Pinellas County's homeless may have to a wait just a little bit longer for a midcounty shelter.

Rumors have been flying all week, but Sarah Snyder, executive director of the Pinellas County Homeless Coalition, confirmed there is another bump in the road for getting the shelter open within the 90-day mark previously announced.

Snyder and other members of the Homeless Leadership Network — a coalition of elected officials, service providers and advocates — have been trying to obtain an old PSTA building in Largo for a 150-bed midcounty shelter and resource center. As early as February, HLN members expected the shelter open by the end of May.

Snyder says officials from the state's Department of Community Affairs have halted the proposal by requiring a zoning hearing on the 49th Street building, because the land use designation is changing from "transportation and utilities" to "institutional." State officials typically get involved if land use changes can create "a major impact" on an area, such as a power plant or prison.

The news comes as a surprise to Snyder.

"This is a new interpretation [of the statute]," she says, and what's more, Tallahassee officials told her the next hearing wouldn't be until December.

(Snyder says HLN is working with the state to get the situation resolved sooner.)

But even if the building's land use is changed, finding funding for the shelter is still an ongoing problem. HLN documents put the initial construction price tag at over $1 million. Another $2 million will be needed to operate the shelter during its first year.

"It comes down to land use and dollars," Snyder says.

Of course, the shelter's delay also means St. Petersburg police won't be able to enforce the new anti-sleeping ordinance that bans men and women from laying their heads on sidewalks to sleep.

(St. Pete Police Department spokesperson Bill Proffitt has confirmed there have been no arrests under the new ordinances.)

That has at least one St. Pete resident livid. Lynn Hawkins, a vocal critic of tent cities, sent out an e-mail recently urging people to attend a Pinellas County Commission workshop on homelessness. Commissioners are expected to talk about the need for the midcounty shelter and possible funding.

"St. Petersburg, contrary to media publicity, is a KIND city," Hawkins states in her e-mail. "We house the majority of homeless and social service agencies within the county, and work diligently to ensure all that need help receive help. However, that does NOT make it a St. Pete problem. It is a county problem and we are supporting the homeless of our neighboring cities and states. It is the counties [sic] RESPONSIBILITY to offer relief. Our taxes and our votes say so!!!!"

Hawkins, concerned that St. Pete's more scruffy denizens are still sleeping in our tourist areas, suggests that the county is trying to distance itself from the homeless problem. Snyder says there is no indication of that. For one, county officials and HLN have talked for months about the old PSTA site; Largo Mayor Pat Gerard has also voiced support for the project.

Still, Hawkins brings up a good point:

How excited can Largo and county officials be that St. Petersburg plans to send their most hardcore homeless, arrested under the city's new ordinances, to idyllic north county?

And what do you think will happen when Largo residents (like parents from Bayside High, located just down the street) find out about the proposal?

Something tells me that a city that was so vocal in its intolerance of a controversial city manager will not hesitate to protest an influx of the homeless.

Tent City's Expiration Date: In last week's paper, "Snapshot" focused on Rev. Kim Wells and the Lakewood United Baptist Church, the first organization to be denied a permit under the city's new anti-camping ordinance that basically requires city permission to set up a tent city.

During my reporting, I also found the date that the original tent city's permit is to expire: June 10, 2007.

Just imagine: Angry homeless men and women being released on a sultry summer Sunday, while the rest of St. Petersburg attends church services.

How do you think that moving day will go?

This article appears in Apr 18-24, 2007.