{"id":88290,"date":"2025-12-18T18:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/88290\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T18:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:48:12","slug":"flood-prone-mobile-home-park-to-become-apartments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/88290\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood-prone mobile home park to become apartments"},"content":{"rendered":"

A storm-damaged, repeatedly flooded mobile home park near Derby Lane will become a multifamily housing complex, despite environmental concerns.<\/p>\n

Plans to permanently evacuate the Twin City Mobile Home Park began after Hurricane Idalia in 2023. Hurricanes Helene and Milton exacerbate ongoing issues; however, a handful of households have remained throughout the recently launched demolition process.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County Commissioners unanimously approved a zoning change Tuesday at 10636 Gandy Boulevard to facilitate the property\u2019s redevelopment. The 8.94-acre parcel was home to Twin City for 71 years.<\/p>\n

Former resident Erin Roth urged commissioners to deny the property owner\u2019s latest request. Lakeshore Management previously applied<\/a> for a density increase to build a 133-unit housing development.<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of families lost their homes \u2013 everything \u2013 not just once, it was multiple times,\u201d Roth said. \u201cI raised my child there, and it\u2019s torn down now. I don\u2019t think they should have another chance with that property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twin City<\/a> lies within an isolated section of unincorporated Pinellas, surrounded by the City of St. Petersburg. Current land-use regulations allow up to 64 residential units at the site.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An overhead map that shows a large residential development across Gandy Boulevard from Twin City Mobile Home Park (red).<\/p>\n

The grandfathered-in community, which once had 103 mobile homes and three apartments, was non-compliant. Zoning consultant Todd Pressman, representing Lakeshore, said in October that more than doubling the currently allowable density would ensure the redevelopment is economically viable.<\/p>\n

Pressman and some commissioners frequently mentioned the contrasting land-use regulations surrounding the property. \u201cWhen you look at virtually all sides of this site, the densities can be, at a maximum, almost double\u201d of what Pinellas permits, he said.<\/p>\n

However, County Attorney Jewel White said it \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter what St. Pete did right across the street.\u201d Commissioners unanimously denied the requested density increase after extensive debate over their comprehensive plan\u2019s directions and allowances.<\/p>\n

Pressman asked to defer the rezoning vote, and Lakeshore decided to make 64 units work. That is still above the maximum five units per acre typically allowed in a Coastal Storm Area (CSA) under the county\u2019s comprehensive plan, as stated in a staff report.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Kathleen Peters asked how often the park has flooded. \u201cEvery time,\u201d replied County Administrator Barry Burton. \u201cFor years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters noted that many state-designated Coastal High Hazard Areas avoid flooding \u201cevery time it rains.\u201d Burton said the Twin Cities site is \u201cabsolutely \u201d an area that floods.<\/p>\n

Peters sympathized with the lone public speaker, who watched their home \u201cget washed away many, many times, and nothing was ever done to mitigate \u2026 and then you get to a point where we have devastation, like last year, and then it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, let\u2019s rezone it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Pinellas began offering up to $40,000 in relocation assistance to residents displaced<\/a> from Twin City. Staff reported that 51 have applied, 42 were approved and 34 have received payments.<\/p>\n

Nine applicants are in \u201cbudgeting, waitlist, or application review.\u201d According to Lakeshore, \u201csquatters and unauthorized persons\u201d occupy several remaining homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer the (owners), a combination of evictions and condemnation proceedings will likely be used to remove any remaining residents due to the condition of the homes and unpaid rents,\u201d states the report.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Many homes in the community have remained uninhabitable for over a year.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Renee Flowers asked if the nine households awaiting assistance are \u201cstill on hold.\u201d Burton said staff have taken \u201ca number of steps to try and relocate and help families, as much as could be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cwe\u2019re down to just a few units, and they \u2018ll continue to work with them.\u201d Flowers said she would reluctantly support the staff\u2019s recommendation to approve the project, but Lakeshore \u201cmay have some issues getting through the next step\u201d when flooding issues persist.<\/p>\n

The staff report states that area stormwater infrastructure \u201chas a documented history of failing during small and larger rainfall events.\u201d The comprehensive plan prohibits officials from subsidizing expenditures related to projects in a CSA.<\/p>\n

Pressman said in October that redeveloping the park would eliminate the county\u2019s need to repeatedly rescue residents from flooding and associated financial challenges<\/a> for everyone involved. The project must meet new elevation, building strength and wind speed requirements; Lakeshore previously pledged to add an expansive stormwater pond that would benefit the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis site will be tremendously, light-years improved from what it is today,\u201d Pressman said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A storm-damaged, repeatedly flooded mobile home park near Derby Lane will become a multifamily housing complex, despite environmental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-88290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88290","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=88290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}