North Port St. Joe Wants Back in Redevelopment Area

It was a night for contrasts.

On one hand, Port St. Joe city commissioners officially adopted the proposed revised redevelopment plan for downtown Port St. Joe.

On the other hand, the North Port St. Joe community asked commissioners to re-instate the community into the redevelopment area.

At the beginning of the meeting, Resolution 08-07 was read for the second time and adopted, making the proposed Port St. Joe Redevelopment Plan the official plan for community redevelopment within the redevelopment area in Port St. Joe.

At the end of the meeting, Annie Fields told the board that as of March 18 she had more than 225 signatures on a petition asking for North Port St. Joe to be re-instated in the redevelopment area.

Fields said the residents of North Port St. Joe had "a better understanding" of the issue and that 60 percent of the households in North Port St. Joe were requesting that the City Commission consider reinstating the community in the redevelopment district.

Port St. Joe Mayor Mel Magidson told Fields that the city could pass a new redevelopment area and could set a new baseline for funding, but the county must approve the inclusion of North Port St. Joe back into the redevelopment area.

If the county did not approve the move, only city dollars could be used and that would cut the money in half, he said.

Fields said she understood and planned to make her request to the county as well.

City Commissioner Benny Roberts asked Gail Alsobrook, director of the PSJRA if the re-instatement was possible.

Alsobrook said "We'd need to start over," adding that first the PSJRA would have to see if the recent finding of necessity study for North Port St. Joe was still viable, and recommended the city go through the public hearing and publication of notice process again.

She noted that the re-instatement request had just been brought to her attention that day, but that when the boundaries were rescinded late last year "the PSJRA board looked forward to the time when the North Port St. Joe community wanted to unite."

The city just paid approximately $3,000 to have the redevelopment plan revised to match the rescinding of the boundaries.

The City Commission unanimously passed a motion to begin the process of re-instating North Port St. Joe in the redevelopment area.

The boundaries of the redevelopment area were rescinded to exclude North Port St. Joe and reverting back to the original boundaries - to include only the downtown area - as part of the settlement of a civil rights lawsuit brought against the city and redevelopment agency.

One of the key portions of the lawsuit was the rescinding of the redevelopment boundaries, which had been expanded in late 2006 to include the neighborhood of North Port St. Joe.

The city spent over $90,000 in attorney fees just for the Panama City law firm that assisted the city with the lawsuit, according to Port St. Joe City Clerk Pauline Pendarvis.

That did not include the fees paid to the city's law firm of record, Rish, Gibson, Scholz and Groom of Port St. Joe, she said.

In other business conducted at the meeting:

- Port St. Joe city manager Charlie Weston proposed to the board that city Code Enforcement Officer Richie Burkett be authorized to remove all the small wire signs dotting the city rights of way and post city signs stating that small wire signs and other, unauthorized signs, including political signs, are illegal along the right of way.

The irony of replacing signs with signs was not lost on the mayor or the audience.

- City attorney Russell Scholz announced that the "deeds had been exchanged successfully" between the city and The St. Joe Company regarding Forest Hill Cemetery, and that the city now owned the property.

The city had been trying to obtain the proper deeds to the cemetery land from St. Joe for well over a year, resulting in what at one time Scholz himself called "a comedy of errors."

Weston said that he, the city engineer and the city clerk would have the newly deeded land "approximately plotted out" for the next city commission meeting (April 1).

- The board passed a motion 5-0 to begin the required land survey for the 60-acre tract proposed for the joint city-county sports complex.

According to Weston, in a meeting last week between the city and the St. Joe Company, the site was proposed to the city for the project.

The acreage is across from the Gulf/Franklin Center, on the south side of U.S.98, adjoining Jones Homestead Road on the west side.

Weston said after the survey, annexation was the next step, which would take eight to 10 months from the time of the finished survey.

He said the city had $600,000 currently earmarked for its share of the project, and he was talking to county officials about their promised matching funds of $600,000.

- The board unanimously passed a motion to advertise their approved zoning change for the Marina Cove subdivision.

Village at Marina Cove is the development bordered by the city marina parking lot, Marina Drive, Baltzell Avenue, and a vacant lot.

The homeowners association for the subdivision (Village at Marina Cove Owners Association), as reported to the board by property owner Ralph Rish, asked to have the development's zoning changed from all commercial to mixed use, allowing residential units over commercial buildings throughout the 42-lot development.

The city's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), according to Weston, had already reviewed the proposed changes, and come to an agreement with the Marina Cove homeowners.

The agreement included a building height not to exceed 60 feet, which is already the maximum height for the development; a maximum of two floors per building, with the ground floor commercial and the second floor residential; and a maximum of one residential unit per lot.

Weston said the infrastructure was already in place to support the mixed use zoning as agreed on, and the TAC recommended the change.

He noted to the board that the city needed to address the same mixed use zoning for the entire city, such as for Reid and Williams Avenues. If city-wide mixed use is adopted, there must be a large scale map amendment to the city's comprehensive plan.

Petition

The following petition, with over 225 signatures, was presented to the Port St. Joe City Commission by Annie Fields:

"We, the majority of the citizens who reside in the North Port St. Joe neighborhood knowingly and willingly are working in collaboration with the Gulf County NAACP Branch, in its efforts to improve the economic viability and preserve the historical significance of the African-American community. We are aware of the economic potential and benefits associated with the redevelopment of our community and the inherent value of being in close proximity to valuable waterfront property. Pursuant to the stated desires of the Port St. Joe Redevelopment Agency (PSJRA) at its January 10, 2008 meeting, we are encouraged and supportive of (PSJRA) commitment to reintroduce a new resolution, to expand the redevelopment area, to encompass North Port St. Joe. It is with great pride that we affix our signatures to this petition, to facilitate an inclusive process of empowering the North Port St. Joe community, in participating in all redevelopment activities and opportunities. This petition has been generated by the North Port St. Joe residents and we therefore sign our names to this petition and request that the North Port St. Joe neighborhood is included in the Port St. Joe Redevelopment Plan, and this critical issue be placed on the upcoming 2008 election ballot."