TIERRA VERDE, Fla. — Developer Greenleaf Capital’s newest proposal to upgrade the Tierra Verde Marina has been scaled back compared to its initial plans.

It will now be one phase instead of two.

What You Need To Know

Greenleaf Capital, developer, scaled back its original proposal to modernize the Tierra Verde Marina

The proposal now includes two dry storage racks which would be 72 feet tall, lowered from 90 feet

The nonprofit, Tierra Verde Next, opposes the proposal entirely. Its director said the dry racks will still be too high

The St. Petersburg Development Review Commission will hear this case on May 6

The Tierra Verde Marina is 40 years old. It’s a staple in the community that developers said needs some work.

“You look around, it’s pretty evident it is in need of some TLC and that’s exactly what’s going to happen here,” said Rick Kriseman, spokesman for Greenleaf Capital and former St. Petersburg Mayor.

Greenleaf Capital proposed to modernize the marina once again.

This time they are hoping to build two new dry storage racks, adding 173 spots that would bring the total marina capacity to 500 dry spaces.

Rick Kriseman said this project will meet the county’s demand for more storage.

“I think the hurricanes were really a wake-up call for a lot of boat owners, that they needed to find someplace that was safer for their boats and that’s what’s going to be provided here,” he said.

The biggest change to the proposal is the rack height.

Kriseman said they listened to community feedback and lowered the height from 90 feet to 72 feet.

“Everything that exists currently is going to get an upgrade. Updating the racks will have a coastal design to them so it’ll really fit in well with what already exists in this community,” Kriseman said.

But leaders of nonprofit Tierra Verde Next, which was established to push back on the original proposal, said they completely oppose the new application. One of their top concerns remains the dry rack height.

“What (people are) going to see when they first cross that bridge is look up and see an open boat warehouse. It’s unsightly. It does not fit in a residential community. It fits into a warehouse community,” said Melanie Coleman Simon, director of Tierra Verde Next.

There will also be upgrades to the existing wet slips, a new restaurant, bar and marina office.

To make room for this development, existing retail space was eliminated.

“That was a big hurt to the island. That was where we shopped, our friends worked at those places, our kids worked at the Subways and the bait shop,” said Coleman Simon.

Kriseman said without that retail space, traffic will be reduced by 37% based on their analysis using the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ manual.

“People that store their boat in a marina don’t come every day,” Kriseman said.

Tierra Verde Next said they’ve been trying to get in touch with Greenleaf Capital for months, but now, both organizations said they will be meeting soon.

The St. Petersburg Development Review Commission will hear this case on May 6 at 1 p.m.