Offstreet parking forum
I~
('I.t.... ~ -:7 t ."n ~ ,t4,
, .
I 4 . ~ ~
~" "I..
...;;
P,"'('!"'!!"" '1"(:)\"\.1"<1 " :".,'," ",'t!
\ .. '.. t ~ ;1
"
"\ ;.. \, ~ I
''', (., ' . ,~ ~"II t :
Sid~ .2B (2!~-2$) - contin}lod
rapidly as Cloarwater-. and to my gl'iaf I round out ,~hen they built
a parking lot~ next to me that ho cmnes out 12 ft.. l1earer thr3 street
than my building on the assumption that ho is going t.o g€!t away \.rith
a perpecual overnight garage out of' part of the city R/\l. the atT'eet~
and as a result of his ass .mpti ion, or tho laek of tll'.3 enforcement of'
the law as it now exists, my propsrliy is damaged at least ~5, 0"0 ~ Now
I aay to you that this whol(;l (iiscU~1si.on looks to me like the story 01'
tho bird (if you don't kn01t "lhat that bird is, it f s the bird
tha.t fIys backwards so he can see where he has been) but he seldom
sees where he is going; and in our situation if you are going to lay
. out Glear\iat,er as it should be, we must look ahoad, ilnd beyond the
shadow of a doubt, the planning and zoning that is p::....oposed here has
a tremendous amount~ of' merit _ There arc al"\'lays people who '!.'fill say I
'tIt. t S a fi.l1Gl thing to saddle the other fo11o"J with regulations but I
should be ex.empt on one pretext or another.H Now I Jon"t say there are
no hardships that will be encountered because of the ~ailure to do
what we propose no,... 10 or 2f1 years ago t because there certainly are,
but the longer you wait the greater degree of the h[~.rd5hip that will
exist and the more people whc \'1i11 hI: hur1~, or perhaps ruined D No'!."
I have stated that, just as you did, l~Ir", i.foderator, a few minutes ago,
about the situation on Coronado. It may become a state highl~y; and
regardless of ,-mat you gentlemen m1gJ1t want to do to prot.ect the build-
ings that are already there who are using this high~~y for a R/W you
will be helpless. \lith th~ new b~idge it is almost inevitable, I am
told.. Now \'lhy not protect the new innocent, unaware buyers who come
dOlin here and invest their monayo If you don1t they are going to
stop coming, and I think Clearwater wants to encourage the flow of
money int~ our city and construction in our city. Now, o~ COurS6t if
you caoft build so many units on your lot you may not get so much mon-
ey for some o~ these vacant lots; but why get too much money ror these
lots on 'the assumption that you can break the laws and park oU your
streets and ruin the man ",ho b'.lYs the sa lots, or buys t.hese bu ildings,
the ones that are bullt oJ NO\'J I think it is essentie.l to protect those
who have invested their money here \dth reasonable regulations as it
is to protect those who have buildings hel~ that don't conform ~rlth
reasonable regulations _ In other words, is there going to be a -- ---
placed on'the tnHn who is violating the regulat.ions? Is he to be per-.
petuated in his position, O~ is there soma protection for those who
have provided their parking off the hight.my in accordance with the la"'l?
l'low planning is a unive~sal thing throughou'~ the Unt t.ed 3tates. In
any well orga.nizad and \'18:11 operated city planning i::~ a lImustl1 and has
been for a number of years. I am amazed ~hat there is no protection
here--almost no protection (I wIll amend that)~-but the protection to
the degree which \'Ie have it to entiroly inadequ2tG ~ lind al t,hough this
may be too close to. election to properly analyze and perfect. 1;hH pro-"
posed) the proposals have started some c0r1:Jtructiv6, ;~hinking, and I
think \-Ie should folIo,,! through regardloss of the ti1n\~--take as much
time as is necessary--but by all means COffi0 up v.rith 30me adequato prc~"
taction for property investmGnts~
Znd Side 2B (24-2g)
--~-~_._,-,~---~-~---~-~.~~--
::..../~'
...........
~)
,
''"r:J
.,.. ~ .~~
Ul .I.;.~ \Jl'~:UIJ J,ll'/<; J..ilf}; .(\'<Jl'\WI - ,~:'.l. d~.T.d.,:J .1 ;'(.1111 C',.~(;u.l'd.i.nf:; ..
1.' ~1 ':'(' ,': 'I
~ ~'~~,J ~ ,1
Side 81 - 30+1
~~ol Iln tkillJ!: .. - ~.._--- - - ---. tha t. is tha t. th e pe rS(in whQ ha 8 alre n.dy pur-
n1laseotfl1s lot and plamJ tiO put. forty, t''lenty, fifteen, or \-IDa toyer
he thought he was going to put on that loc--the architects on our
Board have so advised that they could redeuign these motels so as
llot to limit and not make t.he o,mer redUCH the number of a.ntiicipated
units, and still pr ovido the off'stre ot parking. So I think that i't
may be a matter O.r an architect making a redesign of \~hat you. origi-
nally had in mind, but you will still be able to get, equally as many
units on your property and stiill prnvide offstreet parking. The ar-
chitects assure me t.hat such a plan is possible ~ It might not sui.i.
your particular aesthetic sanae as to \m.a. t~ type you ",ant l but it can
be done.
Bide Bl -30+15
Mr.. Beck:
r.tr. Hocierator, in view of Nr~ _ , statelOOnt':"---~-----my ovm
thinking is that definitely there is a need .for zon:i.ng and planning for
offst:reet' pal~king in a city that i.s growing like Clearwater is. \ie
have more ~han one problem in the city and I am only.going to concern
ll?-yselr l'lith one pha.se of it, and tha.t is that dealing \.r,}.th the Beach
and --~--------area. In that area we have a number of streets like
East 3hore Drive, Poinsett 1a) Bay 3splanade, .3ri~ht~'iater I Harnden 'Road,
perhaps Coronado) because I don't know thu t the ~tat.e Highl'lay Depart-
ment would necessarily have to.use Coronado.to get to the south end
or the island. Here you have roads that are devoted almost entirely
to motels, apartment motels. It ii quite a differeZlt cype o:f mot.el
operation from highway motels, or from motels even in a city like StQ
Petersburg. Perhaps the mistake was made when the city was first laid
out in, providing so much streets foI' such narrow strips of property
privately o~medv Between East Shore Drive and Poinsettia the building
line is only 10'-' ft. And if a property o\'mer of a, ":racant lot in that
area desires to build a mot(:!l on that lot under exi~:iting ordinances
which provide only a 30' entrance into parking space, he will consume
at least half of his property in order to be able to provide for access
and egress and parking facilities. NO\'I I am compleLcly out of' s~rm-
pathy with the statement made by the commissioner tltat you can.... u
change the design. I think this. is \1holly unreali3l~ic and ho does
not understand 1~he problem.. <. < . ~ .. . . flI know that .l..II"', Roberta is fami-
lia)," with the situ.ation that I am speaking of.'.. As _far as my O\...n opera-
tion is concerned, I have adequate offstr8st parking facilities, pro-
vided that this JOt ,...ide: entrance \\'ay is not .enf'oI'cnd. Ii' it is,
then I am unlut-1f'ul" I have h(~ard nnothsp stntement here--that is
tha t the se i1'ldi vidue.ls \I:ho are pre sently planning tc' build :1. motel, or.'
who contempla t.e building a motel: should. net bo p8m~ lizedGo providl:-7
less .facilities per :Jquare feet of property than ha::i bean pl"'ovided
by, those that are now in !:}xi~:: tenee" I contend .t.ha t. i~ho traffic pro-
blem \';111 not be any more SHl':i.ClUS on Clec.!"I'lat,er Bch.~..-.. ---than it is
currently.. -~---People are prone to cornEl :i.l~ thair a\.li~OlllObi18S and
park in their park'i.ng spaces maybe and nev(;.r gr::lt in :tt a~o.in for t\%
or tihree days. Another poj,nt...-that i~ tho Pl'"OvtsiOli that every mo-
tel should have a parking Sp8.Ctl f'or (~v~!T'r u.nit. is url n;al1st:ic J in that
rat,her a high p--3rCGntagf3 of CAtI' patrons cnm8 hel'e by plane or tr~ in
and never use an automobil('! :,!hilu they a:r.'(; h:.n'e: 'J:hl~l'e are a fenr who
on occas:l.on rent (them) 'but~ th'3 majority or those I have had) and
my neighbors have hadf have used an auton~bila very little. I think
lfle do need an ordi,nance \ but I think it neods far mor~e carel'ul study
than in indicated in this proposalu
..
....
(';'j." ~C'~~\l~;f- ''\''l'''.'~r~fL J~tl.)' L\".... ...
J..\.. . 10). ~.. " . ~.< .... f..... t.......... ... C...~ ... ~ ... ~ i.
l.'.,.{.,., "'J~' t,
~ .1... ~,.' '., 1 \...
~ {I . ~
'. I),:;\': _; i'
.~, t"i I r ' ~ ~'f
.. ~ i \ I' ~, ~ ; .~< .,
. '. ,...J \. I ;... ,jCJ
g~tf:!. Bl~&-, ~J'l+li (c(intinued)
I~ ~ 'rhunlc you for your comments"
i4ro Roberta: I just want to comment on what l~. Beck said about the
possibilIty of redesigning. Unless you have bean in the motel buei-
ness. you probably don't realize that your second floor accommoda-
tions, or possibly thu.d floor,without an elevator (and there is on-
ly one elevat.or on the beach) ar~ not as desirable.. Now I ha.ve t\JO-
story buildings) and I have no trouble at all renting the first floor.
And I have ha.d many people when I say, "I am sorry but I don't have .
a first floor accon~odationt but.r h~ve nice second floor accommoda-
tionsU, they VlOn't go up the steps; so you have to consider tha.t when
you consider possibility of redesigning and gotng up to make mora
ground space. It just won't \'lork out that "lay"
(Mr. Strang recognized t~. Nixon)
NIXON: I don't mID any hotels or any motels~. or any landt but I am
'Just' 'one of the majority and I kind 01' feel that if the rest of them
\'lere down .here tonight they would have a.rrived at the. same conclusion
that I have. You are proposing a great step here, and in order to
taka a step you must raise your foot, ffild I think \re are using that
foot to kick ourselves.
~ Thank you ~ 1.J1r. Nixon. \/e probably mO*-lt of us agree with you from
what I have heard here tonight. r do "lant to try :to keep as much order
as I can. Anybody.else want to propose a auestion.
,t.1r.. Smith (?) is recognized.. (His comments not decipherable") ....:~
;""Cj
. ' ......,..
s: For your information; I might enlighten you t.hat the City Com-
mission and the ~IIerchants Association has spent many hours on the
downtown pa~king situation and I think that within the next 30 days
that there will be considerable activity in that one item, plus'
in the next six months there \dll be considerably more activitYa I
am sure that you all will read about it in the paper--what you haven't
heard about all~ady.
3nd Side Bl - 30+15
~-~-------~-~~-~--~-----~--
, .
"
'. " '.:t
r'~-
z&P 9/27/60