Historic Gas Plant District is home to Tropicana Field. Photo by Seán Kinane
St. Petersburg City Council voted to freeze redevelopment proposals for the Historic Gas Plant District and instead create a city-led planning framework. Before the morning meeting, Ron Diner the founder of Home Runs Matter talked about why it’s better for St. Petersburg to have greater say in how the land is used.
Council member Brandi Gabbard is in support of slowing down the development and Diner said his organization supports her.
“All smart cities go through a planning process. They lay out the streets and grid, and then they sell the land parcel by person. That’s the way it’s done all over the United States. So if the mayor were to move forward with one of these two proposals, We’d be strongly opposed,” Diner said.
He said the property is to big to risk a random developer to come in and handle the estate. Diner said the city should work more closely with the Gas Plant Advisory Committee to better understand the land and its history before touching the land.
“If the city does the planning first and lays out the streets, and then sells the land later, then the city is in control and no one developer is going to cause the whole property to collapse,” Diner said.
He said when the property is fully developed Diner said it could be worth more than one billion dollars and the revenue could help address city needs, like affordable housing and flooding.
“There is so much need for affordable housing. There is so much need for our funds to help the future of our kids. We’ve got billions of dollars in repairs to be made to prevent flooding from happening in the future. All of these things are what we would be doing with this money if we did it ourselves. So planning comes first,” Diner said.
The Historic Gas Plant District is 86 acres and Mayor Ken Welch received nine proposals for the property.
The vote to pause redevelopment plans passed with a 6-2 vote, according to Florida Politics.