rezoned about 3,000 properties<\/a> along city thoroughfares. Some of those properties are single-family homes that can now be converted into duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes, depending on lot size.<\/p>\nNext, City Council voted 6-0 to support removing a minimum amount of parking spaces required for properties along Central Avenue and within a quarter-mile of a SunRunner bus stop around First Avenues north and south. Affected properties span between 19th Street South near Interstate 275 west across the peninsula to Pasadena Avenue.<\/p>\n
Council member Richie Floyd was absent and council member Mike Harting, the owner of 3 Daughters Brewing, recused himself from the vote because of his brewery\u2019s proximity.<\/p>\n
Owners of affected properties could still build with parking, but would have the option of forgoing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a strictly voluntary, opt-in option,\u201d said Derek Kilborn, manager of the city\u2019s urban planning and historic preservation division. \u201cWe want to move away from vehicle-dependent or vehicle-oriented uses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Transit activists and the Central Oak Park Neighborhood Association are on board. The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce also wrote a letter in support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach will further encourage use of the SunRunner route and provides property owners and businesses the greatest flexibility to determine appropriate parking levels to support new housing and neighborhood-serving businesses,\u201d the chamber wrote in a letter.<\/p>\n
In letters and in public comment, some residents said they want the city to be more aggressive in abolishing parking minimums.<\/p>\n
\u201cCities across the country from Gainesville to Anchorage have eliminated parking mandates and seen more affordable housing, higher ridership, and stronger economies as a result,\u201d wrote Activate St. Pete co-founder Max McCann. \u201cThe SunRunner represents a rare transit success in Florida. It needs zoning rules that allow it to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preservation group Preserve the \u2018Burg wrote in a letter to the city that it is \u201cvery concerned\u201d about what is proposed, citing \u201cdownstream effects\u201d of increased densities on Central Avenue east of 31st Street.<\/p>\n
It asked for the Grand Central District to be excluded from the density and parking changes given the concentration of historic buildings there. The council supported making an exemption for buildings 50 years or older.<\/p>\n
\u201cCentral Avenue is already a valued local amenity, a significant regional tourist draw, a thriving hub of local businesses, and a main street steeped in St. Pete history,\u201d the letter read. \u201cIndeed, Central\u2019s unique local vibe is what will encourage (bus rapid transit) ridership. We can both keep St. Pete\u2019s coolest street \u2018cool\u2019 and have a successful (bus rapid transit).\u201d<\/p>\n
The president of the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association, just north of the Grand Central District, emailed a call to action to members.<\/p>\n
Nicholas Igneri outlined reasons why Kenwood residents should be concerned: Street parking is already scarce as visitors already park in the neighborhood, delivery trucks often block alleys and streets due to limited parking zones and fewer parking spacescould exacerbate that.<\/p>\n
At Thursday\u2019s meeting, Igneri said the neighborhood\u2019s concern would be eliminated if residential parking permits for Kenwood are part of the plan. If not, he asks for a study on the potential effects of the zoning changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur concern is that development will be strong, which is a good thing. Ridership will increase, which is also good,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, car reduction will be minimal and parking spillover will be high.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City officials began studying how to boost public transit in St. Petersburg 14 years ago. They imagined a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[104826,18080,832,104827,62974,104828,39843,202,204,203,199,201,200,12328],"class_list":{"0":"post-235019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-bus-rapid-transit-system","9":"tag-central-avenue","10":"tag-city-council","11":"tag-parking-minimums","12":"tag-parking-spaces","13":"tag-parking-spots","14":"tag-properties","15":"tag-st-pete","16":"tag-st-pete-headlines","17":"tag-st-pete-news","18":"tag-st-petersburg","19":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","20":"tag-st-petersburg-news","21":"tag-sunrunner"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}