A publication of the Pinellas Planning Council

April 2002

In This Issue:

• New Countywide Plan Takes Shape
• PPC Welcomes New Officers
• Coordination v. Cooperation
• Madeira Beach Looks Forward to Tomorrow
• Distinguished PPC Member Stepping Down
• Planning Web Sites
• Redevelopment Study Update

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New Countywide Plan Takes Shape

After nearly a year of research and discussion, the Pinellas Planning Council (PPC) is moving into the final stages of preparation of its updated Countywide Plan for Pinellas County. A draft of the first component, focusing on land use, is currently under review by both the Council and the Planners Advisory Committee (PAC). A second component addressing intergovernmental issues is also being developed, and will be distributed for review within the next few months.

A new plan is needed because the existing Pinellas County Countywide Comprehensive Plan, last revised in its entirety in 1989, was written when the county had an abundant supply of undeveloped land. With the Pinellas peninsula now almost completely built out, and communities reorienting themselves toward infill and redevelopment, the old plan has become obsolete. In addition, because the challenges of buildout transcend the boundaries of local jurisdictions and affect the entire county, the plan will establish a stronger countywide vision, while continuing to respect the unique character of each community.

The updated plan will also have a completely new format. Although not legally required to follow a particular structure, previous versions of the plan have echoed the format and content of local government comprehensive plans, as established by Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes. To eliminate this duplication, the PPC and the Countywide Planning Authority (CPA) adopted a resolution directing that the scope of future countywide plans would include two components, addressing land use and intergovernmental issues. This format enables consideration of important countywide issues not addressed in local plans, and is designed to augment local planning efforts.

Under the new format, each of the components is divided into major themes. For example, themes in the land use component include the Established Development Pattern, the Transportation/Land Use Relationship, the Natural Environment, and Economic Sustainability. Each theme presents extensive research and analysis applied to the Pinellas County context, and is followed by issues, position statements, and strategies that will form the adopted portion of the plan.

The new plan emphasizes a countywide vision for the future — it is not solely a regulatory document. The plan is not simply “the PPC plan,” limited in scope to strategies that are directly implemented by the countywide planning process. When adopted, the plan will also serve as a policy guide for local jurisdictions, who will be encouraged to utilize and apply strategies that are supportive of local planning objectives.

With the inclusion of the intergovernmental issues component, and after review and further refinements, the PPC will finalize and approve the plan, and transmit it to the CPA for adoption.

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PPC Welcomes New Officers

Vice-Mayor Nadine Spring Nickeson, Chairman Vice-Mayor Nickeson was first elected to the Safety Harbor City Commission in March 1997. She was returned to office unopposed in 2000. She is President of the Safety Harbor Kiwanis Club and co-chairs the School Advisory Council for Safety Harbor Elementary School. A Texas native, she is a graduate of the University of Houston and holds a bachelors degree in microbiology. She also holds a masters degree in public health from the University of Texas, Health Sciences Center in Houston. She is married to local pediatrician Dr. Robert W. Nickeson and they have two sons.

Vice-Mayor Janet Henderson, Vice-Chairman Vice-Mayor Janet Henderson is a native of Chicago and holds a business administration degree from Elmhurst College. Prior to her election to the Dunedin City Commission, she was a successful businesswoman in commercial real estate and accounting. She is married to Phil Henderson, who is CEO of Bayride Inc., and she has four children, ages 20 to 30.

Mayor Robert Jackson, Ph.D., Secretary Mayor Jackson moved to Largo in 1968. He received a bachelors degree from Plymouth State Teachers College, a masters degree in guidance and counseling from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in education from the University of South Florida. He served for 25 years as a principal in Pinellas County schools, retiring in July, 1997. He served nine terms as a Largo City Commissioner, beginning in 1974, and was elected mayor in 2000. He and his wife, Lucille, have four children and seven grandchildren.

Mayor Robert DiNicola, Treasurer Mayor Robert DiNicola relocated to Indian Rocks Beach from Alexandria, Virginia, in 1978, where he retired from the Office of the Architect of the U.S. Capitol. Mayor DiNicola served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955 during the Korean War. Mayor DiNicola and his wife, Renie, are the owners of Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio in Clearwater Plaza. Prior to his investiture as Indian Rocks Beach Mayor in 1994, Mayor DiNicola served as a City Commissioner from 1984 to 1991 for the City of Indian Rocks Beach.

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Coordination v. Cooperation

The land use component of the Countywide Plan for Pinellas County is nearing completion and work has begun on the one addressing intergovernmental issues.

Chapter 163, Florida Statutes, requires that local governments adopt an intergovernmental coordination element (ICE). However, the Countywide Plan must contain intergovernmental strategies that address the needs of 25 local jurisdictions. With the PPC task identified, what impediments stand in the way of achieving not only countywide intergovernmental coordination, but cooperation as well?

What is the difference between the two? In today’s environment, coordination is mandated. It is achieved through various means, e.g., committees, councils, task forces, etc. Cooperation, on the other hand, cannot be mandated. The reason is that cooperation is something personal. It is putting into action a desire to go beyond the minimum to achieve a greater good. So, while we are required to coordinate, much more can be accomplished through cooperation.

There is general consensus that coordination and cooperation are good ideas. But, it often seems that only when we are faced with a potential crisis will genuine cooperation result. This appears to be true even when a more cooperative approach to common issues would prove beneficial.

In March 2001, the Pinellas County Commission held a visioning workshop. One of their identified needs was to create a greater sense of community. At the same time, they identified the “growing difficulty of having better relationships and partnerships with municipal governments” as one of the issues that impedes progress toward meeting the need. And, experience tells us that some municipalities, likewise, have difficulties establishing good relationships with the county.

The countywide need for an increased sense of community goes beyond the requirements of state law or administrative rules. It calls for governments and agencies to move from parochialism to regionalism, in the sense of adopting a countywide perspective for issues that affect multiple jurisdictions.

For years, parochialism has been criticized. It promotes an inward-looking view of the world. One writer has said that, “parochialism means viewing the world solely through one’s own eyes and perspective.”

This short article cannot provide the answers or solutions to the parochial versus countywide question. What do you think? How could we move from mandated coordination to enhanced countywide cooperation? Write or e-mail the PPC with your thoughts, and in the next issue of the Chronicle, we will publish selected comments.

Dealing with this challenge will be one of the objectives of the intergovernmental issues component of the updated Countywide Plan.

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Madeira Beach Looks Forward to Tomorrow

In a bold effort, Madeira Beach has hired prominent architect/planner Andres Duany to help shape a vision for the city’s future. Known as “Madeira Tomorrow,” the project is garnering attention from communities throughout the county.

During the last week of February, the city hosted a team of architects and engineers from the consulting firm Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company, also known as DPZ. In a series of workshops with local officials, staff, developers, and residents, Duany and the team translated hours of community input into sketches, maps, land development regulations, and other planning tools.

The result, presented to the public in a two-hour assembly on March 1, is a grand plan that features open waterfronts, beautified neighborhoods, and a redeveloped Gulf Boulevard designed for pedestrians as well as cars.

Duany is known for pioneering the development style known as New Urbanism, which is characterized by traditional construction, higher densities, and pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods and town centers. This “new” development pattern consciously imitates communities that were common prior to World War II, when fewer people owned private automobiles and walking, bicycling, and transit use were prevalent. The plan for Madeira Beach incorporates many of these principles.

The architect noted during the assembly, sometimes in blunt language, that the city has a long way to go to meet the New Urbanist ideal. For example, the town’s main thoroughfare Gulf Boulevard is lined with large parking lots, aging condominiums and tourist facilities that have little architectural relationship to one another, and few amenities to encourage walking and bicycling. The waterfront, meanwhile, is largely hidden from public view. He was more complimentary of the people of the community, citing the friendly, small-town atmosphere as being among the city’s greatest assets.

Achieving the vision will not be easy. The plan calls for the city to purchase large tracts of expensive coastal property, tear down some existing buildings, and even redirect a few roads. New architectural standards would govern the appearance of homes and businesses. At the same time, some land development regulations would be simplified, allowing developers to save time and money. And incentives would make attractive architectural details — such as decorative roofs, front porches, and extra open space — more affordable.

Although financing the plan will be daunting, some measures will help to defray costs. For example, the city already owns some coastal property in an out-of-the-way spot behind City Hall; some of this land could be sold to pay for other projects, since the loss of waterfront would be balanced by new coastal views in more prominent areas.

Over time, Duany says, the investments will pay for themselves through higher property values, increased tourism, and an improved quality of life for residents. Although some aspects of the plan are certain to be controversial, he encouraged the city to adopt it in principle as quickly as possible, since the details and financing of specific projects can always be worked out later. The city commission plans to hold a workshop in April, and in May will vote whether to adopt the plan in principle.

Implementation of the plan, particularly its more innovative aspects, will not happen overnight. It may take twenty or thirty years for the city to fully realize its vision. But enthusiasm for the project appears to be high, both within Madeira Beach and among other Pinellas communities, who are carefully watching to see what steps the city takes next.

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Distinguished PPC Member Stepping Down

Councilmember Chuck Williams, City of Pinellas Park After eight years of distinguished service on the Pinellas Planning Council, Pinellas Park Councilmember Charles J. “Chuck” Williams will be stepping down from his position as his city’s representative on the PPC. Mr. Williams began serving on the PPC in 1994, the year he was first elected to the Pinellas Park City Council. He served as a PPC officer between 1996 and 2001, chairing the Council in 1997. The PPC sincerely appreciates his outstanding service to the Council. Prior to his election, Councilmember Williams was actively engaged in public service in Pinellas Park, serving on the city’s Recreation Board and Citizen’s Planning Advisory Committee. In addition, he chaired both the Board of Adjustments and the Planning and Zoning Committee. He also represented the city on the PSTA Board of Directors, on which he served as treasurer.

He has lived in Pinellas Park since 1974 and is employed by the Department of Defense as an auditor of government contracts. He and his wife, Cindy, have five children and nine grandchildren. Councilmember Williams is involved in numerous community activities, including serving as a volunteer dispatcher for the Pinellas Park Police Department and teaching CPR classes with the Pinellas Park Fire Department.

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Planning Web Sites

With this issue of the Chronicle, we introduce a new feature covering planning technology resources. The World Wide Web provides planners with a rich menu of resources that can help them do their jobs. For this introduction, we identify several of the sites that PPC staff access on a regular basis. Let us know if you have sites to recommend and if you find this new feature helpful.

1) Billing itself as a site having “Internet Resources for the Built Environment,” Cyburbia (http://www.cyburbia.org) contains a wealth of information. The site is hosted by the University of Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning and Urban Insight. The site has hundreds of links to worthwhile planning web sites, and forums where planners can talk about issues and get their questions answered.

2) Associated with Cyburbia is a site called PLANetizen (http://www.planetizen.com), which is a major source of planning-related articles and general information. The op-ed section provides the reader with opinions and sometimes contrarian views about planning and the planning profession. You can also register to receive e-mail compilations of articles several times a week.

3) At the annual meeting of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council in January, Mr. Curtis Johnson of The CitiStates Group facilitated a regional visioning session. Mr. Johnson, together with Neal Peirce, formed the firm (http://citistates.com). A basic tenet of CitiStates is the importance of metropolitan regions. The firm has published, together with local newspapers, studies of Miami-Dade County, San Antonio, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas.

4) Finally, the PPC also has its own web site (http://www.pinellasplanningcouncil.org), which provides information on countywide planning activities for local government representatives and staff, as well as the general public. The site offers progress reports for major projects; an archive of past studies, local assistance projects, and newsletters; a searchable online edition of the Countywide Rules; agendas and minutes for PAC, PPC, and CPA meetings; and much more.

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Redevelopment Study Update

The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners (BCC), in their capacity as the Countywide Planning Authority, voted on February 26 to accept and authorize distribution of the PPC’s Redevelopment Issues and Strategies For Pinellas County, and also directed that work proceed on the recommended follow-up actions. The decision marks a significant transition for the county, which has nearly exhausted its supply of undeveloped land and has moved into a redevelopment orientation.

The document examines redevelopment issues faced by the county, and offers a list of strategies that can be used by local governments to encourage desired projects. Subsequent phases of the study will create a handbook of redevelopment techniques, educational brochures for public officials and citizens, and other tools to further assist local governments.

The redevelopment study coincides with a more broad-based countywide planning endeavor known as Vision 2010. Initiated by the BCC, the effort is divided into several subcommittees covering transportation, communication, the arts, the environment, finance, and redevelopment. Each subcommittee, led by a different county commissioner, will study its topic in-depth, create a desired “vision” for the future, and form a list of recommendations designed to help achieve it.

The PPC study, conducted jointly with the Pinellas County Economic Development Department, has been closely coordinated with the Vison 2010 redevelopment subcommittee headed by Commissioner Karen Williams Seel. Together, these efforts seek to shape the future development pattern of Pinellas County, in a way that will improve the quality of life of its residents and visitors.

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Upcoming Public Hearing and Meeting Schedule

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The Pinellas Planning Council

* Councilmember serves on this governing body.

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The Countywide Planning Authority

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The Pinellas Planning Council Staff