St. Pete, Pinellas still at odds over Tierra Verde annexation
January 15, 2009 at 11:11 am by Wayne GarciaThey met for maybe 10 minutes on Wednesday, but St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials all but acknowledge it was perfunctory and that a court battle lies ahead in the dispute over the annexation of two commercial properties in Tierra Verde.
The St. Petersburg Times reports:
“There was not a lot of discussion,” said St. Petersburg economic development director Dave Goodwin. “There was just nothing there.”
The dispute centers on, what else, development. The two commercial properties, including the marina at the right, stand at the entryway to the 
island neighborhood. Their owners want to build bigger projects on the 28 acres than county development codes will allow. So they instead approached St. Petersburg, which will give them greater flexibility (read: density) to build. The rest of the island, all residential properties, opposed the annexation but had no vote in the matter.
St. Pete officials acknowledged to CL last year that the move is simply an effort to expand the city’s tax base.
