Central District 16 and 17, where the true hotel is and the other and two other nice apartment buildings.

I realize we can't all.

I'd like to have as much time as Derek had, please.

I uh second that.

Um Mac Felvin 132 Mirror Lake Drive North, uh here just outside of downtown, a couple blocks away.

Um, Derek, thank you so much for the extensive labor that's gone into this.

I know it's been a long time coming, so thank you.

Um here to speak in support of the overlay generally uh and to echo what all the other speakers have said to have the broadest possible parking minimum uh elimination that you guys are comfortable with.

Parking is a real cost when you go to develop.

Um, anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 dollars of space, just to quantify one of the other speakers mentioned earlier.

That is a cost that gets added directly on to the unit of housing.

There's an opportunity here to co-locate jobs and housing.

Former council member Ed Montanair used to talk about this all the time.

There's not just housing affordability in asylum, jobs and job creation, the mixing of the uses that we're gonna create with a district like this, and the opportunity to maybe there's a two-person household.

One of them has a car, one doesn't.

There are several examples of that here in this room right now.

It's not just a fantasy.

That is five, six, seven, eight hundred dollars a month in savings that you can spend on going out to your restaurants, going on more vacations, more free time for your family because you can just hop on the sunrunner rather than sitting in traffic and commuting to your job from somewhere further away.

We have a crisis, not just in Pinellas, but especially acute here of driving to qualify.

People are driving further and further and further away.

We're pushing people to Bradenton, PASCO, even, the first responders, nurses, the people who can least afford who deal with the most stress in their lives, we're having to spend an hour and a half or two hours dealing with rush hour traffic every day.

This is one of those rare opportunities to combine housing, jobs, and a higher quality of life for St.

Pete citizens all over the place.

I firmly support it, and uh, I hope you go with the broadest possible parking exemption.

I also just wanted to mention the historic preservation concept that Commissioner Conroy had mentioned, the DRC hearing, totally supportive of that.

Creating an exemption for on-site historic properties is something that we should all be supportive of.

I would even go a step further and say there should be a TDR program like we have elsewhere in the downtown for properties over 50 years of age.

That's an option.

If a developer or a property owner wants to use that, by all means.

I wouldn't support a mandate, anything like that of forcing these things on it.

But if we want to create more options for preserving historic properties and older properties to preserve some character, that's a wonderful thing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next two speakers are Gillian Bandies and Justin Cornoria.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Gillian Bandies at 828-28th Avenue North at the corner of MLK and 28th North.

Well, is that it's a pleasure to be in your district.

Um most of you know me as Chief Yimby instigator, but I am proud to wear another badge today, which is Chief Biker Mom.

Who knew that when I had my child I would be biking around the city to school errands?

I've even brought them to a meeting or two for my job.

I take them to friends' houses, I take them to the park.

In fact, we are rarely in our cars when we are in St.

Pete, because that is the kind of quality of life that we have here.

And this continuing parking mandates in a Sunrunner district is a complete no-brainer.

I can tell you that the biker moms that I'm friends with, because we all know each other, they are not here today because they are home taking care of their children.

And none of us care about parking in the Sunrunner district.

In fact, we want less of it.

We would like fewer uh cars on the streets where we ride our bikes with our children because that is why we moved to St.

Pete.

It's not because we wanted a suburban Mecca with massive parking lots or chain stores or big thoroughfares with fast cars.

We want traffic calming.

We want fewer parking spaces for cars and more parking spaces for bikes.

We want protections, we want safety.

And we want policies like these to move the city forward.

It's an easy win.

It's an easy vote.

And I will mention briefly about the development component of the Sunrunner TOD.

I've spoken with most of you because you've been so gracious with your time to understand the nuances of why transit oriented development is so important beyond the parking issues.

It has taken too long to get to this point.

I know there's been COVID.

I know there's been a change in administrations.

But four years after the T the Sunrunner was built is a too long a period to wait to implement real change that could result in more patronage of the Sunrunner.

And like Max said, uh more jobs and convenience.

And so it is up to this body.

It is not up to the unelected officials.

It is up to this body to make choices about what types of coherent transit and housing policy makes sense for our city.

And so I would urge you to be outspoken on the next steps beyond this step to increase density around these stops.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Justin Cornway.

I live at 1026 9th Avenue South.

I'm here representing Campbell Park Neighborhood Association as well as Activate St.

Pete.

I support the removal of parking mandates from the overlay.

In addition to the removal of parking mandates within a quarter mile of Sunrunner stations.

Like a quarter of the neighbors that I have in Campbell Park, I don't use a car to get around St.

Pete.

And I choose to bike walk and use transit.

My closest Sunrunner station is 13th Street at Tropicana Field.

I personally feel the negative effects of what happens when a city prioritizes cars over people when I walk under the interstate 175 and past the 50 plus acres of surface parking lots that was once the gas plant neighborhood.

I was part of the coalition that had advocated to have parking mandates removed from the 22nd Street CEC overlay, which was approved by this council.

We are the densest county in Florida, and we have a tremendous asset in the Sunrunner.

The first BRT in Tampa Bay metro area and smart growth with transit-oriented development as our future parking mandates are not.

I actually support removal of parking mandates citywide.

Rent costs have increased faster in Tampa Bay than in most metro areas in the last five years, with Tampa Bay seeing a 45% increase in rents.

My neighbors are struggling to make ends meet with many leaving the city for more affordable areas.

We know that mandating parking increases rent.

Strong Towns estimates that parking adds 17% to the cost of rent for apartment buildings.

That means even renters that don't drive subsidize those that do.

Cities that have removed parking mandates have seen the housing built, and if some have even said seen rent come down.

Minneapolis removed parking mandates citywide in 2021.

They saw more housing get built.

And while developers still built about 0.75 spots per unit, rents went down 4% during that time.

You're gonna hear later um tonight and during comment um from people from Kenwood Neighborhood Association.

Um I find it ironic that Kenwood is is is pushing for parking because Kenwood is as desirable and as valuable today because much of the neighborhood in the Grand Central District were built before exclusionary zoning and before arbitrary parking mandates were written into our city code.

People moved to places like Kenwood for the walkability and its access to transit.

Kenwood and Grand Central as they are today would be illegal to build under current code.

Neighborhoods such as Central Oak Park have signed on to the sport letter to remove parking and are ready for their section of Central Avenue to be transformed into a vibrant place like the Grand Central District.

With parking mandates, that dream likely won't be realized, and the parking lots that lie west of 34th Street will likely remain parking lots rather than the neighborhood scale retail and the residential that should be.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers are Daniel Carella and Garrett Marple.

Please go.

Sorry, go ahead.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Just to remind everyone again, the three minutes is up above me, not in front.

Hi, my name is Daniel Camondell.

I live at 2726 2nd Avenue South.

I'm a physician assistant, St.

Pete native, Lakewood Class of 04.

Um here asking City Council to be bold, be brave.

These parking mandates are removing these are essential to St.

Pete's growth.

We and I think that includes along the Sunrunner Corridor and including that quarter mile overlay around the stations.

Anything short of that is shortchanging St.

Pete.

We complain about traffic, but we do next to nothing to promote public transit or almost anything that doesn't involve one person per car to get anywhere in St.

Pete.

We complain about housing, but we keep parking mandates in place that make it next to impossible to build anything that isn't either a 3,000 square foot single family McMansion or 30 story high rise with a parking garage.

We complain about keeping St.

Key local.

But it's very hard for an average person like me to start a small business.

You know, I have to, if I want to start a coffee shop on the 40th Street Sunrunner SOP, I in two blocks from a walkable neighborhood.

I'd have to build a parking lot that I'd neither want nor need, probably doubling the cost of my business expense to put anything there.

Of course, I'm not going to afford that, but Starbucks can.

You know, we complain about how crowded that on downtown and Grand Central are.

But we made it impossible to build any other vibrant walkable areas in St.

Pete.

You make it illegal to build it to sell ice cream outside of your ice cream shop, and then you complain the ice cream shop is too crowded.

It doesn't make any sense to me.

So yeah, I think B bold anything along the Sunrunner Corridor, quarter mile around it, and especially all the affordable housing that can go into that quarter mile area.

Like doing it just on the Sunrunner is fantastic.

A lot of business growth as far as like affordable housing, which is prime real estate for it.

Those are people who don't necessarily need cars, having mandated parking lots for people who can just walk to a sunrunner, hop on have access to so much of St.

Pete.

It's just silly.

So please, we elect you to lead, not to follow.

So yeah, remove parking mandates.

Thank you very much.

Gary Marple, 4021 38th Avenue North.

Um I'm here to tell you guys a little story about myself as a homeowner here in St.

Pete.

Um when I moved to St.

Pete, my apartment was in historic Kenwood, actually, believe it or not.

And I uh quickly realized upon moving there that I didn't really need my car.

I could walk or bike anywhere I wanted to, and anywhere that that didn't cover, I could just take the sunrunner.

And I loved it.

My quality of life was fantastic.

I was more fit, I was more connected to the world around me.

And then I decided to become a homeowner.

And I quickly realized I wasn't gonna be able to afford a single family home in Kenwood, and there weren't really any townhouses or condos available for me.

So I ended up having to move away and live in distant heights, about as far north as you can possibly be while still being within the city limits, much further away from all the businesses and places that I love.

Maybe if there were no parking mandates during that time, there would be more affordable housing options, and I would still be in Kenwood as a homeowner.

Maybe if there were more walkable neighborhoods like Kenwood, there'd be less pressure on the old Northeasts and the Kenwoods and the Palmeadow parks of the world, and there would be more affordable walk uh walkable neighborhoods for young homeowners.

Please don't make young families have to choose between quality of life and affordability.

Please remove parking mandates.

Thank you.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers are Max McCann and Margaret Kinsey Rushing.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Good afternoon.

My name is Margaret Kinsey Rushing.

I live at 827th Avenue South in St.

Pete.

I live between MLK South and Fourth Street South.

I am a mother and a grandmother and great-grandmother.

I have grandchildren who have become young adults, and they are now out in the workforce, and they live near me, a couple of them with me in South St.

Pete.

They work in various places, such as near the Tyrone Square Mall, the Don Cesar out on the beach, the trade wins.

I also have a granddaughter that works at 318 Central Nails.

And she has explained to me that it's hard for her to be able to continue working downtown because the times and the hours that she works, she can't afford the parking.

She can't afford the new prices of the gas.

And if her clients cannot find parking and get to the business downtown easily, their whole business is gonna suffer because the people that utilize them won't be able to park, so what are they gonna do?

They're gonna go somewhere else.

Also, the uh rental conditions for these young people today coming out into the workforce, getting their own apartments.

They cannot afford the housing because of the mandates that require them to have parking spaces at the different apartments where they don't have cars anyway, so why do they need the parking?

So many young people are being attracted to the places near downtown.

They use things like the sunrunner.

I myself would frequent the beach more often if I didn't have to worry about the parking.

I love to shop downtown.

If I could jump on a Sunrunner, my car is not coming.

I don't have to find parking.

I'll just come, I'll go to the nail shop.

I love the butcher shop on Central.

I love shock lights and their little pastries and chocolates.

Sometimes I go other places because I can't get parking spaces at certain times when I have to be here, or it takes me a couple of hours just going around and around to try to find the parking.

Also, I am a member and board member of the Bay Area Apartment Association.

So many of our people and our builders would not be able to put affordable housing if they have all these extra parking spaces that they have to have based on the rules and regulations.

It would be all around Belder for older people like me, for the younger people coming into the job market, for our businesses on the beach and in downtown St.

Pete.

Yay, go for the overlay.

Good evening, everybody, Max McCann and Hi.

Sloan McCann, 2648 Third Avenue South.

I'm a PSTA board member, vice president of the Palmetto Park Neighborhood Association and co-founder of Activate St.

Pete.

My nearest Sunrunner stop is 22nd Street.

And I'm here to ask you today to remove parking mandates from the overlay and from all parcels within a quarter mile of any Sunrunner station.

These parking mandates force property owners to build an arbitrary amount of parking regardless of demand.

Forgive me if you've heard this story, but I think it's really important.

My wife and I are building a rental unit in our backyard and ADU.

And when we first got started, contractors told us we had to build three parking spaces on our property, even though we only have one car.

We didn't have space for that, so that was gonna kill our project.

And that means less housing for a service industry worker, a health care worker, a teacher, an educator, something like that.

Luckily, with Mr.

Kilborn's help, we found an exemption, but it's telling that our contractors didn't even know about this exemption.

And now that the bus route has changed, we're no longer eligible for this.

So if we hadn't started when we could, we would not be able to build our project today.

Our ask is simple remove the parking mandates, let property owners decide for themselves how much parking to build.

There will still be parking, I promise.

You've got the most recent version of our people over pavement coalition letter, and I just want to quickly point out the diversity of the members of our coalition.

We've got left-leaning environmental groups and a right-leaning think tank.

We've got real estate developers and neighborhood associations finally agreeing on something that parking mandates should go.

I want to quickly address concerns about spillover parking.

We don't have a parking crisis here, but we do have a housing affordability crisis.

In 10 years when my daughter's 18, she's not going to be able to afford to live here if we don't take bold action today to increase parking supply.

So what I hear when people complain about spillover parking is my daughter can't have housing because I'm worried about people parking in the public space in front of my house.

We've got to rearrange our priorities.

Stop asking where people are gonna park and start asking where people are gonna live.

Put people over pavement, let's support housing abundance, and then we can get housing affordability under control.

Thank you.

Next two speakers, please.

Next two speakers are Eric Garduno and Neil Camardella.

Uh, please go to an open podium.

Say it's your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Good evening.

Good evening.

City Council, thank you for the opportunity.

Eric Arduino.

Uh, I am the Governor Service Director for the Bay Area Department Association representing the association.

Our business address is 1247 Telecom Drive, and our cross street is River Gate Place.

I had to look that up.

I didn't know.

Um, first off, uh, for City Council members who may not have gotten our letter, uh, sent it out earlier this week.

I apologize.

I had some technical challenges, so I'm not sure if everybody received our letter directly.

We did send it out directly.

Um, I do want to highlight one very specific passage in that letter, and I'm just going to quote it right here, read it uh straight to you.

The Sunrunner Corridor is intended to provide a dedicated bus rapid transit route along a dense housing and commercial development district that will enrich the lives of the people of St.

Petersburg and visitors alike.

We absolutely have that rapid transit route.

We don't necessarily have the full length of that, a dense corridor for both housing and commercial development.

We believe this overlay will certainly help address a lot of that.

Certainly there are things in that could be improved over time, but at the end of the day, this overlay uh proposal has a lot of positive things that will help developers build both the commercial and the housing uh projects that people want and need here in the city.

Um I'll just highlight one thing in particular that uh we're especially supportive of, and that's the uh push towards higher FAR that really gives developers a lot of flexibility in how they configure their the final product so that uh we can either uh you know have more amenities, have more housing, have a lot more options in the way we create and present uh the projects that are ultimately uh put forward.

Um I I will note there is, you know, we don't want to make the perfect the enemy of the good.

That said, there is an opportunity to make it a little bit closer to perfect, and that is adopting the uh DRC's recommendation to have zero parking minimums across the entire overlay.

We certainly support that.

Um, as other speakers have mentioned, um, and I can attest from our members and the history with our members, we look at each project individually and do extensive studying to determine whether or not there is a need for parking, what amount of parking is needed.

So uh to say that there will be no parking because of this is as others have said just not accurate.

There will be parking, it's a matter of how much, and it's going to be contingent on each project depending on what the needs are that the developer identifies for their future residents.

So I'll leave it at that, but I will just say thank you to everybody here who've been advocates and pushing this forward.

Thank you to planning for putting together such a wonderful proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, council members and staff.

Uh, my name is Neil Camerdola.

I live on 24th Street and 2nd Avenue South, and my Sunrunner Station is 22nd Street.

I'm here to ask you to please remove all parking minimums from the overlay and within a quarter mile of every Sunrunner station.

I've shared a document with you.

On the front page, you'll see a partial list of the over 100 cities in the United States that have already abolished parking minimums citywide.

Here you'll see that the citizens of Baltimore, Buffalo, and Gainesville have spoken.

They say it is immoral to mandate housing for cars as our neighbors struggle to house themselves.

And here you'll see that the citizens of Gastonia, Chapel Hill, and Albany have spoken.

They say they want their property rights back.

They're tired of giving up their land to give away free parking.

In here, you'll see the residents of Wilsonville, Cambridge, and Branson have spoken.

They say it is unjust to force those who can't afford a car to have their rents increased to provide free parking for other people.

On the other side of this document, you'll see an amount $200 per month.

This is a reasonable estimate of the average burden that your parking laws impose on our monthly rents.

What does this mean for someone in St.

Pete right now?

Let me tell you a story about something that happened last night in Palmetto Park.

I was enjoying a weekly uh Wednesday game night with friends at a local bar.

On my way out, I see my neighbor who I've known for years.

We'll call her Alice for this story.

I see Alice asking patrons for money to buy herself a meal.

I'm uh surprised and concerned.

I say, let's go, I'm gonna fix you a plate right now.

So we walk back to our block.

And we walked slowly because Alice doesn't have a car.

Her only mode of transportation is a walker.

Where Alice lives, there are six parking spots.

All of them are empty every night.

Alice and her neighbors could be saving hundreds of dollars every month if you allow them to.

To be clear, your position on this issue will send a signal to every voter in St.

Pete about where your priorities are.

Do you care about allowing Alice to feed herself?

Or you continue taking money out of her park it out of her pocket to give privileged car owners free parking.

I dare every one of you in this room to have faith in the free people and free markets of America to provide parking at the right price and in the right in the right amount.

So, lastly, clearly and simply, what we're asking from you today is to step out of Alice's way and allow her to help herself.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next two speakers, please.

Uh next two speakers are Nicholas Ignary and Julia Vasquez.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Hi, uh Nicholas Ignary, president of the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association.

I live at 2217 Third Avenue North Intersection 22nd Avenue.

Okay, thank you.

And I would like to start by saying that historic Kenwood is not against development or increasing mass transit usage usage.

In fact, I'd say that we should strongly support this.

However, we are concerned about the impact in our neighborhood based on the reduction or elimination of parking and in the proposed zoning overlay.

If a building is constructed along the 22nd Street station with reduced or no parking, then the parking overflow will be concentrated in the historic Kenwood neighborhood.

We already see this on weekends, and we'll get much worse with the proposed density increase.

As you know, the Sunrunner does not connect all parts of Pinellas County.

Ridership is low.

The no car commute data is lower in the 22nd Street station area as stated in the study, which indicates most residents in the area travel to work by car.

Our concern is that development will be strong, which is a good thing.

Ridership will increase, which is also good.

However, car reduction will be minimal and parking spillover will be high.

So I know someone just talked about car spillover.

So if if we don't, if we want to really reduce cars, let's just make historic Kenwood resident parking only as part of the proposal.

That will eliminate our concern and fully support the proposition.

If we can't do that, we are asking for a study on the impacts of the proposed zoning changes on residential on residential communities and mitigation strategies to reduce negative impacts.

These mitigation strategies might include immediate parking, residential parking permits, and public-private partnerships for public uh garage infrastructure.

I see there is language of support, public parking, um parking permits, but require it's pretty onerous.

It requires two thirds signature and also a study.

Besides parking, deliveries are a major concern in our neighborhood with trucks stopping and blocking traffic and a lot of commercial um uh uh uh cars parking.

Again, we are not opposed to development or increasing mass transportation uh usage.

However, we want to preserve the character of our neighborhood.

Historic Kenwood is attractive for a reason, and our property taxes provide a substantial revenue stream for the city.

Let's not throw away the character of our neighborhood or any neighborhood in St.

Pete.

Let's develop smartly and reasonably with the focus on the reality that people are not giving up their cars, or at least until mass transportation is more robust.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Hi, I'm Julia Vasquez.

I live at 3460 14th Avenue North.

And um, I'll keep it pretty short.

I think people have made a lot of really good points already, but um I'm very much in favor of removing the parking overlay mandates.

Um again, somebody else here um mentioned that they live um uh just across the street on 34th, and that's where my home is as well.

There's huge opportunity for development along central and nothing but empty parking lots and buildings that have more parking than we we'd ever be able to use.

It's just a sea of of spaces.

Um I'd love for those businesses to develop just like the other properties further down central have as well.

Um my husband and I are a one-car home.

I bike everywhere that I can.

Um I ride many thousands of miles a year for fun too.

Um, and if we had been able to buy a home in Kenwood, I would probably not have a car at all.

Although my husband, that's the only way he gets out of the house.

Um, but he never really leaves the house, so it's it's okay.

Um but I'm just simply I'm I'm here in support of activate St.

Pete and and Max's work and urge you to remove the overlays.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers are Manny Leto and Tara Hubbard.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Uh good evening.

My name is Manny Late So, I'm the executive director of Preserve the Berg.

We're at 2219 Sixth Avenue South.

Um, you received a letter that we submitted, and uh I just want to go through some points.

I had a script here, but I'm gonna go a little off script and say that you know our concern here is really primarily uh with the Grand Central uh section of Central Avenue and those historic structures uh that are lining central.

Um we support the DRC recommendation for some added protections uh for those historic properties, and I appreciate Max's comments as well supporting some some increased protections for our historic resources.

And I just kind of wanted to run through what we're talking about when we're talking about Central Avenue because I think it's interesting that a lot of the uh comments here have highlighted how much uh fun they have on Grand Central versus kind of the other side of 34th Street.

And there's a reason for that, and and it really is the form following the functions.

So we published a study in 2024 looking at why Central Avenue, uh at least that portion between 1st and 34th, functions the way it does.

And we found a few things.

First, it's overwhelmingly historic.

Uh the majority of those buildings were built in the 1920s, and over 50 or I'm sorry, over 60% of those structures were built prior to 1950, and most are these simple uh unadorned, low rise one two-story structures.

However, the economic impact of those structures is huge.

Everybody in this room loves local businesses.

Guess where your local businesses are.

They are overwhelmingly in your historic structures along Central Avenue.

The older structures on Central are more likely to house a locally owned business.

They are more likely to be occupied than their newly constructed peers.

Between 2010 and 2020, the city saw a net loss in retail trade jobs, but in central on Central Avenue, they surged by 67%.

Central Avenue is a success that we should celebrate.

And everybody here wants to go to those cool places on Central Avenue.

We're a little concerned about the increased FAR and increased densities, basically creating an impetus to demolish those historic structures.

So we would just encourage you to include some protections.

Finally, I just want to mention, you know, often we hear, you know, if you don't like it, change the code.

Well, here we are.

We're writing a new code.

So let's build in some protections for our historic resources on the front end.

Thank you.

Oh.

Sarah Hubbard.

I live at the intersection of 47th Street and 6th Avenue South.

My Sunrunner stop is 49th Street.

I am a fourth generation St.

Pete native.

Love the city.

Claude me back from Miami.

I thought that my future was in Miami, and here I am.

Been really impressed with the Sunrunner rollout.

Again, thank you all for your support of this over the last years.

It's exciting to see the Sunrunners rising study starting to get acted on.

But I echo so many of the amazing comments that we heard today.

Definitely supportive of the Sunrunner Overlay, but without the parking requirements in the overlay, and as well as those that one-fourth mile adjacent to those stations.

I live right on the 49th Street stop.

So when I go to the Sunrunner and sit there at the stop on the Central Avenue side, there is a gas station.

And on the first Av South side, there is an empty lot.

So without the parking requirements removed, we would likely see a development like the Starbucks with the massive parking lot instead of a mixed-use development with small retail pharmacy, shop, cafe, and then the housing on top.

So really excited to hopefully see that if you all approve.

Being able to see that increased density here in a densely populated county as Pinellas versus the sprawl that we're seeing in wild Florida, which is decimating our wildlife habitats in biodiversity here.

I'm a big fan of wild Florida.

So being able to see something like this take shape is also really exciting from that lens.

I'm also going to make a case as we are adjusting the zoning to explore some possible tree preservation incentives for this zoning overlay.

Haven't seen it in the current uh version, unless I'm wrong, Derek can correct me.

Um, but would love to explore some possible FAR bonuses, some setback variances to give property owners the ability to preserve these old growth canopy trees, which is so important for placemaking and everything that we also love about St.

Pete.

There's so many benefits of trees.

I won't take up my last 45 seconds to go over them, but yeah, would love to see something innovative like that.

I saw last year St.

Pete explored some tree incentive preservations uh for the zoning code, so not just sunrunner overlay.

If we can explore that citywide, I think that would be really impactful for the future.

Um yeah, I think that's basically it.

Everyone just nailed it on the head today.

So I'm gonna cut it short.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next two speakers are Matt Armstrong and Catherine Crabdell.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

Hi there.

My name is Catherine Cradle.

I live on 44th Avenue, second, 22nd half South.

I've never done this before.

So thank you for having me.

I'm here on behalf of quite a few different community groups, but tonight with Activate St.

Pete, which is a group that I found through my partner, Alfonso, through our friends and community members here who have brought us here.

So thanks for having us.

Thanks for hearing.

I'm gonna keep it short because they've said a lot of really amazing things, but I'm an avid biker.

We are one car household, and we would not even have a car if we lived closer to the Sunrunner.

We um take the bus and bike and any combination of transit almost daily.

Um and I'm really just here to make a case for community um and connectedness.

And I think that what we're asking for here is the removal of those parking mandates to really just encourage folks to get really creative with how they think about um the way that community is built.

And I think that the more that we can encourage you know introduce opportunities for diverse modes of transit and diverse modes of being together in third spaces, and all of that is sort of more accessible and doable if we stop centering um cars.

Um I'm also here to sort of make a case for sustainability.

I work at Sands Market as a manager and um very focused on public health and environmental health, then I think that public transit and diverse modes of transit are directly connected to those things.

So I echo what Tara says about um you know prioritizing sustainability and nature conservation and all these efforts, and so I hope that that will be something we keep in mind with this um you know this project.

Um and then finally I just want to share a personal story of how our life has sort of been recently um impacted by cars and bikes, and um, like I said, my husband and I both bike to work almost every day.

We both work um in the central AV area.

And um about three months ago, my husband was hit by a car on Central Avenue.

Um since then, he has not been able to bike, and our time spent in the car has dramatically increased.

And um, I've noticed a very significant impact on our connectedness and our ability to kind of feel at ease when we're in public spaces, both from sort of a fear of the way the cars are moving and the way the cars are prioritized here in St.

Pete, but also just from the way that it feels to be on a bike versus in a car.

When we're on our bikes, we are connected to nature, we're outside, we're with each other, we're connecting with our community, we're saying hi to people, and when we're in cars, we're just kind of isolated and solo and trying to get somewhere quickly, and we're really irritated and um often struggling to figure out where we're going and what we're doing.

So thank you for listening.

Thanks for having us.

Um, and um excited to see what's what's possible here.

We are also in the process of buying a home, so we're hopeful to um you know be here in St.

Pete for a long time.

So I hope that this will be the first of many times here at City.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir.

Matt Armstrong.

Um I work at uh 831st Street South of St.

Petersburg Distillery.

Our our son owner stop would be on 34th.

Well, somewhere between 34th and 31st, actually, halfway.

Um it's a beautiful city.

This is a beautiful city.

There's beautiful people here.

There's a lot of really intelligent creative people in St.

Pete.

I've had the pleasure of meeting uh while I've worked here.

Um I wish we lived in St.

Pete.

Uh it's been six years.

I've been commuting from PASCO, so I'm one of those people.

Um, and the irony there is that I'm an urban planner uh and architect by training.

Uh I worked in the public sector for years advocating policies just like this.

Um I've lived in Austin and Houston, Phoenix, Denver, Clower Springs, uh, the East Coast, been all over the country.

This is a unique place.

It really, really is.

Um, we've got four kids, ages nine to uh to twenty.

Um the older kids uh don't want to stay here.

They don't want to stay in this area, they want to move to a city where they don't have to have a car.

Uh my daughter who's 17 could care less about getting a driver's license.

Um, my son the same way.

Uh it's a nuisance to them.

Um they like going to places like Chicago or Boston or New York or places where they can not have to drive as an option.

I think it's important for us to make sure that we focus on that.

Because if we if we plan for people in places, that's what we're gonna get.

If we plan for cars and parking, that's what we're gonna get.

I am very much in favor, both personally and professionally in removing the mandate for parking from not only the corridor, but the station areas around it.

There's plenty of examples around the country of this.

Uh Raleigh, North Carolina, Austin, uh Austin's a great example.

Um Pugh Center for Research just published a study at the beginning of March that talked about the housing affordability in Austin.

Um Austin saw this 84% growth in uh in cost of housing with people moving there.

It was a thriving city.

Uh, by removing mandates across the city for parking, across the whole city, not just in specific places where there was transit.

That housing is now the cost of housing has now gone down in 17% over the you know the last year.

It's an extraordinary impact.

Um, you know, statistically significant that uh a decision to uh focus on the things that matter, uh people that make your city beautiful and special.

Uh that's what we need to focus on.

So thank you again for your time.

It's great work.

We just need a little fine-tuning.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speakers.

Next two speakers are Dave Zornow and Alfonso Hernandez.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

Uh my name is Dave Zarano, 555 3rd Street North, and I think I'm in uh.

Um, and uh I'm in uh I'm speaking in support of removing the parking mandates from the neighborhoods that are adjacent to with Sunrunner routes.

I wrote some notes, but then something happened to me on the way here, and I'm gonna tell you about it.

It's a a little parking complaint, but please take this with uh the wink that it's uh intended.

Um I got here on time and I could not find any parking next to the building where I wanted to be because all the bike spots were taken.

Now the first thing is like don't do anything about that.

Good role.

But but I did think it was kind of fun and ironic, and and that someone else was also raising the point of like, well, that's an interesting thing.

Yeah, we're we are sometimes this brings out crunchy people.

I'm not sure that I I fit that role, but it but it does underline that is that this is a city that active transportation is not like a concept that happens every day.

You can see it all all over.

Um and one of the reasons my wife and I uh moved here and really, really enjoy being here is that we don't have to be in our car very often.

And I think that the the concepts that other people have mentioned here uh uh much more thoroughly, which much better statistics I'm gonna bring up, underline that point, and I believe removing the parking mandates along Sunrunner.

Uh transit-oriented development is a cool thing.

We've got the hard part done.

Uh you know, this tweak the zoning will help the rest of it.

Um we've always been impressed by the city's walkability, it's bikeability.

Uh the Sunrunner BRT is just like a really cool thing.

Um we I think everybody in this room would agree that um this we agree that the traffic is a thing, and but we also agree that affordable housing is a big issue here, and this is an opportunity um to uh address all of these things at one time.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Hey, I'm Alphonse Hernandez.

Uh I live at 2459 44th Street South.

Catherine was my wife.

I am the person that got hit by the car.

My arm is doing very well.

I was here, I broke my clavicle.

I'm okay.

Uh but something that I feel like haven't hasn't been mentioned is the developer side of things.

What are they gonna do with these passes and stuff like that?

And I feel like in their in their uh in a positive note for them, is like if they don't have to worry about building parkings or building a garage or even in normal house and stuff like that, that gives them more space to build a studio, to build a little apartment or to do something else.

And for them, that's gonna be more rent or uh more uh price for the for the property, right?

So, you know, in that sense, that's where the developers could win a little bit more, you know.

Uh but like everybody here have said, I am for the this this plan.

I think I work at a very popular bagel shop in in Central Avenue, and there the parking situation can be crazy sometimes, but I'm always always I always always seen that most people come walking regardless of the situation of where we are, you know, because they know already that parking is dire in the in the area.

So it is kind of like a a give and take, right?

You know, because we take parking away, but then if people know that it is an incentive of let's just walk, I live half a mile away, you know.

If you live in Kenwood or you live somewhere else, you know, people that don't live there can't park there and you just walk, you know.

You know, it's it's I don't know, it's just like uh it's something that like to have community, you have to create the community.

You know, and that and I think this is very like she was saying, it's very just community oriented is what we what we have to focus on and what we brings people together is being with other people and being separated with other people.

People have mentioned how like past 34th, it is like a black and white on on how Central Avenue behaves, and if we can create everywhere along Central Avenue, it's just gonna be such a game changer for the city, a city that it's already super good, you know.

So yeah.

Thank you guys.

Thank you for having you.

Next two speakers.

Next two speakers are Carlos Gomez and Christine McCann.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

I don't know how to do that.

You can lure with a button there to side.

She's uh really into public speaking.

Carlos Gomez.

Um he checked his box as against.

Okay.

You could go ahead, ma'am.

Okay.

Uh my name is Christine McCann.

I live at 2648 Third Avenue South.

Um I would like to request the removal of parking mandates from the Sunrunner Overlay and from all the properties within a quarter mile of the Sunrunners station.

I am a big supporter of the overlay.

I'm very excited to have 30 the west parts of Central line up with all the rest and look awesome.

Um I am an employee of the public school system.

I am a volunteer with my neighborhood.

I am also a biker mom.

I also had a hard time finding parking in the bike lot out front.

Um I would just like to say that it doesn't make sense to prioritize pavement over people.

Uh we're here to support the people that live in St.

Pete.

Um parking mandates are required parking for cars, not people.

Um cars.

So I also want to mention, because it it is a little weird, but um removing parking mandates is not removing parking.

Um as Derek mentioned for the first half of his speech, it's just the floor.

The floor is zero.

We're not getting rid of any parking, and I'm sure it will not happen uh right away.

Um so I just I don't understand why we have to force people to give cars free housing, but then like we don't do anything for housing for people.

Um we have so many people that can't afford uh St.

Pete, a lot of teachers at our school have to move away.

Um every year we lose with a couple amazing teachers because they can't afford to live here.

Um they don't need big housing with a lot of parking, they just need a condo with one spot.

Um we also don't need to require free parking for cars over small businesses.

Grand Central, um, obviously where I live nearby.

Um you know, it was made before all these parking mandates, and it's awesome, and everybody comes there to the west of 34th, opposite, nobody goes there.

So I mean, it just makes sense that I I know that people are worried about spillover parking, but our neighborhood um is a spillover neighborhood.

Um, and we just park in our garage.

So uh we don't actually really need the street parking.

Um it's not technically ours anyway.

Um our neighbors have we're required to put in three spots, and they are removing one of them to put in a pool right now.

Um, and they just park in the street anyway, still.

So it's not like parking then, it's actually really help too much.

Um there's also um sorry, thank you.

You're good.

Next two speakers are Michael Long and Anna O'S.

Uh please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address city council.

You first.

Um hi, I'm Ana, and I live on 163rd and 24th Street.

Um, I will be very short and sweet um and just say that I'm in favor of removing the parking mandates uh to increase the availability of affordable housing.

Young people like me um need affordable housing as well as a lot of other people.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir.

Hi, Michael Long off of 22nd and 22nd.

Um representing a development firm.

Someone mentioned earlier, I think it was Alfonso.

What is this going to incentivize developers to do?

Well, standing here is one that has three parcels that uh would be in this overlay that would allow us to bring up to 240 units of attainable housing at 40, 60 and 80% AMI rents to people that need the most.

We've got a long background in social services, foster care, juvenile justice, still do a lot of work in that space.

Uh we have over 600 kids that age out of foster care in Penellison Hillsboro alone.

Most of those kids cannot afford a car.

And I'm using this as a very micro example of like who would need affordable housing, and then who would need that housing without a parking space.

This is one micro example of who that person would be.

We see a lot of our kids at age out of foster care.

They make a what they make their way around town on the Sunrunner, on buses, and on e-bikes.

Um a very small subject subset of the population that this would work really well for.

I also want to just point our attention a little bit towards the future.

It's 2026.

We've got autonomous vehicles that are roaming around cities across the country.

It's not far off before that becomes more of a norm and a standard here.

Living in such a progressive city.

Um thinking five, ten years down the road with these kinds of policies is really helpful, right?

There's a scenario where we don't need this much pavement in very real terms when we have autonomous vehicles, cabs, taxis that can move people around much more efficiently and cheaply.

Um, and give people the opportunity to not have the burden of car ownership and the costs that come along with that.

So strongly support um strongly support this agenda item and generally uh removing parking mandates where it makes sense, where there are existing resources and infrastructure for people to get around the city safely.

So thank you all.

Thank you.

Our final public speaker is Justin Holmes.

Please go to an open podium, state your name, address, or cross street for the record.

You'll have three minutes to address City Council.

What up?

I'm Justin Holmes.

Uh I'm at 1849 12th Street South.

That's 18th Avenue South and 12th Street South.

I mostly just want to join the consensus of people who feel we need uh higher parking minimums for bikes at City Hall because uh I've lived here about six years, but I'm a touring musician, so I mostly live in my bus in other places, but I chose to buy a house here in St.

Pete.

Um a lot of a lot of musicians, especially a little older than me, you know, choose Nashville.

Uh and the thing about Nashville is uh I've ridden my bike, I think in probably 49 states and 15 countries on a cargo bike.

The thing about Nashville is if you want to go see a couple of different bands, you got a band you really want to see, but then you get there and the crowd is maybe not what you wanted, or the set is not what you wanted, the sound isn't what you wanted, or you really want to just go see another band.

You pretty much gotta get in the car, right?

Except on Broadway where there are no parking minimums.

The rest of Nashville, right?

You pretty much have to get yourself an Uber, go from the station in to D's, the basement East, whatever, to see a second set, and you're gonna miss the whole set by then.

I think St.

Pete is plausibly the second best music city in the South for my money.

Uh and you can go from the Ale and the Witch to the Tavern of Bay Borough to Cage Brewing and see three different bands in one night on a bike.

I do that twice a week, probably uh to go to the bluegrass jam at the Ale and the Witch, which is one of the best bluegrass jams in the United States on Wednesday nights.

Um I think you know, I want to encourage you to just remove parking minimums altogether.

I don't think that if we had a clean slate on planet Earth, we would choose to terraform this place in service of compatibility of this one industry's devices when we know that even if it was maybe important for the last hundred years, and it could be important for the next hundred, right?

We have in the six years that I've been at my place on 12th Street, I would say the the number of cars to e-bikes has gone from two to one in favor of cars to five to one in favor of e-bikes in the last five years.

And uh I I think that we probably have a real chance to advance our stature as a city of nightlife and especially of really awesome traditional music if we can help people to see smaller bands on their second set, get people moving around the city, get that critical mass on Central Avenue that you have some evenings.

Uh I think that's a it's it's hard to overstate how important that is to the growth of a music scene in a city.

Uh it seems obvious that on sufficiently long timescales, there's two types of city that are gonna be that are gonna exist successful cities and car cities.

You know, you're I think constituents want one alternative, and the audio industry wants the other.

So let's see.

On you to choose.

Thank you.

No more speakers.

No more speakers.

Okay, before we go to council members, I just have to comment on the speakers.

Y'all did a really good job at staying with the rules.

And not only that, when you were talking about the same subject, you you gave some variety.

So very much appreciated.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, madam chair, and thank you everyone for coming out this evening.

I could not agree more.

Um this was probably one of the better presentations by the public that we have seen over the years.

Um, but certainly uh, you know, I hear that the matter at hand today is not do we pass this or not, but it's how far do we go and what are we willing to settle for.

And um, you know, I've had the pleasure of being here for nine years along with council member Driscoll, and we have seen a lot.

And when you looked at the history portion of the presentation, we've seen most of it.

We weren't here in 2012, luckily, but uh we've been here since 2019 and seen all of these different reiterations.

We've done a lot, NTM was mentioned, and that is a prime example of a time when we wanted more, and quite frankly, we settled.

And as far as it goes today, I'm tired of settling.

Um we need to push, we need to do more.

And um, you know, I just somebody said, you know, generous with our time, but you've all been very generous with your time, and you've been very patient while we've kind of gone through this process.

Um, you know, we talk a lot about needing people to be able to live, work, and play affordably in our community.

I heard a presentation the other day by the Tampa Bay Partnership, and it was all about housing affordability, even across the region.

And they shared an interesting statistic that I went back and looked up while you all were speaking, that 11% of the people who live in the Tampa Bay area actually commute more than an hour to their jobs.

And that's one way.

So that's two hours round trip that people are not spending with their families, that people are not spending working on their personal lives, relaxing, recreation, and money that they are not able to spend in their own communities because they're stuck in cars.

And so that statistic alone drives me to want to do more in this uh this ordinance.

Um also, you know, the state has preempted us from doing anything with net zero policies moving forward.

We talked about that a little bit earlier today.

And I have to kind of make a little bit of a correlation to okay, if we're preempted from doing anything to help to reduce the carbon footprint that the city is putting out.

Well, maybe we can work on our zoning to make sure that we're helping all of you reduce your carbon footprint, and that's a way to kind of bite back a little bit on some of that preemption.

So I find a lot of interesting threads with the other things that we have spoken about today alone in our committees and earlier in our council meeting.

And so I say all of that to say that Derek.

Hi.

Um I want to talk about today how we get to slide 40, which is what everyone to do.

Um, it is the parking alternative that is the zero minimum parking required, including the quarter mile from the station.

In the and legal, please help me with this.

Um, you know, we're always cautious when we're working on these things, and obviously, this is just the first public hearing, but I want to make sure when I read the title of the ordinance and it talks about standards for development design and parking.

Changing and going to this slide and this being the ultimate recommendation, that doesn't change the title or anything like that, correct?

It does not.

So we anticipated that there might be some changes requested in this process.

So the ordinance title was intentionally written to accommodate for that.

Okay.

So the answer is we do not have to reset the timeline.

Okay.

We can continue on the same schedule.

And we because we do not have to change the ordinance title.

Okay, and so process legal, what would we have to do to get there for our our voting purposes today?

So there's a couple ways to do it.

Probably the cleanest way is just to start making motions for any changes that you would like to see.

Okay.

Uh, and then vote on those separately, and then at the end, it could be moving forward, whatever it is as amended.

It's a little easier tonight, too, because this is the first public hearing, and there'll be a second public hearing for you to see exact language and vote on a final product.

So that's also helpful.

Okay.

Yeah, because there's a couple other things I do want to touch on the FAR bonuses.

I had a question on one of those, and then also the historic uh piece.

I want to talk about those, but I really want to dig in on the parking first.

Um, so I'll just go ahead and make a motion for the sake of discussion that we um and help me legal if I say this wrong, but that we um amend to have zero minimum parking required at the stations and within a quarter mile of the station areas.

Is that sufficient?

Okay, that's my motion.

Second, thank you, madam chair.

So, do we vote on each one?

Council members for each motion discuss the motion.

Yeah, we can discuss the motion.

So okay.

Anything else?

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

Um, thanks to everyone who has um joined us here tonight.

Also, those who have um emailed or had conversations with any of us.

Um, if you couldn't make it tonight, uh it's encouraging to see that this is so important to so many people.

We want to make sure we get it right, and boy, it took a long time to get here, but I'm glad we're here.

Um I'm still not totally satisfied with it because when we talked about it last in the last committee meeting, um I pointed out that the Sunrunner runs on First Avenues North and South.

But the boundaries of this overlay don't include anything that is on the north side of First Avenue North or on the south side of First Avenue South.

So um sure Central is included, but without that without both sides of the street where the sunrunner literally goes, this is not complete, and it's disappointing that we came so far to only come this far.

But I'm not gonna throw it all into jeopardy right now.

It just means all right, we came this far.

Please keep going.

Keep going.

I will not be on city council to see that part, but I urge you, and I'll come and I'll do my three minutes too.

Please keep going.

So I didn't get what I what I think.

Um I didn't get what I want, but I'm gonna go along with what we have if we change this parking situation and eliminate the minimums as council member Gabbard has um has moved to amend this.

It's um it's something of a consolation.

I mean, I want both, but it's called transit-oriented development, and that's how we need to be doing our planning.

It was exciting to see the first round of this when we worked on 22nd Street, and uh there was so much that went into getting that right.

You may think that um there hasn't been as much discussion around this, but it's because we have been talking about this for so long, and we put so much work into getting the 22nd street overlay right that this round is um moving a little a little bit more efficiently now as it's come to us.

Part of that is because many of you who are here tonight or who have um uh spoken on this, you were with us then, and you showed up on the second time, second time around and said we don't want parking, we want more neighbors instead.

And I'm like, oh my god, these are my people.

And it made me so happy.

And um that really got a lot of people questioning why we have parking minimums, especially in specific parts of our city, or where we're working on transit oriented development.

So um I'm I'm gonna be okay enough with what we're moving forward with here tonight.

Um, and I'll continue to be supportive, but I just wanted to make sure um it was known that I'm I'm settling just to get something going.

And um, Derek, I do appreciate all of the work that you've done.

Um you have listen, we don't always agree.

I know and respect your your views and the way that you present them to us, and it makes it often makes us think about things in a way that we hadn't noticed before.

And so this really is a team effort.

Um a lot of times it comes down to compromise, but I think what we're going to end up here with here is something that's better for our city.

So thank you for all that you've been doing on this.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gurtis.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um I'm gonna keep it to parking because I'm glad you mentioned because I want to talk about the um historic piece of it.

And I'm just gonna be uh specific to district one because there was a lot of comparison between east side and west side.

My feelings got hurt quite a bit.

Just letting you all know I can't I kept my I'm about to.

Um and so I just felt like my father there for a second.

Sorry.

Um yeah, uh I heard his voice coming out of my mouth.

Um, and so I you know, I I think um preserve the bird talked about it, you know, where east side to west side, where there's some history on the east and the west.

I I will say there are there's a lot of our buildings that are over this 50 years, which is why I want to talk about it.

I think the the big difference is the parking.

If you look at central west of 34th Street compared to east, it's a four-lane road compared to a two-lane road, the two-lane road with diagonal parking, four-lane road with on-site parking.

And so the setbacks are significantly wider with on-site parking, and so you can't develop, and that's why the buildings have been there for over 50 years, which is why I want to talk about it.

And so um now, again, I got I'm got a little defensive for my Alessia, my side door deli, my copper kitchen, my mercado, and dead bobs.

Like, we've got some places on the west side, people.

Okay, but um, but again, I do think this is a big deal, and I will I will readily admit I am one of the ones who was very protective when we had this conversation the first time where we where we settled.

This is a different, this is a totally different conversation where I think this this brings a different element um to the west side that will help us get to it.

And I know we're gonna do some more sections of this.

I think overall, this is what I was talking about when we were talking about using a scalpel rather than a um a saw.

So um I I'm all about this.

What um I can't I'm very excited to vote on this part.

I'm I I want to have the conversation about the the designation in the 50 years, but um I I appreciate this and looking forward to this vote.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Derek, is there anything you want to add on this or anything that you always write notes about but things that are asked, and and so I just want to make sure is there no?

I I don't have any uh additional details on this other than to say that you know we receive a lot of different information from stakeholders.

We try to package that and provide to this council a balance proposal of all those inputs, and um you know, in this particular instance, we provided you alternatives to illustrate what we know was being discussed, and hopefully that helps you in this conversation now.

Thank you.

So, in terms of the alternate DRC recommendations, just to put it on the record, what we have here, what is required if that were supposed to happen, what would be required to go down that road?

Okay, so this represents on the screen the DRC recommendation, which was to go to zero parking within the entire overlay, and the sentence that we have at the bottom of the screen is the sentence that we drafted for your consideration that we would just substitute in to the existing ordinance draft.

Um so this is showing you what we would write in the existing draft.

It has uh part A and Part B.

And part A says that if you are located within a quarter mile of the station location, um you are exempt from any minimum number of parking, but it's the part B that says if you are outside the quarter mile but in the overlay, then we apply the downtown standard.

So when we come back to you at the next meeting based on the DRC recommendation that you asked me, we would strike B and we would strike A, and we would insert the sentence on the screen.

Okay.

And the motion we have on the floor is the original recommendation, but adding the quarter mile.

Hold on, adding the quarter mile, taking away the parking in the quarter mile, right?

Right.

So the I just want to want to make it clear for the record.

The motion on the floor is different than the DRC recommendation.

And I want to make sure that we're all clear.

And um, I'll show you the two parts.

So the motion on the floor includes a quarter mile from station areas inside the overlay and outside the overlay.

And the way that part of it would be accomplished now is we would amend the parking section 1640 090 to add a new administrative adjustment, which again we we attempted to provide you draft language on the screen, and we would just describe it as proximity to bus rapid transit stations.

Because the um in the future there might be additional transit oriented development sections throughout the city.

In this instance, we would leave it vague as we're showing you on the screen.

So you would uh potentially adopt this text amendment to 1640 oh nine oh when you combine it with the Sunrunner BRT section, which would say no parking within the overlay.

This is what it would look like if you combine the two.

Okay, I just want to make that clear in terms of notice and the requirements.

Oh Heather, do you want to say something?

Oh, I think Derek, Derek just got it in right at the last bit, but I was gonna say there's actually gonna be right now.

You've got uh page six of ten of the ordinance in subpart F parking requirements.

It currently has a A, B, and a C.

If we're going to do this recommendation, then we would probably be getting rid of B.

C would become B, and then A is just gonna reflect that sentence that all uses within the overlay district are exempt from parking.

So we do an amendment there, and then we would add a new section to the ordinance with that second sentence that within a quarter mile of the transit stops in the parking code itself.

Okay.

So there'd be two tweaks to the ordinance.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gardes, did you press your button?

I did.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just quickly, just because I I didn't want to mix parking when we go to the other subjects.

There was one thing I wanted to mention where, and this picture reminded me that I didn't talk about it.

This also includes the portion, a big portion of my district that uh is adjacent to the Pinellas Trail, which makes this even more important on the on uh when it comes to parking.

And so uh I just wanted that that's a big deal when we're talking about this in it, and it wasn't mentioned before.

Uh and so I just wanted to mention it real quickly.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Now I just wanted to make sure we had the picture where we're voting so everybody knew because there were lots of pictures and lots of pages in this presentation.

He got through 50 pages pretty quickly.

And you did a great job.

That's not that wasn't a criticism.

I'm just saying.

I didn't take it that way.

Okay.

And I I'll I'll uh just want to make clear that the zero parking within those quarter mile radius includes the single family homes and everything else that's located in those uh geographic footprints.

Okay, okay.

So we have a motion and a second.

Clerk, you open the machine for voting.

Council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce a vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J3 passes unanimously with that's the amendment.

It's the motion just for the parking amendment.

Oh, I'm sorry, the amended okay.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve the amendment passes unanimously with council member Floyd being absent and council member Harding recusing himself.

And that that's why we have legal here.

They keep us on track, not just us, you and everyone else.

Thank you.

Okay.

So now we have the second issue that we're gonna talk about, which is the preservation issue, I believe.

Councilmember Gurtis.

Thank you very much, madam chair.

Sorry.

So can we just talk about this really quick?

Because I I want to make sure I understand this.

It's we're giving people the option to have the bonus, and the recommendation is for any structure that's 50 years older, you get the bonus if you keep the structure on.

Am I understanding that correctly?

That's the recommend the DRC recommendation, right?

No, um we'll get the presentation back up.

I know there's some uh technical coordination today.

Um when one of you is speaking, we can't have the graphic on the screen.

Um because I can't see the name, you can't see who's speaking, that's why it this is not working either.

That's I'm trying to remember.

Yes.

Yeah, that part's hard.

Yes.

Okay.

So in the downtown center, most of you are familiar, we have a bone uh an FAR exemption table, and it has a list of different exemptions, and that is where you see the exemption for local landmark buildings in the downtown center.

And then you have a separate FAR bonus table, which has a long list.

In this case, there aren't exemptions listed.

We just have an FAR bonus table.

So what we did is um we just rather than have a whole separate table with an FAR exemption just for this one thing, we have just put it into this subsection uh as a footnote.

And it basically the footnote would just say that if you have a uh local landmark building that's designated and it's preserved as part of the site or project, then we just exempt the floor area in that building.

We don't count it.

So preserving the building doesn't take away from any potential new floor area you might build elsewhere on the site because we're not counting it towards the FAR number.

Okay, that's that's very helpful.

Thank you.

I I I what I wanted to make sure is that it wasn't going to uh quell development.

I won't use specific buildings and I won't call anybody out, but like I I want some of them to be redeveloped and go out to what we're talking about rather than keep it the way they are.

And so, okay.

Uh I I'm gonna I'm gonna wait to hear from my colleagues on what they want to do.

I could go either way on this because again, I we don't I don't think we have any technically historic local landmark designations, but we certainly have buildings older than 50 years the further west you get because they build them west to east.

Um and so I it's really I'm I'm happy to go with with however my colleagues want on this, so I'll sit and listen.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you.

I think this is actually a great idea.

Um we may not be able to think of one off the top of our heads right now, but it's not just those that are it's it's not just the one that we haven't thought of today, it's the one that will become historic 20 years from now.

And um, so that kind of secures this for the future.

And I think any time that we can incentivize or encourage someone to um to keep a historic building.

You know, it's not likely to be it it can really make a difference when someone's trying to make the numbers work if they don't have to count this particular building in their in their calculations.

So I'm so I'm supportive of it.

I'm interested to hear what others have to say.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

I mean, I'm I'm interested in it also.

Uh first of all, I the DRC recommendation to me carries a lot of weight to start with.

Um we've heard both from developers and preserve the burg.

Um they're supportive.

It's really an option to have a bonus, which makes it even easier.

And frankly, I you know, when we talk about you, and going back to that sense of place and how you feel about an area.

I mean, at the end of the day, part of what we like about what's cool about St.

Pete is that variety, and and you and this is a way to allow for some of that um variety and the types of structures that we have in that area.

And some of the coolest areas have the some of the older structures, right, Derek, or am I wrong?

Of course.

Right answer, right answer, Derek.

So right.

So anyhow, um, that's the way I feel.

So if um someone wants I can't make a motion.

I'll make I'll make a motion to exempt uh all buildings 50 years in age or more, regardless of national register or local landmark designation for a far exemption.

Derek has something to add.

Oh well, take care of your um motion and second.

We have a motion second.

Uh only because you phrased it this way, Chair.

I want to be uh clear about how this particular item came up in the DRC discussion.

Okay.

When the DRC took up the issue of parking, they they actually voted 7-0 on the recommendation to go to zero parking, bundled with the finding of consistency with the comprehensive plan.

So there is a formal discussion and vote taken.

Yeah.

With this particular item, this was not included in their final vote, but it was offered as a discussion point, which is why I'm sharing it with you.

But it was not a formal vote.

And I appreciate it.

So I take back what I said about their recommendation because that would suggest that there was a vote and the majority voted in favor.

Okay.

Okay, so we have a motion and second.

Um here a second.

Oh, second, councilmember gabbard.

Are there any other speakers?

No.

Okay.

Seeing that we have a motion of a second, clerk to the amendment amendment number two, clerk.

If you can open the machine for voting, and council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve amendment number two to J three passes uh unanimously with council member Floyd being absent and council member Harding uh recusing himself.

Great.

Move approval for J three with with uh amendments.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can open machine for voting.

One moment he's changing the title.

I'm sorry, he has to say the title.

He's changing it.

Oh, he's changing the title.

Oh, okay.

Day three as amended.

Yeah, that would have been a better way to say it.

We good legal.

It's getting late.

Okay, clerk.

If you can open the machine for voting, council members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present council members have voted, clerk, please tally announce the vote.

Madam Chair, the motion to approve agenda item J three as amended passes unanimously with Councilmember Floyd being absent and council member Harding recusing himself.

Great.

Well, thank you.

I think we're done here on this item.

Thank you, everyone, for being engaged and uh for your advocacy and for caring about your neighborhoods.

And Derek, great job as always.

Thank you.

Okay.

Is there any speakers for no speakers for open form?

Okay.

We go to announcements.

Yes, Councilmember, he beat you.

Council Member Gerdis.

Does everybody want to stay and sing Council Member Gabbard happy birthday?

Oh, yeah, let's do that.

Oh, that's very sweet.

It's council member.

Wait a minute, I get to start it, not you.

Uh it's Capital Member Gabbard's birthday next week, and we do not have a council member this uh next week.

And so let's sing Council Member Gabbard happy birthday, please.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear bounce.

Thank you everyone.

Also, just really quickly, Madam Chair, Green Thumb Festival is next weekend, not this coming weekend, but next weekend.

And again, we don't have a council member.

I hope everybody to see on the west side where we're pretty cool, all right.

Thank you very much, madam.

Madam Chair.

Absolutely.

Councilmember Gabbard.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to say for those who missed it last night.

My face still hurts from smiling because the senior hall of fame awards were last night.

It was the 42nd awards.

37 seniors were nominated.

The ages ranged from 62 to 90 years young, and it was 953 years of combined volunteer service for St.

Petersburg.

So I know they'll be with us in May, but I just wanted to recognize them all today and thank them for their service and encourage everyone to go to the senior Hall of Fame Awards next year.

You will not be disappointed.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

And it was a great event, as always, they hit it out of the park.

Amazing.

Um, our team.

So great job.

And if you can attend one year, anyone who has not attended, it's one of the best events in the city.

It really makes you feel really good once you leave there.

So it's great.

Okay, great meeting, everyone.

Thank you for being here.

Meeting adjourned.