St. Pete begins process to build a pathway for Live Local Act
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 28, 2023

St. Petersburg has begun the process of creating a pathway for developers to take advantage of the new Live Local Act.

On Thursday, the St. Petersburg City Council, meeting as the Committee of the Whole, listened to updates from city staff on what rights the city still has under the new law, which removes many local zoning, density, and building height restrictions and streamlines the process for the developments. The Council then shared recommendations about how it wants to see the law enacted in the city.

The Live Local Act went into effect July 1 and provides $711 million to fund affordable housing initiatives. The local authority is preempted on standards regarding use, height, and density; however, other state and local laws still apply.

Amy Foster, housing and neighborhood services administrator, told council members that developers have been reaching out to the city to express they were “ready to build” under the Live Local Act.

“We are holding people at the door until y’all make these decisions and we get an ordinance to council for a process,” Foster said.

While the city is enthusiastic about many of the changes, Foster said it still wants to ensure it can secure lower-income units in projects. While the Council said it is willing to do what is needed to create the pathway — as is required by law — its members are frustrated over having power stripped away and fear what the impact would be on neighborhoods near eligible properties.

With the new legislation, the door has effectively been thrown open to allow for residential projects to be built on land that is zoned for commercial, industrial and mixed-use as long as the developer is providing at least 40% of units to be set aside for affordable housing. For mixed-use residential projects, at least 65% of the total square footage must be used for residential purposes.

The law says that the highest density allowed on any land in the city or county for residential developments must be allowed for proposed projects. The city must also allow the highest currently permitted height for commercial or residential developments within one mile of the proposed development or three stories, whichever is higher.

Hypothetically this could result in a multi-story apartment tower being placed in a neighborhood that hasn’t traditionally approved developments of that size if a qualifying parcel exists.

While, in many ways, the city’s hands are tied, there are still methods to keep some order as projects are proposed. The city still has the right to enforce parking standards and requirements like setbacks for any project to lessen the impact on surrounding neighborhoods.

Another fear — which was recently brought front-and-center during the decision to approve the redevelopment of the former Raytheon site — is that the new law will result in fewer than 80% of area median income units being built as it will only require developers to set aside units for 120% AMI.

In 2021, St. Pete became the first city in Florida to create an ordinance that helped developers qualify for House Bill 1339 — which passed in 2020. Under St. Pete’s pathway, developers had to set aside 30% of the units as affordable housing — with at least 50% of those units reserved for those making at or below 80% area AMI.

The city may, as a result, amend the standards for the 30% affordable unit projects to entice more developers to take that pathway instead. Some of those changes could be streamlining the process so they don’t have to go before the Council and adding a process that if a developer were to appeal a rejected project, it would go before the Council for an appeal.

City Council fully supported exploring those changes.

City staff also suggested reducing or eliminating the five-acre minimum for projects on industrial sites and reducing or eliminating the 60-unit minimum for industrial sites.

Some members of the Council were willing to make those changes, while others expressed hesitations.

Staff said it would take Council’s suggestions and return soon with proposed changes.