Westminster Heights Neighborhood Association

NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN 2007-10

Remaining items in the Plan

Further improvement of 55th St. access to
the Pinellas Trail

Purchase of vacant lot at 4th Ave. and 52nd St.
and installation of a children's playground

Completion of this work, which was included in the Neighborhood Plan, will represent a major, multi-year achievement for Philip Harris, Neighborhood Planner, City of St. Petersburg, under the direction of Susan Ajoc, and their associates in other City departments. We are grateful to them all for their hard work and dedication.

September 2010
Installing additional bollards on 55th St. between 6th Ave. S. and the Pinellas Trail

Done by the City of St. Petersburg with volunteers from Westminster Heights
and elsewhere as a project of CareFest 2010.

April 2010
Installing sidewalk on 55th St. and planting crepe myrtles

January 2010
Installing improved access to Pinellas Trail on 6th Ave.

Sept. 2009
Installing bollards on 55th St (CareFest)

May 2009
64 No Parking signs installed on streets and avenues

April 2009
Central medians installed on 5th Ave

March 2009
New Westminster Heights signs

1st Ave. S. at 58th St.

1st Ave. S. at 55th St.

49th St. at Central Ave.

49th St. at 6th Ave S.

Old sign New sign

A fifth, larger sign will be erected later on a future traffic median in 5th Ave. S. at 49th St.

Construction of eight traffic medians in 5th Ave. S. – no dates yet.

A few sidewalks have been repaired. The contract for continued sidewalk repair and filling in of small gaps has been put out for rebid. Due to budget constraints, no sidewalk will be build where an entire block does not already have a sidewalk.

Erection of No Parking signs – no dates yet. A new map of sign locations has been supplied, download here. However, this shows placement of 70 signs, and the number has been cut to 28 due to budget constraints. New map since received.

NO FUNDS AVAILABLE for extending the 55th St fence south to the Pinellas Trail or north to 1st St. S. Traffic is now crossing the grass verge at both ends, causing new erosion.

North end of new fence at 4th Ave. S.

South end of new fence at Pinellas Trail

March 2009

1. Fence on 55th St.

A very elegant 3' chain-link fence coated with black plastic has now been installed at the side of 55th St. bordering the Royal Palm Cemetery, stretching from just short of the Pinellas Trail up to the masonry gate structure at 4th Ave. S. Vandals bent 3 of the posts during construction, but they are all now set in concrete. Purpose is to address what has always been the number one complaint of Westminster Heights residents at Neighborhood Plan meetings: to prevent traffic from taking a short cut across the Cemetery from 5th Ave. S. to 58th St., and destroying the grass at the perimeter in the process. Construction cost was approx. $5,900, and unfortunately there were no funds to extend the fence from 4th Ave. up to 1st Ave., so violators are urged not to take advantage of this by crossing the grass further up. Please report tag numbers of any vehicles doing this.

No longer will rogue drivers destroy the grass bordering 55th St., causing a quagmire in wet weather. The Cemetery owners have
been asked to replace the grass and install sprinklers.. From the City, Philip Harris, Neighborhood Planner, and Elean Cushnie, Public Response Dept., visit the site before giving final approval for fence construction to begin.

Before After

2. Sidewalk repair and construction

For previously posted pictures, see here. Note that funds available cover only repairs and filling in gaps in sidewalks when other houses in the block have a sidewalk. There are no funds for adding new sidewalks where none exist.

3. Traffic Medians in 5th Ave. S.

Traffic medians planted with attractive bushes and other plants will be erected at intervals down the middle of 5th Ave. S. to deter speeding, while preserving the historic character of the brick road.

4. Westminster Heights signage

Signs will be erected at 4 entry points to Westminster Heights at a total cost of approx. $2,900. (For a resident's comment on this, see our Recent News page.)

5. No Parking

A total of 70 No Parking signs will be erected to assist in achieving compliance with the existing below. To avoid getting a ticket, please be sure never to park on the 'wrong' side of a narrow street (all streets except 5th Ave. S.) even if it is outside your own house, and when parking on the 'right' side of the street, always park in the direction of the traffic flow. And remember that parking partly on grass at the edge of the road is an offence called 'tree-line parking', and parking wholly on grass or a non-solid surface in your front yard is a code violation.

Sec. 26-140. Parking on narrow streets and avenues.
No person shall park any vehicle on the west side of streets nor on the north side of avenues where the paving is 28 feet in width or less, where signs are erected giving notice thereof.
(Code 1973, § 27-74; Ord. No. 1195-F, § 4, 9-6-90)

Sec. 26-141. Standing or parking on one-way streets or roadways.
(a) When appropriate signs are erected giving notice thereof, no person shall stand or park a vehicle upon the left-hand side of any one-way street in violation of any such sign.
(b) In the event a street includes two or more separate roadways and traffic is restricted to one direction upon any such roadway, no person shall stand or park a vehicle upon the left-hand side of a one-way roadway unless signs are erected to permit such standing or parking or unless the roadway is 28 feet in width or less, then such parking shall be as provided in Section 26-140.
(Code 1973, § 27-75)

6. Pinellas Trail

Trail access will be improved. Check back for more details.

February 2009
Sidewalk improvement

Pictures 1 - 3 above by R Ali Montsho

Nov. 18, 2008
Westminster Heights Neighborhood Plan was approved by City Council

Download approved plan

City Council meeting Susan Ajoc, Director of Neighborhood Partnerships,
and Philip Harris, Neighborhood Planner

Council Member Wengay M. Newton Sr. voted in favor Supporters from the Neighborhood Association

Read and print the draft plan here (PDF):
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

Moderator:
Philip C. Harris, MBA, Neighborhood Planner
Neighborhood Partnership Department

Attended by:
Wengay M. Newton, Sr., City Council Member, District 7
Dave Metz, Deputy Mayor
6 City representatives
12 residents of Westminster Heights

The draft plan was approved in outline, and the City will report back in one month
with a detailed implementation plan.

Pictures from the Meeting

The City of St. Petersburg Neighborhood Plan for Westminster Heights is still under development and a presentation to the Association is projected for some time in November 2007, the City planners tell us.

This is the Plan that was supposed to be ready in October. Still, with the average turnout for the public meetings that led up to it a dismal six people or so, who are we to complain?

Meanwhile people continue to drive from the end on 5th Ave. South onto the cemetery, around the barricade erected by the City. This barricade was erected supposedly to address our number one traffic concern identified at these meetings, and has proved worse than useless, as there are now two tracks over the grass instead of one.

Latest news Jan. 15 2008: Plan still not received from the City.

From Philip C. Harris, MBA
Neighborhood Planner, Neighborhood Partnership Department
City of St. Petersburg 2/4/08

We are starting back up! Westminster Heights meeting will be
Thurs. Feb. 21.

Latest news Mar. 14 2008: No news.

Latest news Apr. 14 2008: Still no news of the Plan.

From Gloria Shingles, President
6/15/08

We have been told that the City will present to us their Neighborhood Plan for Westminster Heights in July 2008.

FIFTH AND FINAL SESSION

Due to City budget cuts, remaining meetings to provide input to the plan have been eliminated in order to try to spend the $100,000 allocated before it is eliminated in the current round of City budget cuts. This was the last meeting. The city planners will produce a draft plan for review in October.

Once again attendance was disappointing – only 7 households represented, including late arrivals, out of about 500, and no representatives at all of the business community.

Infinity with tag X01 GKC is one of many violators

Main topic was how to create a more effective barrier to prevent people from taking short cuts over the cemetery perimeter. Trees, bushes, and planters were discussed. All agreed the warning signs erected recently have not reduced the problem.

Existing Westminster Heights sign

One member wanted larger and more artistic signs at the entrances to Westminster Heights, using customized sculpture like that used downtown between BayWalk and the adjacent parking lot. Another felt the existing signs, erected earlier this year, are adequate, given the limited Neighborhood Plan funds available.

The measurement of traffic flow along 5th Ave. S. will begin after schools start. If the flow is not enough to enable the City to implement the anti-speeding proposals discussed at the last meeting immediately, Neighborhood Plan funds may be used to pay for installing the proposed traffic islands.

It was announced that the south side of 1st Ave. S. will be changed from Residential Zoning to Commercial Zoning effective next week. Existing residents will of course be allowed to stay there, but may find adjacent properties converted to business use.

FOURTH SESSION

Minutes have not yet been received at the website. Attendance was the lowest ever - only 5 households represented. The City officials say that apathy on this scale is typical at pre-planning meetings, then residents object when the plan is published.

TRAFFIC
Additional agenda item postponed from Association Monthly Meeting

Michael Frederick, Manager Neighborhood Transportation Department of Transportation & Parking, City of St. Pete presented a first review of the new neighborhood traffic plan. It was agreed the worst problem was speeding on 5th Ave. S. The preferred solution was to install traffic islands at 3 points along the street (planted with trees.) There would be no parking next to these islands and for 150 feet before and after.

Second priority problem was identified as speeding on 4th Ave. S. The continuing menace of vehicles being driven over the grass into Royal Palm Cemetery at the 55th St. end of 5th Ave. was also raised again. Apparently a cemetery employee has also been observed doing this.

See handouts on Traffic Study here:
Page 1 | Page 2

THIRD SESSION

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