St. Pete’s Mayor Welch selected ‘The Burg Bid’ for developing the Gas Plant District, aka Tropicana Field and surrounds. Putting aside all of the drama and issues throughout the whole process, we are wondering how sustainable and environmentally responsible this huge undertaking will be.
The plan’s prioritizes a focus on reintegrating neighborhoods into the stadium location. In the 1970s and 80s, interstate infrastructure and construction sliced up a Black community. Construction of the stadium in the 90s finalized the severance.
We are looking at what is actual environmental good, and what is just marketing.
FromThe Burg’s plan::
St. Petersburg’s waterfront setting and leadership in climate adaptation call for a resilient, forward looking design approach. Guided by the City’s Integrated Sustainability Action Plan (ISAP), Resilience Action Plan, and Imagine 2040 Comprehensive Plan, the district integrates strategies that protect critical infrastructure, support community continuity, and promote long term environmental stewardship.
The Burg proposal lists environmental factors as part of their executive summary:
Resilience and Sustainability: Design addresses sea-level rise, storm surge, flood risk, and long-term environmental
stewardship.
The Burg plan shows robust lists of people working on the effort, and the nonprofits and community organizations they have partnered with. Unfortunately, no environmental organizations appear on that list or as consultants. However, they also created a visionary panel, and invited Keep Pinellas Beautiful to that 21 organization panel. A snapshot of the proposal to gauge priorities:
- Resilience appears 22 times.
- Sustainability has 7 mentions.
- Opportunity shows up 31 times.
- Community, 132 times.
What is the environmental centerpiece?
Restoring Booker Creek is the big environmental promise that the developers make. The original creek diagonally bisects the stadium site, flowing from the northwest part southeast to empty in Bayboro Harbor by USFSP. They propose restoring the creek, and building nine bridges over it (what they have said it historically held), allowing more pedestrian traffic.
The Burg group is not wrong about the history of Booker Creek. In a deeply segregated Southern City, the Black community couldn’t enjoy the beaches the ways Whites could. Booker Creek was where Black families could swim, crab, and fish. Restoring the creek and letting nature take back over will help the city by filtering waters before they reach the bay, and creating a green swath through the area.
In what other ways are they bringing sustainability and resilience to the project?
The Burg proposes to be more sustainable is through ‘Multimodal Connectivity & Regional Access’. This can be brought about by creating a walkable area through the development. They also propose working with the PSTA (Pinellas public transit). This part of the proposal is pretty fuzzy, using the idea that
Through coordination with PSTA and a focus on first-mile/last-mile solutions, the district will help bridge existing
gaps in access.
The structures in the plan will address climate risks such as flooding, storms, hurricanes, and sea level rise through thoughtful elevation, resilient materials, and integrated landscape systems that manage stormwater, reduce erosion, and enhance environmental performance.
There are some good commitments in the proposal. They state they will build with blue-green roofs and use renewable energy systems. They also are looking at using some good environmental practices for the public and outdoor spaces. Just a note – Sea Us Rise started a petition to require net zero redevelopment of the Gas Plant District. That didn’t get the traction we hoped for.
Below you can see the Sustainability proposal for the site.
What do you think?
It looks like, if the developers follow through on their proposal, that there will be some good environmental ideas and practices in developing the Gas Plant site. Nothing big or important or groundbreaking. Pity, for the first city in Florida to receive the “Green City’ designation, to do so little for the environment on such a big scale.
