ST. PETERSBURG — All the recent national buzz has presented the city with a make-or-break moment on its waterfront, a consultant told city leaders Thursday.
But the image of a city on the move could be stalled if the fractured, underutilized 7-mile stretch between Coffee Pot Bayou and Lassing Park isn't fixed.
"The ceiling is enormously high," said Pete Sechler, who presented the initial findings of AECOM, the global consulting firm hired by the city to craft a master plan. "But you're either getting better or getting worse."
The status update was presented to City Council and city planners in advance of public presentations the week of Nov. 10.
Many of the fixes are small-bore tweaks: Think more water fountains, for example.
"Right now, if you're pushing a stroller … if you're not running a marathon, it maybe doesn't quite meet your needs," Sechler said.
Shade would be nice, Council member Karl Nurse said, especially if the idea is to attract more pedestrians in a climate that is muggy for half the year.
In September, AECOM met with more than 400 residents in dozens of walking audits, community and stakeholder meetings, and solicited hundreds of more ideas online. The firm distilled that data in the past month.
In Thursday's meeting at City Hall, the consultants emphasized environmental protection, enhancing public access and walkability and better connecting northern and southern segments to each other and to the rest of the city.
A big part of solving the puzzle will be rethinking the role of vehicles.
Orlando, which recently passed St. Petersburg in population, will open a downtown concert space without any parking, Sechler said.
That kind of bold move is what St. Petersburg needs, Council member Darden Rice said.
"That's the piece that is going to drive everything else — no pun intended," she said.
Getting people to the waterfront and moving them from one point to another would be helped if Greenlight Pinellas is approved by voters Nov. 4, Sechler said.
"It's a transformative ingredient to this stew," he said.
The history of the doomed Lens project was on Council member Charlie Gerdes' mind. Engaged, civic-minded residents want walkability. But when the public starts paying attention, the approach can backfire: "What are you talking about? I gotta walk?" Gerdes quipped.
It's not all about leisure, the consultants said. Parts of the waterfront could create jobs and tax revenue.
The port and Albert Whitted Airport are strengths, Sechler said. Better collaboration between them and with the University of South Florida St. Petersburg could trigger economic development on the water.
"Other cities are begging for that and you have it," Sechler said.
Council member Amy Foster said she wanted the consultants to tweak the plan by making it relevant to residents who have long been wary of the waterfront because of its reputation as being a playground of the wealthy.
"A lot of people … are disconnected from the plan because they feel it's not for them," Foster said.