Overview
- In his State of the City address, Mayor Ken Welch said St. Petersburg will seek voter approval for a roughly $600 million general obligation bond to accelerate sewer, stormwater and neighborhood upgrades tied to the SPAR program and the federal Sunrise St. Pete partnership.
- Welch framed the bond as a way to speed resilience work highlighted by recent hurricanes without leaning solely on water and sewer rate hikes.
- On the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District, Welch noted development rights have returned to the city and said staff are working to incorporate a recent City Council call for added planning without pausing proposal reviews.
- Welch said he hopes a developer selection for the Gas Plant could occur by fall, though the timeline has been slowed slightly to account for the Council’s resolution.
- Addressing the Rays, Welch reiterated the city will not add funding to the abandoned stadium framework as the team explores Hillsborough options, and he launched his re-election bid the same day while acknowledging a missing-campaign-funds case referred to law enforcement and pushing back on state budget critiques.