Local Planners Recognize Those Making a Difference in the Tampa Bay Community
Tampa, FL (November 2, 2006) – The Suncoast Section of the Florida American Planning Association will recognize eight individuals and projects this evening at the annual Suncoast Section Awards Dinner to be held at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
The event recognizes achievements in four categories including Planner of the Year, Outstanding Citizen Planning Advocate, Distinguished Project Award, and Distinguished Service Award. Award recipients are nominated by friends and colleagues and winners are chosen based on their positive impact in the community. Nominees come from section members, journalists, projects and citizens located within the Sun Coast Section which includes Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando, Citrus, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Manatee Counties.
This year’s awardees are as follows:
1. 2006 Planner of the Year - Alan Wright from the Hillsborough City-County Planning Commission for his years of outstanding contributions to the protecting the Hillsborough River as staff to the Hillsborough River Interlocal Planning Board & Technical Advisory Council.
2. 2006 Outstanding Citizen Planning Advocate - Leonard Plotkin of Hillsborough County for his advocacy of persons with disabilities and transportation disadvantaged.
3. 2006 Outstanding Citizen Planning Advocate - Anne Madden for her service on the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission and ongoing advocacy for great planning.
4. 2006 Distinguished Project Award (Award of Excellence) - The Richmond Group of Florida, Inc. for the Grande Oaks Apartments Development in Tampa.
5. 2006 Distinguished Project Award (Award of Excellence) - Pinellas Planning Council, Pinellas Board of County Commissioners, and the Pinellas County Economic Development Department for Pinellas by Design – An Economic Development and Redevelopment Plan for the Pinellas Community.
6. 2006 Distinguished Project Award (Award of Merit) - Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Livable Roadways Guidelines.
7. 2006 Distinguished Project Award (Award of Merit) - Diaz Pearson & Associates and Pursuit Development Company for the Starbucks Project in Seminole Heights.
8. 2006 Distinguished Service Award - Mark Bentley, Esq., AICP for his outstanding contributions to the planning profession and the support of professional development programs for members of the Sun Coast Section, American Planning Association, Florida Chapter.
Suncoast Section Chair Melissa Zornitta, AICP said,”These award winners represent the best of the best in planning for the Tampa Bay region. We are proud to have such outstanding individuals and projects in our area that are models for sound planning in Florida.”
The Florida American Planning Association Suncoast Chapter is part of the American Planning Association (APA), a nonprofit public interest and research organization representing 39,000 practicing planners, officials, and citizens involved with urban and rural planning issues. Members are involved, on a day-to-day basis, in formulating planning policies and preparing land-use regulations. APA's objective is to encourage planning that will meet the needs of people and society more effectively. The Sun Coast Section of the American Planning Association is composed of local planners, architects, city and county officials and others interested in the planning profession.
For more information contact Melissa Zornitta, AICP at 272-5940 or e-mail zornittam@plancom.org.
It's really too bad that the project is receiving this award as it does not meet the BASIC site planning principles that are outlined in the Seminole Heights Design Guidlines.
ReplyDeleteYeah, because all the pawn shops, tire/repair shops, auto parts stores and drive through convenience stores SO meet those principles you've mentioned. The NERVE of Starbucks to come in and build something SOOOOOOO far out of character to Seminole Heights.
ReplyDeleteBitter, table for one is now ready.
I think the Starbucks represents a good example of what can happen with the citizens, the business owner and the city work together. It is a compromise and it is good for the neighborhood. Last time I looked there were no "soda shops" or five cent movie theaters willing to locate in SH. It is 2006 and most of us want some controlled advance in to contemporary times. Even if we love our bungalows and tree canopies!
ReplyDeleteThis piece of property was NOT residential, it is highway footage.
Look around at what is on Hillsborough and please say it with conviction that Starbucks is the big eyesore. It is the only building on the road that has a "feeling" of the neighborhood.
Curious, where are the Seminole Heights Guidelines available. I do not know about them.
ReplyDeleteYou can pick up your SH Guidelines brochures at the front desk of the Alamo Motel.
ReplyDeleteResidents of Seminole Heights are only shooting themselves in the foot by "bending" the planning rules that are clearly outlined in the SH Design Guidelines. Copies of the guidlines, which in my opinion are very similar the zoning and planning guidelines used in St. Petersburg and which some SH residents want to see adopted, are avaiable in the City's Historic Preservation Office in New City Hall.
ReplyDeletethere should also be a copy of the guidelines available at the library at Osborne and Central -ask for the Old Seminole Hts/ ARC guidelines
ReplyDeleteI have a question anon 3:14,,What type of business would be suitable for SH on the highway?
ReplyDeleteSadly, there is no electronic copy of the Guidelines. There is a huge PDF copy (basically faxes of each page) but the file size and layout makes it painful to read.
ReplyDeleteThe Starbucks process didn't fail the community, the Guidelines failed the community. How many times do we have to re-hash this? The Guidelines need to be re-written.
If you think the Guidelines are so swell, I challenge you to drive to McDonalds in Ybor and go through their drive-thru during busy hours. THAT is the best our Guidelines can manage. And I'd rather have the existing building than that nightmare.
Rules cannot be written to handle every eventuality. At some point, they need to flex. If they cannot be flexed, they're broken. The SH Guidelines are broken.
Shawn - non anon.........
ReplyDeleteis the Mc'D's in Ybor the only place you go or have you just fixated on that location????
The Barrio board governs that district (Ybor) and ARC governs ours - that being said - every district has guidelines written specifically for their neighborhood so Hyde Pk or Tp Hts regs won't work here and ours won't work there.
I do agree that the regs written for SH are residentially focused and that was short-sighted of the original crafters but I do not find fault with their final product - everything changes with time and as we are not Williamsburg so then the assoc should make it a point to review regs every 5 yrs or as need be for current situations the neighborhood faces.
Are you stepping to the plate to work with city council to make thoses changes happen or just content to B***H about the drive-through at McD's in Ybor?
Anonymous 5:21.
ReplyDeleteThe ARC held up that McDonalds as an exemplary project and template for development in SH. Specifically, it was pointed to by them in the midst of the Starbucks hearings. That makes it an appropriate comparison, especially since the opposition likes it. I don't pick on them lightly; I chose them because the ARC chose them.
The Barrio rules that lead to the McDonalds having the figure 8 drive-thru (where incomming traffic must weave around outgoing traffic) are pretty much the same in the SH guidelines. If you attribute consistent, professional enforcement of the rules to both the Barrio and the ARC, then you should get similar results between both sets of guidelines. Therefore, the McDonalds example favored by the ARC is appropriate for this discussion.
You are slightly mistaken about the short-sightedness of the original crafters of the SH guidelines. They were not short-sighted in the omission--they were deliberate. I don't fault them for it as their options were limited by business reactions. Having spoken to a couple of those "original crafters" on this very subject, I have sympathy for the line they were forced to walk. The biggest problem with the SH guidelines is that they were coppied directly from the Hyde Park guidelines with limited editing (mostly to conform to our own architectual makeup.) This isn't just my opinion, but the opinion of members of the ARC as well.
So am I stepping up the plate? Thanks for asking! :-) Though I imagine you do so with the assumption that you'll shame me into being quiet about it. (gosh... I'm not stepping up to the plate so I have no business being so outspoken!) Except, of course, I've stepped up to this plate years ago and my donation of personal time and resources to the neighborhood, while varying, hasn't diminished. So yes, I've stepped up regularly and continue to do so. Thanks for asking.
You might be happy to learn that the ARC has approached the Hampton Terrace team and requested that the guidelines for the new local district be drawn fresh without too much copying. They would like us to draft up a set of commercial rules that would give businesses more flexibility. (Most of the businesses will fall outside of the borders, but due to some commercial zoning inside the residential area, a few will fall inside. ) I am not on the core team for that effort, but I am involved. Keep your eye on the oldseminoleheights.com website if you're truely interested in the progress.
Cheers. :-)