With the latest setback related to the Gas Plant District Redevelopment, I began to
ponder the future of that 86-acre downtown parcel. For the better part of the past 15
years, redevelopment of the Gas Plant District has felt a bit like a carrot on a stick, you
can always see it, yet no matter how hard the City and the development community
work no one can ever seem to grab it. It’s always there, just out of reach. It’s stymied
the past several mayors and their administrations and after all this time it feels no closer
to a resolution than when we first started discussing the redevelopment as a City long
ago.
While my initial thoughts were focused on the Gas Plant redevelopment, my purpose
seemingly evolved through discussions with many people in town with a vested interest
in the success of not only those 86 acres but the City as a whole. Now that we are back
to the beginning with the Gas Plant, what if we reimagined how the development of that
property could play out in a way that hasn’t been thought of before.
Historically, the Request for Proposals released by the City focused only on those 86
acres. The latest iteration released by Mayor Welch and his administration highlighted
21 guiding principles that at a minimum forced developers to think a little greater than
just baseball and mixed-use development. When I sat on the Development Review
Commission, the City preemptively upzoned the Gas Plant to allow for the purposeful
redevelopment later. The City zoned that area DC-1, allowing for greater densities,
uses, and building heights.
Now we have a new opportunity in front of us, another chance to redevelop that
property, with or without Major League Baseball. I personally believe it’s time that we
don’t focus on the singularity of these 86 acres but how this property fits in with the
larger context of the community. I believe it’s time we look at this redevelopment
opportunity holistically, as this project will have direct impacts on neighborhoods and
other business areas adjacent to the property.
The City of St. Pete has too many master plans. Many are not even known, many more
are confusing, and in several instances they overlap and create conflict with each other.
I know we have the 2050 plan which is intended to guide the City for the next 25 years,
but it isn’t specific to this property. In the areas surrounding the Gas Plant, the City has
the Intown Redevelopment Plan, Edge Business District Plan, Warehouse Arts District
Master Plan, The Target Employment Center (TEC) Local Overlay, The Central Avenue
Storefront Overlay District Plan, and is currently working on the Innovation District
Master Plan. The City also has it’s Multimodal Master Plan, Integrated Sustainability
Action Plan, the I-175 Action Plan, the St. Pete Pinellas Trail Master Plan among others.
The Gas Plant redevelopment lies at the intersection of all of these plans. It feels
impossible to envision a district that could possibly satisfy each of these master plans,
yet that’s the opportunity we have in front of us.
The time has come to look at downtown, and the greater St. Petersburg City, holistically.
How does redeveloping the Gas Plant affect Methodist Town? How does it affect the
Edge Business District, WADA, The Pinellas Trail? How does it affect the Deuces
Neighborhood and Campbell Park? The redevelopment of the Gas Plant won’t happen
in a vacuum; it will affect surrounding neighborhoods and districts. The better we as a
City understand those impacts, the better those neighborhoods and districts can plan for
and potentially adjust to those future impacts. To have the surrounding areas in
alignment with the redevelopment of 86 acres will be a monumental task, which is why it
should start now and not when another RFP hits the streets.
A streamlined downtown master plan, which could supersede, update, or replace many
of the master plans mentioned above and would lay the foundation for the future of St.
Petersburg. Perhaps there are Land Development Regulations (LDR) that need to
change, perhaps zoning needs to be expanded in certain areas or building heights and
densities changed in others. Looking at the LDR’s in a holistic lens allows urban
planners to work with the County and Forward Pinellas to implement land use changes
that would benefit the entire City.
Most importantly, we as a community need to define what is considered downtown. The
area that would naturally seem to be considered “downtown” doesn’t necessarily align
with the current zoning classifications in many instances. The Intown Community
Redevelopment Area (CRA) Plan Map looks like a gerrymandered political district, not a
downtown map.
This CRA plan was amended last summer but it was originally written in 1982 and much
has changed since this was originally implemented.
Once we define what we consider downtown, we can figure out how the Gas Plant
Redevelopment fits into it. More importantly, however, is we can then figure out how the
Gas Plant fits in with the surrounding neighborhoods and business districts and
ultimately the rest of the City.