ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A rejected plan to put a massive art structure near the new St. Pete pier is getting a second chance. City council members will vote on a new revised plan to move the artwork to a second location.
- St. Pete pier artwork plan revised
- New location set for Dolphin parking lot
- City council to vote on new location
"It's not going on Spa Beach Park anywhere, it's not touching any part of Spa Beach Park. And it's closer to the activity zone of the pier," St. Pete City Architect Raul Quintana said.
Initial plans to install the Janet Echelman piece over Spa Beach raised criticism from some park preservationists concerned about developing natural green space. Those concerns led council members last month to vote down the multi-million dollar art project unless changes were made.
The original plan called for the art installment to go on Spa Beach. Now the revised plan calls for it to be moved over to the Dolphin parking lot.
In a statement released to Spectrum Bay News 9, Waterfront Park Foundation Board Member Phil Graham said:
"It is a compromise location that more members will be comfortable with," Quintana said.
City planners said compromise has always been the key feature when it comes to building the new pier.
"We know that there's some redesign involved. We know that there's still a long way to go. We gotta make sure that it does fit exactly the way we want it to, but all indications are that it will. And I think that it's even a better site," Quintana added.
More than a million and a half dollars in private money has been raised to commission the artwork. The city council will decided Thursday whether to approve the one million dollars for the infrastructure to hold the artwork.