Set aside the controversy. Ignore the referendum threats. Ignore the petition that’s probably already circulating, begging voters to take action against a city ignoring them. Ignore the rumors of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing.
Put all that aside for just a few minutes and let’s look at what is factually happening with the pier.
The list of designs is down to three. In alphabetic order they are Alma, Destination St. Pete Pier and Pier Park.
Four others were voted out of the short list at a marathon 12-hour meeting last week.
The Pier Selection Committee was supposed to vote on a final ranking and City Council was scheduled to vote the top-ranked team up or down at its meeting on April 2. The committee didn’t and therefore the council won’t.
According to Mayor Rick Kriseman’s Communications Director Ben Kirby, any questions about design feasibility, programmatic elements or any others will be sent to the three remaining design teams this week.
He expects the city to schedule another Pier Selection Committee final ranking meeting sometime next week, but that date likely won’t be until the week after that.
As for City Council’s April 2 meeting, they won’t be voting on a design.
“It’s too much to ask of Councilmembers,” Kirby said referring to the time crunch.
Next up, while there have been threats from supporters of Destination St. Pete Pier, it’s still not clear if voters will see a pier design on a ballot. Destination St. Pete emerged as a community favorite in three separate polls, but the selection committee indicated its preferred choice was Alma.
That choice isn’t set in stone and Destination St. Pete is still fighting.
What is clear is that a petition drive for a different ballot initiative has already taken flight.
The group Vote on the Pier announced this week it is launching a petition effort to put a ballot question before voters asking them whether or not the city should be required to get majority support from voters before renovating or demolishing anything on the city’s downtown waterfront.
If such a measure were successful, it would require the city to put the pier on a ballot and ask for voters’ permission to replace it with their chosen design. It would require the same for any other downtown waterfront projects.
Kirby cautions residents who think this may sound like a good way to deal with the pier saga that such a move could have unintended consequences. He notes a special election in the city costs at a minimum $25,000.
So, where are we now?
Whatever design the selection committee ultimately ranks in its top spot will go before City Council for a simple up or down vote. That is all they can do.
If they approve the design, that authorizes the mayor to begin negotiations with that team to finalize a contract.
If those negotiations fail, Mayor Kriseman would begin negotiations with the second-ranked team and so on and so forth.
If City Council rejects the selection committee’s chosen design, a couple of things could happen.
The selection committee could decide to have council vote on the second-ranked team or they could go back to the process. That would likely mean re-evaluating the remaining two designs and the four that had been previously eliminated – Prospect Pier, Blue Pier, Discover Bay Life and rePier. They would then put a new ranking before City Council.
A letter was sent to City Council and the Pier Selection Committee urging them to support Destination St. Pete Pier. That letter also suggested City Council had the authority to take the process into its own hands.
As we reported earlier, that is not an option.
Now you may go back to hating someone else’s design and speculating all things St. Pete Pier. Have fun.
