ST. PETERSBURG —All John Stearman wanted 10 years ago was to renovate the house next door for his son.
It was a fixer-upper, but the Granada Terrace resident was going to make it work. He put in a front porch and new windows.
Yet, in 2008, city officials halted construction, telling Stearman he couldn’t change his windows without permission because his home was in a local historic district.
After he objected, the City Council concluded in 2013 that his windows were okay.
Victorious, Stearman is expanding his battle with City Hall by pushing for the removal of the historic designation for the entire Granada Terrace neighborhood. The broader campaign comes as the City Council is moving in the opposite direction — by considering easing requirements so that it’s easier to designate more neighborhoods as historic.