Charlie Crist said something important this week about the future of the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District.
As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, if elected mayor, he would review all of the proposals, establish a task force to examine Mayor Ken Welch’s selection process, and take a fresh look at what the city should do.
Mayor Welch has a different idea. He selected a single development team that had already proposed its vision for the 86 acres. Not only does the city not set the vision, but the city loses control and gives up much of the immense value of this extraordinary public property.
As I’ve discussed in previous posts, cities across America don’t do what Mayor Welch wants to do. Instead, these cities have successfully led the redevelopment of major public properties—setting the vision, maintaining public control and preserving the value for their communities.
What’s the Mayor’s rationale?
Mayor Welch has never explained why St. Petersburg should take a fundamentally different approach, or what the city gains by doing so. Perhaps the reason is simple: there is no good answer.
What’s Crist’s approach?
Three things Crist said particularly caught my attention.
- Crist wants the city to maintain control of the development while working with developers.
That would seem to mean the city—not a developer—would first determine the overall plan: the streets, parks, public spaces and development parcels.
- Consistent with that approach, Crist also raised the idea of dividing the property into pieces rather than selling it all at once.
- Crist also said he likes former Mayor Rick Baker’s idea of a 30-acre park in the middle of the development.
Whether the right answer is 30 acres—or somewhat more or less—is exactly the kind of decision the city should make while it still controls the entire property. Working with nationally recognized planners and an independent advisory council, the city can determine where the park should be, how large it should be, how streets should connect to it, and how the surrounding land should be developed. Those decisions should be made before developers get involved—not negotiated afterward with a developer who already has been selected.
Those three ideas are important because they are very close to what nationally recognized planners have told me—and what successful cities around the country have actually done.
The City should lead.
- Create the vision and master plan first.
- Decide where the parks, streets and other public spaces belong.
- Determine how these 86 acres can help St. Petersburg continue to become an even better place for the people who live here today, for our children and grandchildren, and a city where people and businesses want to come and stay.
- Decide what land should be sold, leased or retained.
- Then let developers compete to build pieces of that plan.
That’s very different from Mayor Welch’s approach. He has selected a developer that has already proposed its own layout for the property—including the streets, parks, buildings and other uses.
What smart cities do nationwide is:
- Bring in nationally recognized planning and development experts
- Create an independent community advisory council
- Develop the city’s own vision and plan for what these 86 acres should become.
The city doesn’t need to become a developer. But it does need to act like the owner of an extraordinarily valuable public asset.
Crist says that, if elected, he will conduct a “deep dive” before taking office.
I hope he does—and brings in some of the best planners, economists and development experts in the country to help.
Because the fundamental question shouldn’t be:
Which developer should we choose?
It should be:
What is the very best thing we can do with these 86 acres for the people of St. Petersburg?
Charlie Crist appears willing to ask that question—and to reconsider how the city goes about answering it. Mayor Welch has had four years to do so. Instead, he continues to move forward with a developer-led approach without ever explaining why it is better for St. Petersburg.
That’s an important difference.
