The EDC of St Petersburg once again denied Fuel Group's Westin Hotel and Condos project

Once again, the Old Northeast Neighborhood Association did a wonderful job of bringing out the voters to object to the Westin hotel/condo project. Fuel Groups can, and probably will, appeal to the St Petersburg City Council later this month.

My crystal ball - they will again be denied. The council is likely to be swayed by the number of voters objecting to this project.  But is that truly the measure of approve vs disapprove? My crystal ball also says that Fuel Group, after a denial by the City Council, will sue the city, citing the Appelate Court decision on the Hyde Park neighborhood opposition to a highrise condo building. Lastly, my crystal ball says it will be we the taxpayers who will pay for the city not following its own zoning ordinances.

Why not change the zoning, if you don’t like it, instead of attacking the company that meets the zoning requirements with their project?

Several business owners in downtown St Petersburg are very in favor of the project. They’re wondering why Fuel Group didn’t contact them to rally in support of the  proposal.

It’s NIMBY all over again - we like your project, if you’d just build it somewhere else. Oh, it’s IN the downtown business development district? Well, it should be more in the center of it! 

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.