The City of Largo's Community Development Department is honored to have received the award for "Best Plan, Report, or Study" for the Largo Tri-City Special Area Plan on November 18th, 2021, through the American Planning Association’s Suncoast Section. The Tri-City Special Area Plan was adopted by Ordinance in December of 2020 and became the City’s third activity center. The plan is a collective effort between City staff, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Forward Pinellas, Pinellas County, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, Florida Department of Transportation, residents, and businesses. The success in the development of the plan is due to the extensive outreach and engagement conducted to allow City staff, stakeholders, and public input through visioning workshops, stakeholder meetings, a community forum, an online survey, and an interview with the Central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce.
The Tri-City area encompasses 825 acres and is centered at two primary corridors, US Highway 19, and Eastbay Drive/Roosevelt Boulevard. The area serves as a central hub to three adjacent regional connections; Gateway area, St. Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport, and Clearwater. In March of 2021, the new standards to support the plan were adopted into the Comprehensive Development Code. These standards work to create an attractive, sustainable, and economically vital urban destination that incorporates a higher degree of mixed uses, density, and accessibility to multiple modes of transportation (walking, biking, driving, and transit).
In addition to incorporating new standards of development, the plan also focuses on increasing housing stock, green space, civic spaces, and encouraging economic development in the Tri-City Area. To see the award-winning plan, visit Largo.com/SAP.
