Time is running out for a group trying to give voters a say in the future of the Pier in St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster gave Vote On The Pier until today to collect 16,000 signatures needed to take the matter to voters this November via a referendum.
The group wants registered voters to decide whether the city should go through with plans to demolish the 1973 inverted-pyramid pier and replace it with a new design called The Lens.
The project will cost about $50 million, and many St. Petersburg residents believe the money would be better spent on remaking the existing pier.
"What this is all about is allowing the 160,000 registered voters in this city to have the final say if they'd like to see the pier refurbished," said the group's chairman, Tom Lambdon.
Lambdon said Foster didn't have the right to set a deadline for collecting the signatures, and Vote on the Pier will continue to collect signatures if it doesn't meet the deadline.
"Our political committee is exclusively managed and overseen by the Florida Department of Election and Pinellas co-supervisor of elections,' Lambon said. "The mayor and city of St. Petes do not make the guidelines or the time line for our petition drive."
Even if Foster's deadline doesn't hold, the group will have to work diligently to collect the necessary signatures. Each signature has to be verified before the city council can pass an ordinance putting a referendum on the ballot.
The group has drop boxes around the city where petitions can be picked up and dropped off.