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Dear St. Pete Beach City Commissioners,

At the hearing scheduled December 5th, please do not approve conditional use permit application #23053 seeking the development of two additional hotels adjacent to the existing Sirata hotel at an intense density of 75 rooms per acre. Your upcoming decision comes at a time when two of our largest resorts, Sirata and TradeWinds, desire to expand their properties beyond the by-right allowable limits of our Land Development Code:

• Sirata has submitted a Conditional Use Permit application requesting permission to increase rooms by 69%, from 382 to 646 rooms (75 units per acre), with 747 parking spaces, and increasing height to 116 feet.
• TradeWinds has submitted a Conditional Use Permit application requesting permission to increase rooms by 65%, from 967 to 1,596 rooms (69 units per acre), with 2,113 parking spaces, also increasing height to 116 feet.

St. Pete Beach’s Land Development Code allows 30 units per acre and 50 feet in height. Requesting permission to increase beyond those limits is not an entitlement, but rather a request to be considered. Indeed, it is the size of these expansions that requires approval through the Conditional Use Permit process.

Our city has never before faced proposed expansion plans of this size, scale, and density. These requests are unprecedented, and represent over half the acreage of our Large Resort district. If approved, they set a powerful precedent that will inevitably transform St. Pete Beach into Clearwater Beach with increased traffic, crowding, and a mile-long wall of tall buildings blocking views, ocean breezes, and disorienting endangered sea turtle hatchlings -- among other negative impacts.

Over one thousand St. Pete Beach residents have signed the “We Can’t Survive 75” petition, proving that residents:

• Strongly object to high density overdevelopment of our coastal Gulf community that will further degrade infrastructure, public services, environment, wildlife, and safety; and
• Strongly protect the quiet character of existing residential neighborhoods from the encroachment and overdevelopment of non-residential units.

Testimony and evidence provided by lay members of the public concerning the character of our community and the impact of proposed development on that character may be competent and substantial evidence in quasi-judicial proceedings that you must consider when you vote on December 5th. Therefore, as someone who loves St. Pete Beach and knows the quiet, residential, family-friendly character of this community well, I ask you to: 

1) Recognize that these two conditional use permit applications both request development inconsistent with comprehensive planning goals and objectives, increase the burden to our transportation system beyond its capacity, and threaten health and safety as outlined at www.protectstpetebeach.com/petition, therefore failing to meet the Standards for Review as stated in the land development code, all while failing to actually redevelop the old, out of code buildings that will remain in the Community Redevelopment District as such.

2) Should application #23053 for the Sirata come to a vote on December 5th, please vote to deny or defer a decision pending submittal of an improved site plan. Should application #23033 for TradeWinds come to a vote on January 23rd, please vote to deny or defer a decision pending submittal of an improved site plan.

3) Request that the developers meet with community members and organizations to develop plans that move our Community Development District forward towards its enumerated goals in the comprehensive plan prior to submitting any revised proposals.