St. Pete city council approves church housing project despite concerns from neighbors
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After hours of public comments on Thursday night, the St. Petersburg city council approved a church’s affordable housing plan.
Disston Heights neighbors wanted answers Thursday about who would be moving into proposed housing on church property after concerns arose over clarity in the developer’s application.
Palm Lake Christian Church is working with Newstar Development to propose building 72 low-income over three stories as affordable housing on its property in St. Petersburg.
"The funding that we’ve targeted initially is a low-income housing tax credit program that provides housing for disabled residents," said Brian Evjen, the president of Newstar Development.
Residents lined up on Thursday to voice concerns about the affordable housing project.
More than 100 residents signed up to speak at St. Pete city council’s public hearing meeting Thursday to address several concerns including density, traffic and safety.
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"They’re proposing to build a three-story structure which I don’t want in the neighborhood because most of our neighborhood is one story, and it’s not going to fit in," said Paul Weinberg, a resident of Disston Heights neighborhood.
The application to the city includes a statute for housing, and the application selected people with disabling conditions.
"Well, you have a few different options in the funding application to select your definition of disabling conditions and the one we have identified and committed to the church that we will select is essentially just a physical disability that impairs mobility for a resident," said Evjen.
Aerial view of where the proposed housing project would sit.
But neighbor after neighbor voiced concerns over the "disabling concerns."
"So we looked into it and disabling conditions can mean a lot of different things, including people with substance use issues, people with severe mental health issues," said Weinberg.
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Many neighbors said they have concerns about housing people with substance abuse issues or mental illness due to the lack of supportive services in the neighborhood and the proximity to a nearby elementary school.
"We need to know what is going to go on there, what they’re trying to put in there, the people that they’re trying to put in there, the people that they’re trying to take care of," said Randy Bryant, a Disston Heights resident. "We have no problem with taking care of people. But we’ve been presented with taking care of grandma, which it’s just not that."
Rendering of proposed affordable housing project.
On the other end of the pushback is the church. Palm Lake Christian Church said they met with the neighborhood to discuss the project.
"You choose which of the targeted populations that you will be using, and I think that’s where the misinformation or maybe just not understanding the process came through," said Andrea Cate, the board chair of Palm Lake Christian Church. "It didn’t seem to matter how many times we said we are actually going with physically disabling conditions, they have accused us of being not transparent. So my reply to that is just because you are not believing us in what we’re saying doesn’t mean we haven’t been transparent."
Church leaders said they wanted to give options in the city’s housing crisis, especially for seniors. But neighbors and St. Pete council member Gina Driscoll said during the meeting there was a lack of communication on the project with the community.
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"They’ve been all over the board on who exactly is going to be housed in this project they’re putting in the neighborhood," said Bryant. "They’re going to change the direction of the neighborhood forever and that’s one of the other problems. Once it changes, the residents of our neighborhood have no recourse whatsoever if things go badly or in a different direction that’s not inclusive for our neighborhood."
Rendering of a unit that would be a part of the church's proposed affordable housing project.
The developer said they worked with neighbors for feedback on the plans. The church said the plan for low-income housing for seniors and the physically disabled lines up with its mission.
"Now is the best time to meet that need. We’ve done the research, and we’ve found there are five to eight-year waiting lists for people who are disabled or low-income seniors," said Cate. "This is a great opportunity to give to the community, to help the community, and be there to be the solution to this problem."
Some neighbors spoke in support of the housing plan at the meeting. The majority of the residents who made public comments said they support affordable housing as long as it fits the neighborhood.