ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A church can move forward with its plans to build affordable housing after a late-night vote by St. Petersburg's City Council after a marathon-length meeting.
Palm Lake Christian Church, located on 22nd Avenue North in the Disston Heights neighborhood, is seeking to build affordable housing for lower-income senior citizens and people with disabilities on its large property. It hopes to provide 86 units split between a 3-story residential building and 14 cottages.
Thursday night, in a public hearing about the proposal, roughly a hundred people signed up to speak — most of them against the idea.
Dozens of neighbors told council that the project would not mesh with its surroundings, a neighborhood which contains mostly single-family homes.
Some voiced concerns about traffic, but most were most concerned by the church’s plan to house people with “disabling conditions.”
According to state statute, the definition of a disabling condition is “a diagnosable substance abuse disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability, or the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions.”
Many of the neighbors were fearful that the housing project’s tenants could include people with severe mental illness or substance abuse problems, which could bring crime to the area. The church is also walking distance from Northwest Elementary School.
“People with serious mental illnesses should not be near children. Oh, but they will, because this development and the school playground will only be separated by a chain-link fence,” said Donna Osburn.
“And if you guys do vote this through, then it’s going to fall upon your heads if something does happen to those children,” Robert Kearney added later.
After multiple hours of similar comments, the development team working with the church offered a clarification. It said it will not seek tenants with those conditions. Instead, it plans to house low-income seniors and people with physical disabilities.
According to the team, a small number of homeless occupants would be housed in the 14 small cottages.
The team also clarified that anyone who lives in the apartments would have to pay rent and be subject to a criminal background screening.
While the bulk of the council chamber was filled with neighbors opposed to the plans, several showed up in support of Palm Lake Christian Church’s vision to provide more affordable housing to a vulnerable population.
“If not here, where? There are not many locations available in this area for such an entity to provide this option for us,” said Barbara Joia. “Should I be forced to live a great distance from my jobs, doctors, dentist, etc. because this area has become ill affordable for me?”
Multiple council members chided the church for a lack of effective communication with its neighbors and the nearby school, but others addressed the neighbors.
Both council members Brandi Gabbard Richie Floyd said they were bothered by some of the neighbors’ comments suggesting some people with disabilities were not welcome in Disston Heights.
Moments later, the Council approved the church’s application in a unanimous vote. The approval, however, comes with two conditions: the church's development team will have to host a public meeting with neighbors and request another meeting with the school before applying for permits.
The development was the second St. Petersburg's City Council approved under the authority of a new state law. Florida House Bill 1339, which was passed in 2020. It allows cities to expedite affordable housing developments in otherwise prohibited zoning districts.