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About Tierra Verde NEXT
Our Mission:
Tierra Verde Next's Mission is to speak for residents, homeowners, and island friends to protect and preserve Tierra Verde. We want to help islanders envision the future and achieve their goals. In this effort, we will promote island-wide communication, the exchange of ideas, group coordination, and new volunteer opportunities. Tierra Verde NEXT is all of us.
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VOLUNTEERS are needed to assist with FUNDRAISING and to help with a variety of tasks. If you can help us, please contact Raphael Perrino, TV Next Steering Committee Chair, at astronomer49@yahoo.com
Steering Committee
Raphael Perrino, Chair
Paul Lee, Political Action, Communications
Geoff Comrie, Land Use and Legal Action
Rajan Kaul, Land Use and Legal Action
Roslyn Feierstein, Environmental Stewardship
Vicki McCash Brennan, Communications
Evelyn Bless, Communications, Fundraising
Melanie Coleman Simon, Communications, Fundraising
Kathryn Challenger, Fundraising, Community Outreach
Colleene Parodi, Community Outreach
Tierra Verde Next, LLC, is an all-volunteer community organization representing residents, homeowners and stakeholders of Tierra Verde. No member of the Steering Committee or volunteer is ever compensated for work they do for the organization. Funds received are used strictly to pay for legal, consulting, and fundraising expenses.
About our Chairman
Raphael Perrino is a relative newcomer to Tierra Verde, having been a snowbird and then a homeowner here for less than a decade. He holds a master’s degree in public administration and a doctorate in education, both from George Mason University. He served as chief of staff for an elected official in Fairfax County, which taught him the true inner workings of local government. He served as chairman of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.
As a civic activist in Arlington, VA, he founded and led an effort to revitalize South Arlington. In that capacity, he lobbied local elected officials, businesses, developers and county staff to seek funding for an area adjacent to the Pentagon. The process worked there. It was done in a cooperative, constructive, ethical manner. Dr. Perrino brings this attitude to his leadership of Tierra Verde Next.
Other members of the Tierra Verde Next leadership team, all longtime residents, also have advanced degrees and background in fields such as business administration, real estate, entrepreneurship, psychology, environmental education, and journalism. Together they bring a wide variety of expertise and experience to accomplish our goals.
How we got here:
Tierra Verde history related to marinas
• ~1982: Tierra Verde Hi and Dry Boat Storage was built. At that time, its height was limited to 42 feet. This limitation on the parcel remains in effect.
• 2008: One developer owned both of Tierra Verde’s marinas: The Resort Marina (now Port 32) and Tierra Verde Hi and Dry, which was the only dry storage on the island. The developer at the time planned a hotel and pool on the north side.
• That developer requested a height variance from TVCA, whose charter includes deed restrictions. When TVCA denied the variance, the developer sought a workaround.
• The developer first “kicked out” the voters living on boats in the marina, then requested the City of St Petersburg, with more lenient zoning restrictions, to annex the entire marina area.
• St. Petersburg, led by then-Mayor Rick Baker, supported the annexation because it promised increased tax revenues. The city based its bid to annex on the premise that St. Petersburg and Tierra Verde are connected by “contiguous submerged lands”— which include a portion of the federal Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).
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• Tierra Verde residents vigorously protested, as the land is not contiguous, and initiated lawsuits. The lawsuits failed.
• March 8, 2008: The Pinellas County Board approved the Tierra Verde Overlay to be incorporated into the County Comprehensive Plan with a 50-foot height restriction on commercial property. This restriction was in place when Greenleaf bought this property in 2011.
• November 2008: 28+ acres of Tierra Verde were formally annexed by the City of St Petersburg.
• 2009: Pinellas County and Tierra Verde filed suit against the City of St Petersburg to prevent the city from allowing intensive commercial development. The decision was in their favor, preventing the development. The stated reason was that the development was too high density, posing potential hurricane dangers, and was against the character and height standards of the surrounding community. The case was closed in 2010.
• 2010: The developer went bankrupt and the properties were sold. On the south side of Madonna, a marina update and hotel (the current Marriott Residence Inn) were planned along with another high and dry.
• While that project proceeded, local residents successfully lobbied to reduce the hotel’s original proposed height and alter the appearance of the high and dry and retail. Currently that high and dry has an attractive and modest footprint with ~340 dry stack racks, enclosed building, and a negotiated 54-foot maximum height.
• 2011: The north side of the marina area was sold to Greenleaf Capital.
• 2018: The Resort Marina (south side) was resold and rebranded PORT 32
• March 2025: Greenleaf presented its redevelopment plan for the first time during a TVCA meeting. The proposal included four 90-foot open-rack storage towers, an expanded marina, and a private restaurant and pool. The 711-slip proposed dry boat storage would be the second-largest high and dry in the USA. (The largest is the 780-rack Legendary Marina in Destin, situated NOT in a small residential neighborhood, but among retail buildings, a seaplane airport, a school’s outdoor field and track grounds, and a golf course.)
• The plan alarmed and concerned many Tierra Verde residents. The TVCA and individual home and condo owners in Tierra Verde, Isla Del Sol, along the Bayway, in St. Petersburg Beach, and in south St. Petersburg, all voiced strong objections to Greenleaf and to officials at the City and County levels.
• Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman was the paid spokesmand for these expansion efforts—despite widespread local resident opposition.
• Although the plan was not yet approved, Greenleaf terminated leases for all retail businesses on the site. The final lease, a Shell gas station, expired at the end of October 2025. The removal of leases was not formally included in Greenleaf’s proposal.
• Greenleaf did not engage with residents regarding height limits or design mitigation.
• September 2025: The TVCA hired a land-use attorney to support the residents’ opposition.
• October 2025: TVCA determined that this “fight” was not part of their charter as an HOA.
• Oct. 18, 2025: To fill the need for organized opposition, Tierra Verde NEXT (TVN) held an open house to establish this organization as the voice of Tierra Verde residents, organizing petitions and the opposition campaign.
• Nov. 21, 2025: Greenleaf withdrew their proposal. The scheduled hearing at the St Petersburg DRC (Development Review Commission) scheduled for Dec. 3, 2025, was canceled.
• March 9, 2026: After rejecting many requests since November 2025 to meet with Tierra Verde NEXT, Greenleaf submitted a second proposal to the DRC. The new proposal is similar to their first proposal’s Phase 1, but scaled back from 90 ft to 72ft. It would now become the 3 rd largest high and dry in the USA.
• March 23, 2026: TVN finally met with Greenleaf. The developer refused to budge on our primary issues—the unsafe type of open rack boat storage and the unacceptable increase in height over the Overlay’s 50-foot maximum.
March 2026: For 15 years, Greenleaf has made no substantial improvements to this property; in fact, they have created a dismal, decaying marina area. Tierra Verde fears that this decay will continue. This history is a strong indicator that Greenleaf’s newly proposed development will also be neglected.
• May 6, 2026: Greenleaf’s new proposal went before the St. Petersburg DRC for formal review. Tierra Verde residents showed up in large numbers to oppose the development based on height, safety, environmental concerns, boat traffic, parking, and automobile traffic. Despite the large public outcry, the DRC approved the project 4-3.
June 9, 2026: Tierra Verde Next filed a writ of certiorari in the Sixth Judicial Circuit asking the court to quash the city's approval of this major expansion. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Summer 2026: Tierra Verde Next also is challenging environmental permits based on the project's scope and potential damage to the environment.
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