Eight priorities for Pinellas County

Tim's positions

Each priority below pairs a long-term vision with the specific actions Tim will bring to the commission table.

1. 1🏡

   Affordable Living

   Vision: Providing safe, affordable, and accessible housing, shelters, food sources, and public transportation for our local communities — building resilient housing for Pinellas working families through innovative land-use solutions, mixed development, and transit-aligned development.

   • Mobile Home Park Transformation Plan: Lead a countywide initiative utilizing local, state (SHIP/SAIL/Sadowski Fund), and federal programs to help convert vulnerable, aging mobile home parks into modern, resilient, energy-efficient condominium communities with walkable retail, green space, and access to public transportation. Existing low- and moderate-income residents get the first option to rent or purchase units, paired with down-payment assistance. Energy-efficient building standards will drastically reduce utility bills for residents.
   • Expanding Emergency Shelter Capacity: Partner with county agencies and nonprofit providers to increase year-round shelter capacity and rapid-rehousing resources, ensuring no Pinellas resident is left without a safe place to stay.
   • Strengthening Local Food Access: Support food banks, community fridges, and public food distribution programs, while incentivizing grocery access and food co-ops in underserved neighborhoods to close local food deserts.
   • Connecting Communities Through Transit: Expand and align public transportation routes and schedules with new and existing affordable housing developments, ensuring working families have reliable, low-cost access to jobs, schools, and services.
2. 2🌊

   Coastal Resiliency & Flood Mitigation

   Vision: Protect shorelines and neighborhoods from storm surge and extreme weather while taking proactive steps to lower property and flood insurance costs.

   • Inter-Governmental Resiliency Task Force: Establish a collaborative task force bringing together Pinellas County Public Works, Planning, and Utilities with municipal staff from St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and coastal towns to align state-mandated Comprehensive Land Use Plans and Vulnerability Assessments.
   • SMART Action Plan for Insurance Relief: Develop Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART) flood risk reduction plans, then present these verified risk reductions to the insurance industry and FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) to secure lower property and flood insurance premiums for Pinellas home and business owners.
   • Living Shorelines & Hybrid Defenses: Invest in hybrid coastal defenses that combine native mangrove restoration, sea oats, oyster reefs, and living shorelines with traditional seawall infrastructure to absorb destructive storm surge — such as Hurricane Helene’s 5–8 ft surge.
   • Hardening Critical Assets: Enforce resilient building standards for structures in high-hazard flood zones, ensuring emergency facilities, substations, and pump stations remain operational during severe storms.
3. 3🌳

   Parks & Greenspaces

   Vision: Restore local tree canopies, expand urban greenspaces, and protect natural land as vital infrastructure against climate impacts and heat.

   • Post-Disaster Tree Canopy Recovery: Launch an aggressive tree-replenishment program across Pinellas to replace the thousands of mature trees destroyed during recent hurricanes such as Milton, prioritizing deep-rooting, wind-resistant native species like Live Oaks and Bald Cypress.
   • Mitigating Urban Heat Islands: Target dense, heavily paved, and underserved neighborhoods with urban forestry initiatives to reduce local temperatures, lower cooling costs, and improve air quality.
   • Land Acquisition & Conservation: Utilize county land-acquisition funds and partnerships with regional land trusts to acquire and permanently protect remaining open spaces, urban wetlands, and wildlife corridors.
   • Greenspace Ratios in Site Plan Reviews: Utilize county land-use authority to require meaningful green spaces, permeable surfaces, and tree preservation in new commercial and multi-family redevelopments.
4. 4💧

   Infrastructure Investment

   Vision: Upgrade aging stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water systems to prevent flooding, safeguard public health, and protect property.

   • Stormwater Maintenance & Modernization: Allocate targeted capital improvement funds to inspect, clean, and upgrade county drainage basins, outfalls, and pump stations to prevent localized urban flooding during heavy rainfall.
   • County-Municipal System Integration: Coordinate with municipal public works departments in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, and Pinellas Park to eliminate utility bottlenecks and ensure interconnected drainage networks handle volume seamlessly.
   • Infiltration & Inflow (I&I) Abatement: Repair aging sanitary sewer lines to prevent rainwater from infiltrating the sewer system during storm events, eliminating raw sewage backups and spills into neighborhoods and waterways.
   • Federal & State Grant Maximization: Draw on federal Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) and bipartisan infrastructure grants to modernize water infrastructure without overburdening local property taxpayers.
5. 5☀️

   Affordable Clean Energy

   Vision: Capitalize on Tim’s extensive background in solar energy law to lower utility bills, modernize the grid, and promote renewable energy.

   • Cutting Red Tape for Rooftop & Community Solar: Streamline county permitting, reduce administrative fees, and eliminate barriers for residential, commercial, and multi-family solar installations.
   • Commercial & Residential Energy Efficiency: Expand PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing and rebate programs for energy-efficient HVAC units, heat pumps, insulation, and smart grid technology to lower monthly electricity bills.
   • Solar + Battery Storage on Public Infrastructure: Install solar arrays and battery microgrids on county buildings, emergency shelters, and community centers to ensure continuous power during major storm outages.
   • Targeted Assistance for High-Burden Households: Direct clean-energy grants and community solar savings to fixed-income seniors and low-income working families facing disproportionately high energy burdens.
6. 6🚌

   Affordable Public Transportation

   Vision: Build a reliable, accessible public transit network that reduces traffic congestion, connects workers to employment hubs, and expands mobility options.

   • Regional Transit Collaboration Task Force: Form a cross-county coalition linking Pinellas County, Forward Pinellas, PSTA, and neighboring regional partners in Hillsborough and Pasco to build interconnected transit corridors.
   • PSTA Optimization & Fleet Electrification: Support PSTA in expanding high-frequency bus routes, extending operating hours for shift workers, and transitioning the bus fleet to zero-emission electric buses.
   • First-Mile/Last-Mile Connectivity: Invest in safer pedestrian walkways, ADA-compliant crosswalks, protected bike lanes, and shaded bus shelters near transit stops to make public transit practical and safe.
   • Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Update land-use codes along major corridors such as US-19, SR-60, and Central Ave to encourage walkable, mixed-use developments that blend affordable housing with transit access.
7. 7🐬

   Protect Aquatic Preserves

   Vision: Restore and protect water quality across Tampa Bay, Boca Ciega Bay, Clearwater Harbor, and St. Joseph Sound to protect marine life and the local eco-tourism economy.

   • Nutrient & Runoff Pollution Controls: Enforce seasonal fertilizer ordinances, require advanced bio-swales and retention ponds for commercial sites, and promote green infrastructure to keep harmful excess nitrogen out of waterways — combating Red Tide and blue-green algae.
   • Habitat & Seagrass Restoration: Direct environmental restoration funding toward seagrass bed re-establishment, oyster reef construction, and coastal wetland preservation within county aquatic preserves.
   • Real-Time Water Monitoring: Deploy real-time water quality monitoring sensors across key drainage outfalls to rapidly identify and remediate illegal discharges, industrial run-off, or bacterial contamination.
   • Clean Marina & Boater Stewardship: Partner with local marinas and boating communities to expand waste pump-out services and promote sustainable waterway practices.
8. 8🖥️

   AI & Data Centers

   Vision: Protect our county from unchecked AI data center growth with a two-year moratorium on new construction — a common-sense pause, not an anti-technology or anti-business ban — so residents, not corporations, set the terms for water, power, and land use.

   • Health Impact on Nearby Residents: Require independent studies of noise, air quality, heat, and increased industrial activity in residential areas before any new AI data center is allowed to break ground — so families living nearby are not treated as an afterthought.
   • Environmental Impact on Local Ecosystems: Assess strain on watersheds and the risk of pollution runoff into Pinellas waterways, and refuse to permit facilities until those impacts are understood and mitigated.
   • True Cost to Taxpayers: Demand a full accounting of how much water and electricity these facilities will draw from systems our families already rely on, who pays for expanded infrastructure, and whether residents are being asked to subsidize corporate profit.
   • Enforceable Limits Before Permits: Put regulations in place that hold corporations accountable — including enforceable limits on water usage, energy draw, and wastewater discharge — before permits are granted, not after damage is done.
   • A Moratorium, Not a Ban: A two-year pause gives the county time for independent health and environmental studies, ensures zoning and utility rules actually reflect the scale of what these facilities require, and gives residents a real seat at the table before decisions are made that will affect them for decades. Growth and innovation are welcome — but only with real accountability. Tim will not support fast-tracking these projects at the expense of residents’ health, the environment, or the water supply.