Albert Whitted is in danger of extinction once again.
Mayor Rick Kriseman told the Tampa Bay Times that he doesn’t feel the airport is the best use of the waterfront land. The city of St. Petersburg is drafting a new Downtown Waterfront Master Plan, with adoption goal of July 1, 2015.
Buildings along the southwestern portion of the facility and near Bayboro Harbor have a height restriction imposed on them to allow airplanes to safely land. Among these facilities are Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, USF St Petersburg and the Poynter Institute.
Since the airport first opened in 1928, various organizations and businesses have called for a better use of the waterfront land. A local investment company wanted to turn the site into industrial wharves in 1935, The St. Petersburg Times led a major campaign to remove the facility in 1940, and St. Petersburg’s own city manager tried to develop the site in 1958. In 1982, a city council subcommittee called for splitting the land between a new convention center and USFSP.
In 2003, Albert Whitted’s future appear to be the darkest. In what was sure to have been the end of the airport, a referendum on the Nov. 2003 ballot would have called for the complete removal of aviation facilities with the land going to a new park and mixed-use development.
USFSP even got in on the issue; they wanted runway 6/24, the east-west runway, to close so that taller buildings could be constructed.
Then-Mayor Rick Baker floated an idea that would have called for the expansion of north-south runway 18/36 and closure of the east-west runway. This would open enough room for some additional development while still allowing for aviation. The compromise would have left pilots with a far shorter runway and developers not enough land for useful development.
Election day in 2003 saw the largest municipal voter turnout since the early 1950s. While 15,000 people had to sign a petition to allow a referendum to be added on the ballot regarding turning the airport into a park, only 7,800 actually voted for it. Over 25,000 people voted in favor of keeping the airport open downtown with funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The only city district that did not have a majority vote to keep the airport was located directly southwest of the facility, where Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, USFSP, and Bayboro Harbor residents wanted larger buildings.
With the approval of the 2003 referendum to keep Albert Whitted open, the airport also received funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. This is a 20-year grant that is scheduled to run out in 2023, with only nine years remaining.
General and private aviation in this country has taken a hit since the Sept. 11 attacks more than 13 years ago. All it would take to close the airport once more would be another voter referendum.
