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by Floyd Egner
Publisher, Tropical Breeze

Safety Harbor’s biggest downtown development project is going back before city commissioners for downsizing and a request for an additional 21 years to complete the project.

A pair of condominium buildings overlooking Safety Harbor’s marina would be pared back to a single building with a 40 percent smaller footprint, if Harbour Pointe’s proposed amendment to its site plan is approved. At left is an artist’s rendering of the original proposal and below is a revised drawing. Review by the city commission does not dictate architectural details of a plan, but governs factors such as the number of floors, overall height and amount of required parking.

Harbour Pointe Village originally was approved in 2003 as a pair of five-story condominium buildings and 32,337 sq. ft. of commercial space in a separate building at the corner of Main Street and Bayshore Boulevard. As the first retail building was constructed, plans went through a series of modifications. The 40,424 sq. ft. Shoppes at Safety Harbor officially opened in January 2007 with seven retail tenants and the corporate offices of its builder, the Olympia Development Group.

Now the developers are proposing to downsize the prominent pair of waterfront condominium buildings into a single, smaller building of the same height with an extra floor squeezed into the 65-foot height limitation. An underground level of parking also has been restored in the latest plan and nearby townhomes have been reconfigured to take advantage of recently acquired land parcels.

City commissioners previously have approved time extensions and major amendments to the project, but this is the first time they have been asked for a five-year window to begin the condominium construction and as much as 21 years for its completion.

“Adverse housing market conditions (particularly condominiums) that have arisen since the project was originally approved make it unlikely that development will occur in a continuous fashion…,” Safety Harbor Community Development Director Matt McLachlan said in a staff analysis accompanying the request.

City commissioners will have to decide whether to grant the request for the extraordinary extension of time to complete construction. Current code requires building permits to be issued within one year of approval of a site plan. Although time extensions can be granted, delays in beginning construction ordinarily require the entire plan to be brought back to commissioners for review. Such reviews potentially can result in a plan being completely revised.

The application for major revisions to the project plan comes less than six months after Olympia began marketing the townhomes portion of the project, eight two-story units to be built on Iron Age Street. The new plan changes the configuration of the townhomes from a row of townhomes to two “quad” buildings with a courtyard between. The configuration accommodates a proposed new development of 11 townhomes immediately to the north on additional property Olympia acquired during the last few years. A portion of that property currently is designated as a parking lot in the site plan.

Olympia’s Chief Financial Officer, Eddie Entreken, previously said none of the townhome project would be constructed until units were sold. “We are not going to build spec units,” he said in March as the model center opened in Suite 109 of the Harbour Pointe office building.
 

Bird nest counts on Alligator Lake have declined to half what they were 14 years ago, according to a recent report to the City of Safety Harbor by local resident Sandy Huff, who participates in an annual survey for the Audubon Society of Florida.

Huff attributes most of the decline to changes in the lake’s islands and warns that what was once a colony of more than 500 waterbird nests is in danger.

“I see the problem as a lack of good strong trees as nesting sites. For some reason, the two islands in Alligator Lake are shrinking and sinking,” Huff said. “The smaller island is only about a third of its size back when I first started canoeing around it, which was probably about 1990.

“The larger island is turning to marsh — lots more cattails around the perimeter, and the inner ‘high ground’ simply is not very high. In fact, it’s now very wet, mushy ground.”

Huff has sent the results to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but suggests the city might want to consider attempting to add fill to increase the size and stability of the islands or install some kind of wooden supports to mimic the dead tree trunks that once were prime nesting sites, but have either fallen or lost most of their limbs.

“For years we had a thick forest of 6-10 foot elderberries on the interior of both islands. These spindly little trees were actually old enough to have thick trunks that would support even Great Blue Heron nests. These are declining, too,” Huff said.

A group of volunteers about 10 years ago planted a dozen young trees — red bay, maples and oaks — but the survivors are weighted down with air potato and Chinese lantern vines, she said.

The lake level has not changed, because it is controlled by a dam, Huff noted. The lake was formed by the construction of the dam in the late 1940s. Previously the creek meandered through a swampy tidal area.

“It’s a shame to lose our outstanding nesting colony,” Huff said. “Many people in Safety Harbor don’t even know about the 500+ nests on the two islands, but they enjoy watching the birds that roost and breed there.”

As we approach the end of summer I would like to remind you that a new school year is about to begin. Later this month more than 150,000 Pinellas County students will once again begin making their daily trip to and from school in one of the largest school districts in our state. Whether traveling by car, bus, bicycle, or on foot, students may face some challenges as they make their way to and from school in the coming months.

I encourage parents to talk to their children about safety before the new school year begins. Children should be taught about bicycle and pedestrian laws and parents should encourage their children to adhere to them all. In addition children should be taught to cross streets in marked crosswalks or at intersections, and to make eye contact with drivers of vehicles that are stopped to ensure that they are seen before crossing. If no sidewalk is available, pedestrians should walk facing traffic and bicyclists should ride with the flow of traffic.

Drivers can also expect some changes in their daily commutes associated with the start of another school year. The addition of more cars and buses on our roadways each morning and afternoon will certainly result in increased traffic congestion, particularly near schools and bus stops that have been idle for the past couple of months. School zones will require reduced speeds and brief stops as crossing guards assist younger students who negotiate busy streets while walking to school.

As motorists, we must also be aware that the location of school crossing zones may change from year to year. Just be aware that there may be a school crossing on your way to work this year where there wasn’t one last year.

Motorists should plan to add a few extra minutes to morning and afternoon trips, and extra care should be taken when driving near schools, crosswalks, and bus stops. Drivers should also be prepared to stop for school buses when picking up or dropping off students. Florida law requires that drivers bring their vehicle to a full stop when approaching any school bus displaying a stop signal. Motorists must then remain stopped and are prohibited from passing the bus until the signal has been withdrawn. This law also applies to motorists driving in the opposite direction of a stopped school bus unless there is an unpaved space of at least 5 feet, a raised median, or some other type of physical barrier.

By obeying traffic laws and remaining alert for children near our roadways, we can prevent serious injuries or deaths related to traffic crashes during the upcoming school year. By following the law and these simple suggestions you can help us to achieve our goal of “Leading The Way For A Safer Pinellas.”