St. Pete Begins Rezoning Of Al Lang Field To Parkland

The St. Petersburg City Council voted 7-1 Thursday to begin the process of rezoning Progress Energy Park as downtown parkland but said the move would not prevent the Tampa Bay Rays from building a ballpark on the waterfront site.

Since the Rays abandoned their push for a Nov. 4 referendum on a $450 million stadium at their Progress Energy Park spring-training site, Al Lang Field, most council members said it was time to follow through on what a majority of residents said they wanted last year.

The action doesn't mean making green space of Al Lang Field, which the Rays will vacate when they begin playing spring-training games in Port Charlotte in 2009.

In fact, council members stressed their vote would not preclude the Rays from building a new ballpark there - if that's what city voters and a new baseball coalition studying alternative stadium sites ultimately decide.

"My intention is not to promote an anti-stadium agenda," said council member Jeff Danner, who introduced the measure. "I think this is what people wanted."

Rays representatives could not be reached for comment on the council's action.

When the council overhauled the city's land development regulations in August, it carved out Al Lang at the urging of staff members who said they wanted to keep their options open for the site.

Then news broke in November that the Rays planned to build an open-air, 34,000-seat ballpark at Al Lang Field and to redevelop the 86-acre Tropicana Field site.

"I think we heard loud and clear the citizens wanted council to make a statement on the Al Lang site," council Chairman James Bennett said. "We pulled back obviously to give due consideration to the Rays and their proposal. But I will be voting on this as a healing process."

Council member Wengay Newton cast the dissenting vote. Newton said the council should delay any action on the park until the baseball coalition finishes its work, a process that could take at least a year.

"To take anything off the table, I think, would be shortsighted and unfair," Newton said.

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampa