Gulfport Seeks to Balance Growth with Character
By Laura Fries
When the April 9 letter came, Mary O'Malley's husband was afraid to tell her what it said. Six months prior, O'Malley had taken the plunge and opened her own dog grooming business in Gulfport. Fifteen thousand dollars later, she found herself evicted with kindness: with a letter offering her $500 per month for the remainder of her lease term. The building that housed Reef Dog had been sold to a new owner, who had his own plans for the corner of Beach Boulevard and 29th Avenue. O'Malley was out of luck.
The building that housed O'Malley's small surf-themed pooch parlor had played host to a score of other small businesses, whose empty storefronts now bear signs advertising the upcoming restaurant and retail center that the new owner hopes to build. The glass-blowing shop and the photography studio are gone, and the Laundromat next door is planning a move of its own to a house across the street.
AGNI Fortune, Inc., bought the property, explains Gary Klenke, vice president, because it appreciated the character of Gulfport. Plans submitted to the City Council show that AGNI plans to include a restaurant, bar, bistro and retail shops within the façade of the historical 1920s Spanish-style building. Klenke declined to give a reason why the tenants were evicted, citing confidentiality, but O'Malley believes it was a necessary move for a building that was aiming for a more upscale crowd.
As luck would have it, Reef Dog isn't going very far at all. Upon hearing of O'Malley's plight, a neighboring landlord offered her a space in his own building, with lower rent, no utilities and a long-term lease. She was in tears, but she accepted the offer. O'Malley, a freckled redhead whose mascara-ed eyes crinkle up when she talks about her business, calculates that she will lose about $5,000 in the move. But she is taking the development in stride. "I guess I should be really angry," she says thoughtfully, "I should be really angry. But when I look at the big picture, I am not the bigger picture."
Keeping Gulfport's Character
The scenario is a common one in Gulfport, as this sleepy waterfront community struggles to strike a balance between the quirky neighborhoods that have defined it and the needs of the newcomers who have adopted the funky village as their hometown—and are changing it. In many cases, zoning laws and building ordinances are all that stand in the way of Gulfport imitating its Pass-A-Grille neighbors. Residents may chatter about the restaurant on Beach Boulevard and a housing development named Ronal Park, but not all change in the city is considered controversial. The city is about to dedicate a neighborhood center on 49th Street, a tangible symbol of the positive aspects of redevelopment.
Progress is welcome, many residents say, just as long as the character of the town remains the same: a funky mix of spruced-up bungalows, tract houses, and mobile homes, in every color of the rainbow. It's when developers dismiss the fundamental diversity of Gulfport life that things get heated.
Ronal Investments made that mistake when planning its new subdivision of homes, to be built on a 1.47 acre plot of land on 26th Avenue, between 53rd and 54th streets. The development, Ronal Park, will contain eight "McMansions"—maximum-sized beige houses built in close proximity on small lots. Each home will reflect a self-described blend of "Queen Anne, Colonial and Mediterranean" styles.
Gulfport couldn't be more upset.
Ronal Investments had initially planned to build six homes on the site; it later changed the number to eight. This request was not recommended by the Planning and Zoning Board, was heavily protested by 15 of 18 attendees at the March City Council meeting discussing the change, and the subject of an oppositional op-ed in the local community newspaper, The Gabber. But what the naysayers aren't remembering, points out Planning Supervisor Susanne Hicks, is that the Ronal homes are replacing a tract of 11 ancient duplexes—and that Ronal is reducing the density of the site, not increasing it.
Small-Business Worries
With Ronal Park, city officials were left frustrated that there were no laws on the books to expressly prohibit "McMansions" from taking over the city. While some in the community are calling for the establishment of an architectural review board to approve development, others fear that the board itself could become a problem, limiting the character that Gulfport prides itself on. In the end, City Manager Tom Brobeil believes, the solution is to start a neighborhood process, in which codes could be developed that reflected their specific community. In the meantime, he'd like to see a series of zoning ordinances passed that directly prohibit the type of buildings residents don't want being built in their community.
Things are more complicated when it comes to the encroachment of larger businesses on the small. The simple truth is that there are very few areas of town zoned for commerce: the L-shaped corridor of Gulfport Boulevard and 49th Street, and the Waterfront area, which runs down Beach Boulevard and Shore Boulevard. An entrepreneur hoping to open a business near the water would be forced to locate in the Waterfront area, where there are few open lots. Exacerbating the issue, Hicks says, is the fact that most properties in Gulfport are small plots owned by individual landowners. Purchasing enough land to build a business would be a significant undertaking.
The Question
Gulfport is home to a bright orange, lime and yellow house nicknamed the "Pineapple House" and the not-so-fancy Boca Ciega Yacht Club. Each have a place in the varied community, but the question remains whether McMansions and upscale businesses belong here too. Finances play a large role.
Spec sheets for the Ronal Park homes indicate that the homes will be sold for $445,000. The relatively high price could increase the profile of the city, essentially pricing out many of the lower-income residents who rent homes in the community. The expectations for city services, Brobeil says, could increase with higher-income citizens, who might want the city to pay more attention to cosmetic details in drainage systems and streets.
Along Beach Boulevard, Jan Dutton of the Small Adventures bookstore theorizes that an upscale business along her street could increase the rents for neighboring businesses, who might be forced to relocate. Underneath the fears about money, community members fear that there won't be any place left for the risk-takers who breathed life back into sleepy Gulfport to begin with.
Addressing the Fears
They are all reasonable fears, admits City Manager Brobeil. Just seven months into the job, he is already struggling with development issues he had hoped would come later down the line. While stemming the flow of unwanted progress, city officials are working to revitalize core areas of the town.
And so, at 11 a.m. on July 3, the city will christen the Gulfport Neighborhood Center. Located on 49th Street and 16th Avenue, the new center will house offices for police and city services, and provide a public meeting hall.
The community space, seven years in the making, is a tangible result of the ongoing redevelopment plan along the 49th Street corridor. Gulfport owns the west side of the street, Planning Supervisor Hicks relates, while St. Petersburg owns the east side. The project, which focused on improving the appearance, business usage and safety of the area, went ahead without the cooperation of the larger municipality, which didn't consider the area a priority. The dedication of this new center, Hicks says, is the realization of community effort over obstacles: encroaching crime in the area, a lack of funding and the difficulty of finding a location. The dedication ceremony will be small but significant for the leaders who fought to make it a reality.
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For dates and times of future Gulfport zoning meetings and other information about the city, visit http://www.ci.gulfport.fl.us.
Should you decide to go, orient yourself by the cyan blue flags that flap on the west side of 49th Street, indicating that you've entered the limits of the small village. They feature a white sailboat against a red sun, and read "Gulfport WELCOME."
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