PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — When you bring friends or family to the Tampa Bay Area, you’ll likely have them visit John’s Pass in Madeira Beach. City leaders say the long-term goal of one proposal on the table is to keep John's Pass Village viable.
This weekend, if you take a short walk through John’s Pass, you might have a hard time passing up all the food at your fingertips.
“I remember growing up going to the Seafood Festival,” said Dylan Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Marina.
The John’s Pass Seafood Festival is back again, bringing in hundreds of people and a big boom in business.
“John’s Pass, on average through an annual period, averages a little more than a million people visiting this area, and this weekend alone can sometimes bring in 100-150,000 people,” said Hubbard. “It’s a really big event, and it’s a great way to explore John’s Pass.”
It’s also a paradise many people are looking to protect.
John Hendricks, the Mayor of Madeira Beach, said this week city leaders advanced a proposal that would designate John’s Pass Village as an activity center.
“All we’re doing is trying to protect businesses that in the event of a catastrophe like what happened in Ft. Myers Beach and Sanibel, these business owners can rebuild,” said Hendricks. “The way things are written right now, they can’t do that.”
Hendricks explained a few purposes of the activity center plan are to establish standards to preserve and rebuild the existing character, uses, and density of John’s Pass Village in the event of a disaster, as well as reconcile existing land use inconsistencies in the city comprehensive plan and countywide standards.
The mayor said there are still a few more steps for this proposal, and it would need to go through the county and state for the green light.
“There are some areas where density is increased, but you’re still restricted by heights. You’re still restricted by the setbacks that you can build to,” said Hendricks.
“It’s because the county updated their codes,” said Hubbard. “If the city doesn’t change their code to match the county ordinances, if, say, a Hurricane Ian-type event happened here, we wouldn’t be able to rebuild Madeira Beach."
Hubbard weighed in on the plan.
“I’m just hoping and praying we can get this passed, and we can preserve and protect all of Madeira Beach,” said Hubbard.
The annual Seafood Festival runs through Sunday.
