New Heights

Voters now have final say on building heights in St. Pete Beach.

In 2005, St. Pete Beach adopted a land-use plan that increased the height limit for hotels from five to 15 stories and increased the density to 90 units per acre. City officials said that the changes were needed to sustain tourism along the six-mile stretch of barrier island in southern Pinellas County.

But the move caused an uproar among residents who believed the height allowances would transform their beach community into a concrete canyon. Organizing as Citizens for Responsible Growth, a group of residents mounted a petition drive to try to force the city to put the new land development plan to a vote by referendum. City commissioners sued unsuccessfully to keep the petition off the ballot. In November, St. Pete Beach voters decided to give the city's 7,000 residents final say over proposed increases for buildings exceeding 50 feet. What's still unclear, however, is how all the voting will work and how often the public will vote on such matters.

Patrick Slevin, a Tallahassee public relations consultant who led the campaign against the citizens group's amendments, says the vote could have dire economic consequences, including endangering jobs, tourism and future investment. "If you don't have some level of predictability, as we do through our representative processes, then no one is going to be able to invest, develop and grow in this state," he says.

But Citizens for Responsible Growth attorney Ken Weiss says his clients only resorted to the ballot box because city commissioners weren't listening.

Both sides predict the St. Pete Beach scenario could inspire revolts in other municipalities and may add momentum to the Florida Hometown Democracy campaign to put a similar statewide initiative on the 2008 ballot. "Once this is really disseminated to the public, you'll really see this taking off," says Weiss.

Tags: Southwest