The news that Tampa
firefighters were unable to open a privately owned hydrant at an apartment
complex had residents calling the Lealman Fire Department. The mostly elderly
women worried that the hydrants in their complexes also might be rusted shut.
Fire Chief Rick Graham
reassured them: "We do test every hydrant in our district every year,
including the private hydrants. I don't think we'd sit there for 15 minutes
pounding on a hydrant trying to keep it open."
Lealman's real problem, Graham
acknowledged, is too few hydrants in some areas. In a worst-case scenario,
Graham said a hydrant might be 2,000 feet from a house.
"There's a hydrant
situation here that needs to be addressed, needs to be taken care of, but
Lealman is not burning down," he said.
Firefighters are aware of the
areas where there are few hydrants and take precautions for handling the
situation, Graham said. They carry more hoses and water than other departments.
They also will do things such as dropping the hose by the hydrant and stretching
it as they go into the situation rather than running back to the hydrant. They
also send more firefighters to battle any blazes.
"It's a big issue in the
Fire Department, obviously," Graham said. "But it's not the whole
district."
While firefighters try to be
prepared, it can be hard to convince insurers of that.
The lack of hydrants in some
areas can lower the area's ISO rating. ISO stands for Insurance Services Office
Inc., which provides statistics and other information to determine how much an
insurance policy should cost. The better the ISO rating, the lower the fire
insurance rates for homeowners.
"If you're missing
hydrants, it affects your ISO rating," Graham said. And that means
homeowners' costs are higher.
Ray Neri, president of the
Lealman Community Association, said the organization discovered the hydrant
shortage recently while members conducted a walking survey of Lealman
neighborhoods to prepare a revitalization plan for the area.
"We've got areas where
the fire hydrants are a couple of blocks away," Neri said.
Association members also found
that St. Petersburg provided the water service and water lines in much of the
affected area. St. Petersburg charges Lealman residents 25 percent more for
their water and part of that, Neri said, should go to improving infrastructure
and providing such things as fire hydrants.
St. Petersburg officials have
a different view.
The agreement to provide water
for Lealman applies only to drinking water, said Patti Anderson, St.
Petersburg's assistant public utilities director. The 25 percent surcharge comes
into effect because of the distance the water must go. It also helps to maintain
the system.
"I'm not aware of any
obligation to provide fire protection," Anderson said. "Outside of the
city limits, we have water pipes. We maintain those pipes."
Any monies collected from
Lealman are "not anywhere close to sufficient for upgrading the system for
fire protection," she said.
Even inside the city, the
amount residents pay for drinking water does not go to install fire hydrants. If
the St. Petersburg fire department wants a new hydrant, it pays the water
department. That cost comes out of citizens' property taxes.
Since none of the county's
property taxes from Lealman come to St. Petersburg, the city will not provide
hydrants, she said. The county and city have been arguing the issue, she said,
but the discussion keeps running into a stalemate.
While St. Petersburg has taken
a hard line, Anderson said that when the city installs new pipes, they'll be the
size that is best for attaching to hydrants.
"We're not going to put
in fire hydrants, but we'll put in pipes," she said. "It's not a total
solution for sure, but we feel like we're making a good-faith effort because we
are concerned."
Some of those changes for
Lealman are in St. Petersburg's 10-year plan, but Anderson said she had no
information on when any pipe replacement might begin.
Press arrow to return to top of page
If approved
by voters in August, the referendum would be the latest to expand Seminole's
boundaries.
By MAUREEN BYRNE
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2001
If approved by voters in August, the
referendum would be the latest to expand Seminole's boundaries.
SEMINOLE -- The boundaries of the city may change
again.
The city has scheduled an annexation referendum Aug. 7
for voters in Seminole Grove Estates, a subdivision of 222 homes just west of
113th Street between 86th and 102nd avenues.
The neighborhood, which includes the Seminole Youth
Athletic Association complex on 90th Avenue, petitioned the city to set up the
vote. Only people who live within the boundaries of the area may vote.
The proposed annexation is the latest in a string of
annexations over the past year.
City officials hope more are on the way. They want to
triple Seminole's size to 12.5 square miles, meaning it could become home for as
many as 60,000 residents.
Today, Seminole's approximately 16,000 residents live
within a 4-square-mile city.
If voters approve the upcoming referendum, Seminole
would grow by 81 acres.
The annexation also would bring 476 registered voters
and about 550 residents into the city.
The annexation would take effect Aug. 17. If the
referendum fails, state law prohibits another annexation vote for at least two
years.
"Obviously, we're excited that there are so many
people requesting information regarding annexation," said Mitch Bobowski,
Seminole's general services director. "As each one of these referendums is
successful, we get flooded with calls from other neighborhoods.
"We're ecstatic that people really want to be a
part of the city," he said.
A year ago, residents of three unincorporated areas
overwhelmingly voted to join Seminole, greatly increasing the city's tax base
and adding thousands to its population.
In January, residents of the Townhomes of Lake Seminole
and the Sandy Woods subdivision voted to join the city.
The annexation was the second largest in Seminole's
history and boosted the city's population by about 1,500 residents.
And last week, voters in the Orangewood and Seminole
Forest neighborhoods approved annexation referendums. The two areas brought 53
acres, 183 homes, 352 registered voters and about 474 residents into Seminole.
An efficient and accessible government, nice parks and
facilities -- especially the city's new recreation complex -- and fiscally
conservative leaders attracted Dave Hughes to Seminole.
He and two of his neighbors passed out literature on
the August referendum throughout Seminole Grove Estates.
"I'm confident they do a good job," Hughes,
54, said of city officials.
- Times staff writer
Maureen Byrne can be reached at 445-4163.
Press arrow to return to top of page
He admits
there are too few and that's being addressed, but each hydrant is tested
annually and none are rusted shut.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2001
He admits there are too few and
that's being addressed, but each hydrant is tested annually and none are rusted
shut.
LEALMAN -- The news that Tampa firefighters were unable
to open a privately owned hydrant at an apartment complex had residents calling
the Lealman Fire Department. The mostly elderly women worried that the hydrants
in their complexes also might be rusted shut.
Fire Chief Rick Graham reassured them: "We do test
every hydrant in our district every year, including the private hydrants. I
don't think we'd sit there for 15 minutes pounding on a hydrant trying to keep
it open."
Lealman's real problem, Graham acknowledged, is too few
hydrants in some areas. In a worst-case scenario, Graham said a hydrant might be
2,000 feet from a house.
"There's a hydrant situation here that needs to be
addressed, needs to be taken care of, but Lealman is not burning down," he
said.
Firefighters are aware of the areas where there are few
hydrants and take precautions for handling the situation, Graham said. They
carry more hoses and water than other departments. They also will do things such
as dropping the hose by the hydrant and stretching it as they go into the
situation rather than running back to the hydrant. They also send more
firefighters to battle any blazes.
"It's a big issue in the Fire Department,
obviously," Graham said. "But it's not the whole district."
While firefighters try to be prepared, it can be hard
to convince insurers of that.
The lack of hydrants in some areas can lower the area's
ISO rating. ISO stands for Insurance Services Office Inc., which provides
statistics and other information to determine how much an insurance policy
should cost. The better the ISO rating, the lower the fire insurance rates for
homeowners.
"If you're missing hydrants, it affects your ISO
rating," Graham said. And that means homeowners' costs are higher.
Ray Neri, president of the Lealman Community
Association, said the organization discovered the hydrant shortage recently
while members conducted a walking survey of Lealman neighborhoods to prepare a
revitalization plan for the area.
"We've got areas where the fire hydrants are a
couple of blocks away," Neri said.
Association members also found that St. Petersburg
provided the water service and water lines in much of the affected area. St.
Petersburg charges Lealman residents 25 percent more for their water and part of
that, Neri said, should go to improving infrastructure and providing such things
as fire hydrants.
St. Petersburg officials have a different view.
The agreement to provide water for Lealman applies only
to drinking water, said Patti Anderson, St. Petersburg's assistant public
utilities director. The 25 percent surcharge comes into effect because of the
distance the water must go. It also helps to maintain the system.
"I'm not aware of any obligation to provide fire
protection," Anderson said. "Outside of the city limits, we have water
pipes. We maintain those pipes."
Any monies collected from Lealman are "not
anywhere close to sufficient for upgrading the system for fire protection,"
she said.
Even inside the city, the amount residents pay for
drinking water does not go to install fire hydrants. If the St. Petersburg fire
department wants a new hydrant, it pays the water department. That cost comes
out of citizens' property taxes.
Since none of the county's property taxes from Lealman
come to St. Petersburg, the city will not provide hydrants, she said. The county
and city have been arguing the issue, she said, but the discussion keeps running
into a stalemate.
While St. Petersburg has taken a hard line, Anderson
said that when the city installs new pipes, they'll be the size that is best for
attaching to hydrants.
"We're not going to put in fire hydrants, but
we'll put in pipes," she said. "It's not a total solution for sure,
but we feel like we're making a good-faith effort because we are
concerned."
Some of those changes for Lealman are in St.
Petersburg's 10-year plan, but Anderson said she had no information on when any
pipe replacement might begin.
"I'm not aware of any obligation to provide fire
protection," Anderson said. "Outside of the city limits, we have water
pipes. We maintain those pipes."
Any monies collected from Lealman are "not
anywhere close to sufficient for upgrading the system for fire protection,"
she said.
Even inside the city, the amount residents pay for
drinking water does not go to install fire hydrants. If the St. Petersburg fire
department wants a new hydrant, it pays the water department. That cost comes
out of citizens' property taxes.
Since none of the county's property taxes from Lealman
come to St. Petersburg, the city will not provide hydrants, she said. The county
and city have been arguing the issue, she said, but the discussion keeps running
into a stalemate.
While St. Petersburg has taken a hard line, Anderson
said that when the city installs new pipes, they'll be the size that is best for
attaching to hydrants.
"We're not going to put in fire hydrants, but
we'll put in pipes," she said. "It's not a total solution for sure,
but we feel like we're making a good-faith effort because we are
concerned."
Some of those changes for Lealman are in St.
Petersburg's 10-year plan, but Anderson said she had no information on when any
pipe replacement might begin.
Press arrow to return to top of page
On Monday,
county commissioners will see on paper an incorporated effort to improve an
unincorporated area suffering from neglect.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 24, 2001
LEALMAN -- Since late last year, a group of residents
has been dreaming about the unincorporated area's future.
This week, they bring that vision to the Pinellas
County Commission with the hope that the members will like their proposed plan
enough to pay for it.
"We know that the commissioners want to do this
for us. They've all voiced that individually," said Ray Neri, head of the
Lealman Community Association. "We're looking forward to future projects
with the county to get this area (improved)."
Momentum for revitalizing Lealman began gaining ground
last November during a community meeting with county representatives. Neighbors
complained about too few fire hydrants and street lights and high crime rates.
The county sent members of its planning department to
work with residents to create a plan to improve Lealman.
This portion of unincorporated Pinellas County is
located roughly between Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg. Its eastern boundary
begins around Interstate 275 and extends west as far as Park Street. Kenneth
City splits the larger Lealman area into east Lealman and west Lealman.
Revitalization efforts will focus on the eastern side,
particularly the area bounded on the north by 62nd Avenue N and on the south by
40th Avenue N. The eastern boundary is 49th Street N. The western edge is split
between 55th and 58th streets N.
That's the neediest area, said Frank Bowman of the
Pinellas County Community Development Department.
To better inform their judgments, residents walked the
area talking to people and taking notes on what they saw. They also visited
other cities and communities to take pictures of things they would want to
emulate in Lealman.
The proposal is still in draft form.
"It's basically a framework on which we'll do
things," Bowman said.
The point of Monday's meeting is to give commissioners
a chance to see the proposal and talk among themselves about the plan. The next
step will be to finalize the proposal, which is scheduled to come before the
commission for approval on July 17, Bowman said.
Then comes the real work of setting priorities and
developing programs. Those programs likely will be in the county's 2002 budget,
Bowman said.
Among the plan's goals:
Develop and publish a historical pamphlet for use in
the schools and to distribute at restaurants and businesses
Identify and mark all homes and other structures
erected before 1920.
Work with the Post Office to change the community's
mailing address to "Lealman" -- rather than using the nearest city --
while retaining the same ZIP code.
Help property owners find low-cost loans or grants to
improve the appearance of homes and rental property.
Focus code enforcement on substandard rental property
to force investor owners to maintain it.
Encourage owners to improve properties by educating
them, helping those who need it and rewarding those who keep their homes in good
condition.
Promote youth activities, parks and recreation in the
area. Hold festivals and other events that celebrate Lealman and its residents.
Find ways to use the land along Joe's Creek and the
former Frontier Recycling property for trails, paths and green space.
When the new fire station is built, think about using
the existing building as offices for social service providers. Those providers
should include such programs as Social Security, Neighborly Senior Services, the
Lealman Family Center and a medical clinic.
Work with the county to have the Mobile Dental and
Health units make regular calls in the Lealman area.
Work on getting sidewalks.
Ask the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to put a
substation in Lealman.
Strengthen the local Crime Watch program.
Work with the county and the city of St. Petersburg to
get more fire hydrants where they're needed.
Continue collecting signatures on petitions for street
lights.
If you go
Pinellas County commissioners are scheduled this week
to consider two issues facing Lealman. They'll get their first look at a draft
of the Lealman revitalization plan during a workshop at 9:30 a.m. Monday. The
next day, at a 9:45 a.m. meeting, they'll consider a petition to install street
lights in one section of Lealman. Both meetings will be held in the commission
chambers at the courthouse, 315 Court St., Clearwater.
What are the ties that bind? What is the
sense of community in south Pinellas? Along the barrier island cities, is there
a beach lifestyle — and how do residents of each town along Gulf Boulevard see
themselves as the same as, and different from, each other? Why do people who
live near Seminole — but not within its boundaries — consider themselves as
residents of Seminole? Why are residents of Kenneth City and Lealman looking to
common concerns? And within the 100 neighborhoods of St. Petersburg, how do —
or don't — residents of the city see themselves as neighbors? You are invited
to read about all these areas that make up southern Pinellas County's
neighborhoods. Please click below or on the icons above to begin the
exploration.
Press arrow to return to top of page
Activists
in the unincorporated area suggest a radical survival mechanism: Merge with tiny
Kenneth City.
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 1, 2001
Activists in the unincorporated area
suggest a radical survival mechanism: Merge with tiny Kenneth City.
It's easy to get a rise out of Lealman residents. Just
mention annexation.
The word raises the specter of rapacious cities --
Pinellas Park, Seminole and St. Petersburg -- gobbling piranha-like at the edges
of this unincorporated area. The threat of being consumed piecemeal strikes at
the Lealman psyche, with its fierce dislike of government intrusion on an
independent way of life.
"We are being nibbled to death by ducks,"
Lealman Community Association president Ray Neri said. "They're going down
the corridors and taking the commercial properties."
The prospect of losing community identity and
self-determination has some Lealman residents suggesting a radical solution:
Merge as a whole rather than wait to be picked off a bite at a time. And merge
with a community that's not so big that Lealman would lose its identity in the
larger mix.
On Wednesday, Neri and others from the Community
Association appeared before the Kenneth City Council to suggest that the town
annex the Lealman Fire District.
The benefits to both sides are obvious, Neri said.
Such a merger would create a city about the size of
neighboring Pinellas Park. The enlarged Kenneth City would be eligible for more
money from state and federal sources. Lealman has green space that Kenneth City
lacks. The town would have access to Lealman's larger and improving tax base.
If Kenneth City does not grow, Neri said, there will be
no choice but to raise taxes to support the necessary services and "you
will tax yourselves out of business." A merger, he said, will stabilize
taxes well into the future.
"We don't want a situation where we start to tax
our elderly residents out of their homes; nor do you," Neri said.
"This is a win-win thing for both Kenneth City and
us. I don't see how this doesn't make sense for everybody. ... This is going to
be an exciting adventure. We can change the face of Pinellas County."
"I think it's an exciting idea," Kenneth City
council member Teresa Zemaitis said. "I think it could fly. I'd like to
hear more from some of the professionals involved. ... The concept is a strong
one."
Council member Al Carrier was similarly enthusiastic,
saying, "I'd like to see it happen. ... It's a fact of life, if this town
doesn't grow, it's going to die."
County officials are working on estimating the costs of
such a merger. Kenneth City and Lealman representatives are scheduling a
workshop where they can begin exploring the possibility in depth.
Neri and other Lealman activists also are scheduling
talks with groups in that unincorporated community to float the idea among
residents.
"I don't even know what resistance we're going to
meet in our own confines," Neri said. "I don't think this is a
cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination."
Overture sets off alarms
The idea of merging Kenneth City and Lealman has been
suggested in the past, but it never went anywhere. That changed recently as
Seminole annexed a chunk of Lealman's western border and took away tax dollars
that supported the area's fire service. At the same time, Pinellas Park nibbles
at the area's northern border, taking one property at a time. Just last month,
St. Petersburg began feeling out county officials about a possible annexation of
the Joe's Creek Industrial Park area east of 34th Street N and south of 54th
Avenue.
"That, of course, set off alarms," Neri said.
If taxes from that area were taken away, it would spell the end of the fire
district because an unbearable tax burden would be left on the remaining
residents, he said.
Such a threat to the area's eastern border comes at a
time when Lealman residents were beginning to organize and make themselves heard
at the county level in an effort to improve their neighborhoods.
A county-financed revitalization program is expected to
improve neighborhood appearances and develop recreation areas, among other
things. But then Lealman will be an even juicier plum for plucking, Neri said.
"That's kind of like dressing the table for a whole bunch of hungry people
and we're not the eaters. We're the meal."
Neri and other community leaders have met with state
and local officials, searching for ways to stop annexation, even temporarily.
That effort has failed. Time and again, they've been told the ultimate
protection against being annexed into a city is to belong to a city.
Therein lies the Lealman irony: The people don't want a
local government, yet to retain their identity as a community, their only
defense may be to accept one.
Why Kenneth City?
For a merger, community leaders' eyes have not turned
to Pinellas Park, Seminole or St. Petersburg.
Pinellas Park, Neri said, is seen as so
annexation-happy that it's willing to do almost anything to get people to join
the city. Neri referred to tax and fee breaks that Pinellas Park dangles as
bait, especially to businesses.
Instead, Neri and other Lealman activists have turned
to tiny Kenneth City.
"We're both going down the tubes if we don't do
anything," Neri said.
Kenneth City already contracts with Lealman for fire
service, a cost that could increase as tax-rich businesses are annexed into
other cities. That gives Kenneth City a vested interest in merging with Lealman
to protect itself, Neri said.
"Seminole and Pinellas Park are eroding our tax
base, which will raise our taxes and therefore raise the price (of fire service)
to Kenneth City," Neri said at a meeting last month of officials and
residents who were interested in talking about a merger.
Such a union would have a big impact on Kenneth City.
The town has about 4,500 people. But if the entire Lealman Fire District voted
for a merger, a city of about 40,000 would be created -- about the size of
neighboring Pinellas Park.
The newcomers would outnumber existing Kenneth City
residents 8-1 -- which might threaten the town's identity.
"That's the part I don't have any idea
about," said Bill Smith, the Kenneth City mayor. "I just really don't
know what the people might think about it."
"If we don't do this, we will vanish. There's no
question about it," Neri said. "This may happen. This may not happen.
All we know is if we sit still with our heads in the dirt, we're going to get
our butts kicked."
Kenneth City
·
Has 4,400 residents 18 and older, 62
fewer than in the 1990 census. It's the only area in upper south Pinellas County
to show a population decline.
·
Begun in 1956 by real estate
developer Sidney Colen, who named it after his son, Kenneth. The town was
incorporated in 1957.
·
Area is about 1 square mile.
Lealman Fire District
·
Has about 35,995 residents 18 and
older.
·
Area is about 11 square miles.
·
Has two fire stations and the busiest
firefighters in the county. Last year, the two stations answered 8,805 calls,
more than 12 calls a day per station.
·
Is one of the earliest communities to
appear on a Pinellas County map.
·
The name Lealman is believed to have
originated between 1879-1885 when Elias B. Lealman bought 95 acres along what is
now 54th Avenue N. Lealman became prominent as the main stop of the Orange Belt
Railroad in the late 1800s.
·
Local folklore and at least one
historian say Lealman actually was issued a city charter sometime in the late
1800s or early 1900s. But it's unclear if anyone ever acted on that charter and
today it's considered to be part of unincorporated Pinellas County.
Press arrow to return to top of page
The
benefits for the unincorporated area and tiny Kenneth City are clear, Lealman
civic leaders say.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 11, 2001
LEALMAN -- With annexations by surrounding cities
nibbling at the edges of this unincorporated area, civic leaders have suggested
a radical solution to maintaining their community identity: Merge with Kenneth
City.
That will be the main topic on tonight's agenda at the
Lealman Community Association meeting.
"We want to hear the opinions of people that are
diametrically opposed to annexation," said Ray Neri, president of the
association. "We want to know what their concerns are. We want to
understand their concerns. The more varied concerns we get, the better off we'll
be."
Neri said everyone is welcome at the meeting, even
non-Lealman residents.
Neri and other association leaders have been the movers
and shakers behind the merger idea. They even appeared in front of the Kenneth
City Town Council last month to ask if that body might be interested in annexing
the entire Lealman fire district.
Kenneth City council members were cautiously receptive
to the idea, saying they wanted to explore the idea.
"It's a thing that's interesting that we need to
explore and find out what it would do for each one of us," Kenneth City
Mayor Bill Smith said. "I'm just waiting to get some figures put
together." That's part of what Neri and other association members are doing
now. They spent Friday night brainstorming some of the pluses and minuses of
such a move. "We're going into battle, folks," Community Association
member Ron Campbell told the others before they began. "We need to prepare.
We need to figure out how to sell this to the opposition."
For the people at that meeting, the benefits to both
Lealman and Kenneth City are numerous and obvious. Among them:
For Lealman, stable borders and self-determination.
For Kenneth City, access to more recreation areas,
green space, and family and human services.
For both, a way to reduce escalating costs and provide
access to revenue sharing.
One of the main benefits to Kenneth City comes under a
general heading called "economy of scale," Neri said.
The town is so small -- about 4,500 people -- that
staffing such services such as the Police Department ends up costing more per
capita than it might in a larger community. That's because there have to be so
many people to cover each shift even though the officers are covering only 1
square mile. Yet those same officers could cover a much larger area without
charging more, Neri said.
Neri also said that such a merger, whereby Kenneth City
would effectively annex the entire Lealman fire district, would prevent the town
from becoming surrounded by larger communities on all sides and being eventually
squeezed out of existence.
Smith, the Kenneth City mayor, said he does not see
that as a persuasive argument. No one can come and take us, he said.
"We're here and we've got our borders and we'll
stay here," Smith said. "If this thing don't come to pass, we'll still
be here. . . . It's not like we're up against a rock and a hard place."
But Smith voiced some of the concerns that Neri's group
touched on last Friday.
If Kenneth City took over the Lealman fire district, it
would be the same as a guppy trying to swallow a whale. Lealman, with about
35,000 people, outnumbers Kenneth City by about 8-1. That means Lealman could
simply take over once it was annexed.
Smith said he would want guarantees up front that
Kenneth City would always have representation on the council.
That's fine with Neri and his group.
Neri said he thinks the council should be expanded to
seven members with each running from a district. Kenneth City could have its own
district to ensure that it would always have an active voice in the new city
government.
*
* *
In other Lealman news, the Lealman Fire Commission
agreed to explore the possibility of asking the state Legislature to force the
Pinellas Planning Commission to allow a Fire Commission member to join it. The
PPC is an advisory board that oversees such items as annexation. It is made up
of representatives from municipalities, the County Commission and the School
Board.
The Fire Commission also gave tentative approval to a
budget that would reduce the millage for fire service in the Lealman area for
the 2001-2002 fiscal year. Under the proposal, the tax rate would be reduced by
about 3 percent, from 5.5 mills to 5.3 mills. A mill is $1 of tax for every
$1,000 of assessed property value.
If you go
The Lealman Community Association will meet at 7
tonight at Lealman Fire Station 18, 4017 56th Ave. N. Among the topics will be
the possible merger of Lealman with Kenneth City. The meeting is open to
residents of the unincorporated Lealman community and Kenneth City. For
information, call Ray Neri, president of the Community Association, at 527-5352.
Press arrow to return to top of page
Kenneth
City holds a workshop Wednesday to hear about merging with the larger, loosely
defined Lealman area.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 2001
Kenneth City holds a workshop
Wednesday to hear about merging with the larger, loosely defined Lealman area.
KENNETH CITY -- Ever since several Lealman leaders
asked the Town Council to consider merging the two entities, Kenneth City
residents have burst forth with questions and worries.
They're concerned about allegations that Kenneth City
faces a dim future if it fails to expands its borders, Mayor Bill Smith said.
"There's no reason for Kenneth City to
collapse," Smith said Thursday. "You can keep saying we're dead if we
don't do this, but you don't know what you're talking about."
On the other hand, if the two merge, other Kenneth City
residents worry that Lealman, with its larger population (about 35,000 to the
town's 4,500), will take over and Kenneth City would disappear.
"It's just not true," Smith said.
Smith wants to calm those fears until council members
have a chance to decide if the Lealman merger is something they want to do.
David Healey, director of the Pinellas Planning
Council, will speak to the Kenneth City council this Wednesday. The Planning
Council provides policy advice and recommendations to the County Commission on
land use issues, including annexation.
"He's going to come in and explain to the people
of Kenneth City what annexation involves," Smith said. "It's an
educational meeting. Let him explain to the people there's a lot of things we've
got to look at."
People had better listen well. Healey will not take
questions from the floor.
The issue of merging Kenneth City and the land bounded
by the Lealman Fire District arose late last month.
Ray Neri and other Lealman Community Association
leaders are tired of their unincorporated community being nibbled at by
annexations from all sides, Seminole, Pinellas Park and St. Petersburg. The
annexations are cutting into the area's tax base and striking at the heart of
Lealman residents who want to be independent.
If Lealman merged with Kenneth City, that would stop
the annexations. The resulting city would be large enough to attain government
grants that Kenneth City currently does not qualify for. Kenneth City also would
benefit, Lealman leaders said, because their community has green space and
recreational areas the town is lacking. Lealman also has plenty of space for
improvement, development and redevelopment.
Kenneth City seems cool to the idea. "We do sense
some hesitancy," Neri said.
So, while he and his board members plan to be at
Wednesday's workshop to hear what Healey has to say, they're looking for other
options. That could include trying to incorporate Lealman as a city. Neri said
he senses that could be popular with Lealman residents, at least on an emotional
level.
"It seems the majority of people would go for that
very easily, but it brings up a whole nest of worms we haven't even considered
at this point," Neri said.
Right now, he said, it seems the most economical and
best solution would be to create one large municipality through a merger with
Kenneth City.
Mayor Smith said he's maintaining a neutral stance. He
doesn't have enough information about costs, benefits or anything else to form
an opinion, he said.
"I just don't know anything," Smith said.
"It may be the best thing that ever happened to Kenneth City. It may be the
worst."
If you go
What: Workshop about the possible annexation of the
Lealman Fire District with Kenneth City
Who: David Healey, director of the Pinellas Planning
Council, will speak to the Kenneth City Town Council
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Community Hall, 4600 58th St. N.
For Information: Call 544-6655.
Note: The workshop is open to the public, but no
questions will be taken from the audience.
Press arrow to return to top of page
Commissioner
John Morroni wants to see whether apparent lower costs, such as for law
enforcement, encourage annexation.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 22, 2001
PINELLAS PARK -- Cities using sheriff's deputies often
boast of the financial savings when they pursue areas for annexation, County
Commissioner John Morroni agreed, and he wants to examine whether Sheriff's
Office policies ultimately can harm unincorporated residents.
At a town meeting last week, Morroni had just explained
that county taxes in both municipalities and unincorporated areas are likely to
increase in the coming year, with the unincorporated areas taking the hardest
hit.
The increase is due in part to annexations, Morroni
said. As cities annex more and more land, the property owners who are left
behind must foot more and more of the bill.
And the tax bills are high for a reason, Morroni said.
New voting machines. More deputies for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
But if the cities are annexing land, then that leaves
less area to patrol, Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler said. So why does Sheriff
Everett Rice need to hire more officers?
Kay Daly of the county Economic Development Department
had an answer: Rice contracts with cities to supply police services. And, she
added, Rice charges those municipal clients less than his actual costs.
Rice, who was not at the meeting, said Thursday that
his budget is complex, with some monies used for countywide expenses, such as
the jail. Other monies are apportioned, he said.
Take patrol, for example. About 80 percent of the
sheriff's patrol budget is funded by tax revenue from the unincorporated areas
of Pinellas County, he said.
The other 20 percent of the patrol budget is funded by
tax money from the cities, Rice said. The sheriff comes into those areas if
needed and acts as an extra layer of coverage.
Thus, when he contracts with a city to provide its law
enforcement, Rice said he does not charge full price for his deputies. Instead,
he takes into account what that particular city is already paying for the
sheriff and deducts that amount from the cost for service.
"They're already paying for part of it. That's why
they get a discount on the price," Rice said. "That's only fair."
The unincorporated areas, he said, are not subsidizing
the cities.
The real savings to the cities come because they can
eliminate some costs, such as a police chief. Because the Sheriff's Office is
bigger, it can provide more things at a lower cost than can a much smaller
department.
"I had heard that once before, that he was
contracting with the cities for less, but I don't know if he's ever told that to
the County Commission in a presentation," Morroni said. "Now we're
finding out it's true."
Commissioners are scheduled to discuss the county
budget during a Monday workshop, and Morroni said he wanted to raise the issue
then.
He agreed that it would be worth investigating whether
the apparent lower costs some cities pay could actually encourage annexation.
For example, when Seminole was enticing the western
portion of the Lealman Fire District and other areas between that city and
Pinellas Park to annex into the city last year, it touted its cost-saving
services. One of those was its contract with the Pinellas County Sheriff's
Office, which already served the Lealman area.
In essence, one of the sales pitches for annexation was
that Seminole could provide the sheriff's services, which they were already
getting, for less.
Morroni agreed that would be a powerful enticement.
"Why wouldn't people want to go into the city for
that reason alone?" Morroni asked.
Unfortunately, he said, using that sales pitch means
one county service was being used ultimately to harm other unincorporated areas.
Lealman immediately lost tax revenue to their fire
district when the annexation went through, and now property taxes likely will
increase by about 2.3 percent in the unincorporated areas overall primarily
because of that annexation.
If the deal the sheriff is offering is being used to
encourage annexation, Morroni said, it needs to be looked at.
"The last thing I want to do as a County
Commissioner is encourage annexation," he said. "We need to get an
answer on it quick."
Press arrow to return to top of page
Annexing
such a large area would pose many challenges for the tiny town. Some will be
explored tonight.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 25, 2001
Annexing such a large area would pose
many challenges for the tiny town. Some will be explored tonight.
KENNETH CITY -- The idea seems pretty ambitious: Tiny
Kenneth City would annex the much bigger Lealman area.
Doing so would pump a town of about 4,500 people up to
a city of about 40,000. It would increase Kenneth City's area from about one
square mile to about 12 square miles. The need for city services would increase
dramatically.
Yet it was Lealman -- fearful of being nibbled into
oblivion by annexations involving other cities -- that put the proposal on the
table.
Tonight, Kenneth City's council members will have a
chance to hear what it would take to make such a proposal come to pass.
It's simpler than one would think.
Basically, the Kenneth City Town Council and voters
within the borders of the Lealman Fire District have to agree. If they do, it's
a done deal. (Kenneth City would not automatically take over the Fire District's
services in such an annexation.)
The difficult part will be deciding if it's a good
idea.
"It makes sense only if you improve the services
and the quality of lives of the people in these areas," said Frank Bowman,
a senior development specialist with the Pinellas County Community Development
Department. Bowman has spent much of the past year working in the unincorporated
area of Lealman east of Kenneth City developing a redevelopment plan for that
community.
It might make sense for both parties, Bowman said. Such
a merger would prevent Lealman from being gobbled up piecemeal by Pinellas Park,
Seminole and St. Petersburg annexing into the area.
It also might give Lealman more of a chance at
self-determination and self-governance, both of which have become more important
in that area as residents there have begun improving their neighborhoods and
looking to the future.
Such a move might also help Kenneth City "to stem
future decline," Bowman said. As it is, he said, Kenneth City is small and
built out. Soon, the town's infrastructure, such as sewers, will begin to age
and need to be replaced, he said. That can be costly, especially if the tax base
is small. Enlarging the tax base might help spread that cost out.
It's those sort of issues that Kenneth City officials
need to look to when evaluating the proposal, said David Healey, director of the
Pinellas Planning Council.
"It will take statesmanship on the part of Kenneth
City," Healey said.
Part of that statesmanship will come after the facts
and figures are in. Healey said the Planning Council is willing to provide the
information necessary to help make the decision on whether to go for the
annexation.
It will be fairly easy, he said, to figure out how much
money the enlarged city would have coming in from taxes and franchise fees and
other revenues. The difficult part will be estimating what the expenditures
might be. A city that size probably will need to hire a city manager and maybe
some department heads, he said, so those salaries have to be factored in.
The question of other costs, such as an expanded City
Hall or improved parks, also will have to be included.
Other cities of similar size, such as Pinellas Park,
can be used as models, he said, but those cities have been around awhile and
have reached their status over years. One question that will have to be answered
is whether the enlarged Kenneth City would have to do many of these things
immediately or could put some things off for a while.
"It's not going to be exact," Healey said of
the cost estimates.
Healey said he had no idea when those estimates might
be available. Neither Kenneth City nor Lealman had made an official request for
the Planning Council's help, he said.
Once those figures are in, if it appears that it's in
the best interests of both Kenneth City and Lealman to proceed, it's a fairly
straightforward process.
The Kenneth City Town Council would have to give a
report to the Pinellas County Commission showing what members intended to do and
that they could provide services to the area. The report is just that, a report,
not a request for permission. Healy said the commission cannot stop Kenneth City
from annexing Lealman.
Then Kenneth City council members would have to pass an
ordinance to hold a referendum. To do that, council members would have to hold
two public hearings on the ordinance so residents and others could give their
views.
The referendum could be held in Lealman alone or in
both Kenneth City and Lealman.
If the referendum is held only in Lealman, and if the
people there turn it down, it would be two years before Kenneth City could try
again.
If the referendum is held in both Kenneth City and
Lealman, both sides would have to agree. If either side defeated the referendum,
it would fail. Again, it would be two years before Kenneth City could again try
to annex Lealman.
Healey said no other city could stop the process. But
other cities could campaign against the annexation or continue to annex in the
area until Kenneth City's annexation referendum is held.
If the annexation went through, Lealman could become
part of Kenneth City in as few as 10 days after the vote or wait as long as a
year before the final merger takes place.
Healey said that might be a good idea in this case
because it would give Kenneth City time to make the transition as easy as
possible.
If you go
What: Workshop about the possible annexation of the
Lealman Fire District by Kenneth City
Who: David Healey, director of the Pinellas Planning
Council, will speak to the Kenneth City Town Council
When: 7:30 tonight
Where: Community Hall, 4600 58th St. N.
For Information: Call 544-6655.
Press arrow to return to top of page
Commissioners
say they'll sue if they don't recoup money lost when cities annexed chunks of
the district.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 22, 2001
Commissioners say they'll sue if they
don't recoup money lost when cities annexed chunks of the district.
