Plans to replace St. Pete Pier with Lens design challenged

St. PETERSBURG - The St. Pete city council is moving ahead with its plans to replace the St. Pete Pier, but the fight isn’t over.

The decision to tear down the pier and replace it with a new design, the Lens, was met with plenty of opposition Thursday night.

The council voted to not immediately fund all of the $4.8 million for design costs.

Instead, the city will spend $1.7 million for the next design phase and pay the remainder later as more design work is needed.

Those against the design, called The Lens, are now promising to get enough signatures to put the potential re-design to a public vote.