A League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area survey about plans for the Historic Gas Plant District and a new Tampa Bay Rays baseball stadium found that many people are concerned the city is getting a bad deal.
The organization sent a survey out to about 32,000 registered voters in the city and got nearly 800 responses — an approximate 2% response rate.
The League's Robin Davidov said her group worked with professors from the University of North Florida to come up with the survey questions and spoke with economic experts about the deal.
“And one economist said, 'You know what, the city would be better off building a Macy's, because you would have more jobs, more income, and more property tax.' That's how bad these deals are," Davidov said.
The group discovered after reviewing similar plans nationwide involving new stadiums and urban development that most cities that reached agreements with baseball or football franchises ended up getting a bad deal.
"And the reason is because the teams say to the city, 'If you don't give us everything we want, we will leave, we will leave your city,'" Davidov said. "And cities are in a panic and and then get into these bad deals."
One of the major issues survey respondents had is with the affordable housing projections in the Hines-Rays proposal. Current terms say the group is committed to building 1,200 units, but they can pay a buyout penalty of $25,000 per unit if they fail to meet that number.
Earlier this month, the St. Petersburg Community Benefits Advisory Committee voted unanimously to ask the city council to increase the penalty amount per unit to $150,000 for onsite housing and $175,000 for offsite housing.
The committee also wants the deadline moved up for the first 300 affordable housing units to be built by 2028, when the new Rays ballpark is scheduled to open, instead of 2030.
While it is not a scientific poll, Davidov said the survey was an opportunity for taxpayers to let their voices be heard — especially since they cannot vote on the deal.
"We were hoping that when the term sheet came out, the city of St. Petersburg would have a very good deal. But we were very disappointed because it's not only a bad deal, it's probably one of the worst deals that we even looked at," she said.
She added that many respondents would rather see their money go towards addressing public needs and essential services rather than the stadium and redevelopment plan.
The St. Petersburg City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May.
