The Tierra Verde Community Association will be marshalling significant resources, on and off the island, to fight this intrusion. It would be most useful to your Association to be armed with an outpouring of citizen support as it continues its dialog with Pinellas County. It's not over yet!

Following are the latest milestones in the City of St. Petersburg's attempt to partially annex Tierra Verde.

• October 10, 2008 - New ATS Report filed with Pinellas County
• October 27, 2008 - St. Petersburg publishes Legal Notice of Public Hearings on Annexation
• Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 9AM
  • Bus load of residents attend meeting.
  • Mayor Rick Baker said annexing the land would benefit all St. Petersburg residents. 'Anytime you annex a new property, you increase your tax base,' Baker said.
  • The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to continue its efforts to annex 28 acres of unincorporated Tierra Verde.
• Monday, November 17, 2008 at 5PM
• City Council Chambers, 175 5th Street North, St. Petersburg
• The turn out at the St. Petersburg City Council meeting on Monday was phenomenal.  We had over 200 people attend, over 50 people speak, and over 130 fill out cards expressing their opinion against the annexation.  Additionally, both of our attorneys spoke, our expert witness spoke, and the county attorney and planners spoke.  Everyone did a great job.
   
  We also want to thank those people who spent their time and efforts collecting signatures for the petition.  They got over 700 signatures against annexation in a very short time.  Flyers were also produced and distributed, and an electronic sign announcing the meeting was placed on the bayway.  Lots of great work was done by many passionate people.
   
  We also want to update you on the status of the BCC (Board of County Commissioners) meeting that was held on Tuesday afternoon.  The TVCA had a representative at the meeting, and the chairman of the meeting allowed him to speak.  Basically, the BCC were given an overview of events and thanked for their support.  Many of the commissioners expressed that they had watched the SPCC meeting on TV and were impressed by the turnout and enthusiasm of our residents.  The BCC certainly 'gets' what we are attempting to do and understands why, and hopes that the SPCC does as well.
   
  One positive outcome of the BCC meeting was that the Commissioners agreed unanimously to send a letter to Mayor Baker requesting that the city postpone the annexation efforts until the resolution process has been completed.  This letter will be sent to Mayor Baker prior to the cities meeting on Friday morning.  John Morroni, who has supported our efforts to fight this annexation from the beginning, also stated that he is 1000% behind us and will do what he can to aid us in our fight.  He is very concerned about public safety and is going to drive hard on that point.
• November 19, 2008 - Pinellas Planning Council (PPC) Meeting to review/approve annexation
• Once again, with strong support from our Commissioner John Morroni, who also serves on this council, the members voted 8-3 AGAINST approving St. Petersburg’s Ability to Serve Report. The council voted against the recommendation of their in-house staff, and staff advisor David Healey.
• November 21, 2008 - St. Pete City Council to hold final vote

  • This afternoon the St. Petersburg City Council approved Ordinance 867-G for annexing the North end of Tierra Verde. The vote was 5-2. Voting for the Ordinance were council members Bennett, Newton, Nurse, Dudley and Curran. Voting against the ordinance were council members Polson and Danner.

    The following three items were voted on:

    (a)Executive Action approving Ordinance 867-G annexing property located south of the St. Petersburg City Limits in Boca Ciega Bay and west of Pinellas Bayway in Tierra Verde, containing approximately 28.32 acres. (5-2)

    (b)Resolution approving an Annexation Agreement between the City and A&S Tierra Verde Ventures, L.L.C. (5-2)

    (c)Resolution initiating future land use and zoning designations for the annexed properties. (6-1)

    The city (Mayor Baker) tried to sweeten the land grab by entering into a last minute development agreement with the developers to limit building height on the sites to 8 stories. Faced with immense and growing opposition from Tierra Verde residents, state lawmakers, County Commissioners and the Pinellas Planning Council, the woefully under informed city council, voted to proceed anyway. In an attempt to deprive Tierra Verde residents of the right to appeal this decision, the Mayor and Council made the development agreements contingent on “no further legal action.” The instant an appeal is pursued, both development agreements are worthless!

    Despite the mayor’s protestations that he “listened to the concerns of the Tierra Verde folks,” he obviously did not hear. WE DO NOT WANT ANY PART OF THIS ISLAND TO BE PART OF ST. PETERSBURG! Pinellas County was on record before the vote process started, as “being prepared to settle the matter in court.” County Planning Director Brian Smith said, “the city would leave us no choice.” So, in effect, the Council knew the development agreements would be worthless before they voted. What a sham! And, to add insult to injury, developer Tony Amico said, “the annexation is in his and other property owners’ best interests.”

    Your Association has worked tirelessly to prevent this, but now the dye is cast. We will continue the fight. We will work closely with Pinellas County to strategize our options, and we will keep you informed every step of the way.

Following were the renewed milestones in the City of St. Petersburg's attempt to partially annex Tierra Verde.

• April 11th - New ATS Report filed with Pinellas County
• April 28th - Notice of Public Hearings published
• May 8th - City of St. Petersburg Public Hearing - 3:30pm
• May 15th - City of St. Petersburg Public Hearing - 6:00pm
• May 21st - Pinellas Planning Council Review of ATS report
• As of Tuesday morning, May 6^th, BOTH public hearings and the PPC review have been cancelled/postponed until furthur notice. The reason cited by the City of St. Petersburg is “written concerns by Pinellas County” regarding the ATS report.

Following were the initial milestones in the City of St. Petersburg’s attempt to annex the commercial property at the North end of our island.

• January 17, 2008 – City of St. Petersburg Public Hearing,
• January 24, 2008 – City of St. Petersburg Public Hearing
• Your Association has engaged counsel to work closely with the Pinellas County legal staff to ensure this effort is defeated.
• As of Thursday morning, January 17^th, BOTH public hearings have been canceled/postponed to future dates. The reason cited by the City Clerk of St. Petersburg is “irregularities” in the application process. In preparation for the hearings that were to be held, the City prepared a briefing book for the City Council members which is available to you, under References.

At the February 20, 2008 meeting of the Pinellas Planning Council, the City of St. Petersburg formally withdrew their ATS report from consideration. This effectively puts the annexation process on hold until further notice.

Board member Jack Parker represented Tierra Verde at the March 31, 2008 meeting of the Pinellas Planning Council, subcommittee on annexation. He reports the following:

1. Presentation and discussion of service boundaries for water, sewer, fire, and planning under Florida Statute 163. This is a very complicated maze resulting from decades of patch work over patch work. The committee desires to minimize cost of providing service and has requested cost per capita in the different areas for each service. 

2. The committee wants to regain what it lost when County Ord. No 00-63 was denied. In addition, they want it to include referendum annexation which it did not previously. The committee has discussed multiple options which boil down to a.) changing state laws, b.) changing the county charter, or c.) re-negotiating the interlocal agreements. The favored method is the latter. 

3. There was discussion about St. Petersburg which had a representative there taking notes. Between the committee and my discussion with Commissioner Duncan afterwards, before the county moves forward with those discussions, they really need to determine the best win-win agreement. Duncan says they will only get ONE CHANCE.

4. Both Brian Smith and I suggested that St. Petersburg keep the existing Interlocal in force as a show of good faith. It presently will expire 4/16/08. 

5. Next meeting Monday, 4/28, 10am, 315 Court Street, 4th floor, Clearwater.   MORE DETAILS HERE