By David DeCamp, Times Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2011
SEMINOLE — For a second year, Pinellas County lawmakers have blessed a bill limiting annexation in East Lake — setting off another spat with a city.
Despite outcries from neighboring Oldsmar officials, lawmakers approved the bill in a 10-0 vote at a legislative delegation hearing Friday. Even after softening the bill with a 2021 sunset clause, city officials and the bill's sponsor, Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Tarpon Springs, left steamed.
"We don't know what the delegation is trying to solve," Oldsmar Mayor Jim Ronecker said.
The bill is modeled after the "all or nothing" legislation passed in 2009 for Tierra Verde, where St. Petersburg annexed 18 acres that are still being disputed.
The bill would require a city to annex all of the East Lake area, which has about 33,000 residents. Voters would have a final say before the annexation ...