The Pier Selection Committee will meet Thursday April 23 at 2 p.m. to discuss and rank the final three pier designs.
The meeting will be held at City Hall in City Council chambers.
The meeting follows a previous one earlier this month in which members of the committee failed to agree to a final ranking of three remaining designs — Alma, Destination St. Pete Pier and Pier Park despite 12 hours of debate and public comment.
By the end of that meeting, the committee seemed poised to rank the design known as Alma in its number one spot with either Pier Park or Destination St. Pete Pier following.
Alma ranked number five on the city’s public survey while Destination St. Pete Pier and Pier Park held the number one and two spots respectively. This has drawn outrage among some active members in the community. Their public comment prompted the committee to hit the pause button.
They are expected to discuss new information from the three design teams at the meeting. Members said they would be sending individual questions to each of the design teams before making a decision.
Whichever team nabs the top ranking will still be subject to City Council approval. That board will vote up or down the selection committee’s ranking. If approved, that gives Mayor Rick Kriseman the green light to begin negotiations with the top-ranked team. If negotiations fail, the second-ranked team would enter negotiations.
If council rejects the ranking, which could happen based on public opinion if the committee chooses Alma, the process would essentially start anew. The committee would then re-rank the remaining six teams.
