TREASURE ISLAND — A proposal to hire a consultant to develop a citywide master plan died twice at the Dec. 2 City Commission meeting, derailed by disputes over qualifications and scope despite weeks of public pressure to move forward.

The initiative collapsed in a 2-2 tie vote after Commissioner Arden Dickey refused to support a requirement that consultants have Florida-specific experience. With Commissioner Chris Clark absent, the measure failed without a majority.

City Manager Charles Van Zant had received commission consensus to solicit firms for an estimated $200,000 to $250,000 to develop plans focusing on west Gulf Boulevard, 107th Avenue in the Pirates Cove area, the Gators property near Johns Pass and the Yacht Club area.

Mayor John Doctor said the city’s rebuilding efforts after two hurricanes require ambitious planning.

“When we’re rebuilding Treasure Island, we need to rebuild and build bigger,” he told those assembled. “We need to have more residents that are here, and we’re talking about apartments and about condos. A lot of this is going to be right in our downtown area, because that’s where the mixed use is coming in.”

The mayor estimated city residents now number no more than 4,000, down from 6,584 in the 2020 census, after the hurricanes destroyed many residential properties.

Economic Development Director Joan Goodrich said the master plan would address economic development issues and build the nonresidential tax base while attracting more customers and foot traffic to the island.

Dispute over qualifications

The effort unraveled when Dickey asked commissioners to drop the requirement for “relevant Florida experience.”

“I was a consultant for many years in the newspaper business, and I could work as easily in Miami as I could in Detroit or Philadelphia or Kansas City,” Dickey said. “Most of this type of work is also transferable. I would like it to say just ‘relevant experience.'”

Vice Mayor Tammy Vasquez said she would accept dropping “Florida” but wanted the requirement to specify “coastal” experience.

City Attorney Gretchen R.H. “Becky” Voss cautioned against removing the Florida requirement.

“Florida has statutes that are so complex it would be very difficult for someone from Wisconsin or California or Texas to come into Florida and do this and not trip over some Florida-specific issues,” Voss said.

Dickey also pushed for deliverables before March 2027 and suggested an economic feasibility study of the Pirates Cove downtown core as the first phase.

“Can that be developed based on our current code? And if it can’t be built, it should come back with a recommendation of what is required,” he said.

Van Zant said he planned to present a refined timeline and phased approach with deliverables to the commission in February. Commissioners would select a firm in January.

Double failure

Vasquez moved to direct Van Zant to proceed with the request for qualifications including the Florida experience requirement. With Clark absent, the motion failed 2-2, with Doctor and Vasquez voting yes and Dickey and Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon voting no.

“So now we’re not going to proceed to get a consultant,” Doctor said.

Applause from some audience members followed the failed vote.

“So I’m not sure what everybody’s happy about,” Vasquez said.

Civic activist Mark Hohe, who regularly attends meetings, told commissioners the criteria were “extremely weak and inadequate.”

“You’re going to make a decision to hire somebody that’s going to affect the look and feel and construction of this city 50 years or more, and all we have is a couple of typewritten pages,” Hohe said.

He quoted from a letter an unnamed city employee submitted stating the scope was unclear: “From what I read, we don’t know where we want to go and are relying on vague scope from a consultant to tell us.”

Dickey agreed: “The scope of services needs a lot of work.”

He then moved to direct Van Zant to develop a stronger, more detailed scope of services for the request for qualifications, but the motion failed for lack of a second.

“All right, it failed, let’s move on,” Doctor said.