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Forward Pinellas presents case for Tampa Bay regional MPO; council hears timeline and concerns
Summary
Forward Pinellas presented a multi-county plan to merge three MPOs into a single Tampa Bay regional MPO. The executive described benefits for regional funding and transit-housing coordination, proposed a 25-member governing board and outlined a phased timeline; councilmembers asked about land-use authority and representation for St. Petersburg and smaller cities.
Forward Pinellas officials told the St. Petersburg City Council on Feb. 12 that a proposed merger of the Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) could improve the region's competitiveness for discretionary transportation funding and better align housing and transit policy.
"I've come around to believe that a merger is in the Tampa Bay region's best interest," the Forward Pinellas representative said, calling the change a way to "scale up so that we can realize the full possibility of a region that's adding close to 2,000,000 people over the next 20 to 25 years." He described a planning process that must satisfy federal and Florida statutory requirements…
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