Despite protests from residents, St. Pete city council members approved "The Lens" design for the pier Thursday.
St. Petersburg, Florida -- The proposal to build a new pier in St. Petersburg took a giant step forward Thursday with city council voting 7-1 to approve "The Lens" as the design.
Photo Gallery: St. Pete Pier finalists' design proposals
But the idea still has plenty of doubters.
A number of people either spoke out during Thursday's meeting or protested outside city hall.
Some people want the new design voted on, others feel the existing pier can be renovated, but what has a lot of attention is the price tag.
Despite being given a $50 million budget, the architect's proposal came in 25 percent over that amount.
"The $50 million that they are talking about is actually just an initial payment," said St. Pete resident Greg Stemm.
Several council members share that same concern.
"You are going to float $45 to $50 million in debt is what you are going to do," said councilman Wengay Newton. "We won't be around to pay it back, but our kids and grandkids will."
"I want to know if I vote yes today, I'm voting for something that says the legal cap on the budget is $50 million," said councilman Steve Kornell.
But Mayor Bill Foster and city staff say the design can easily be scaled back to fit the budget, without a noticeable change to the appearance.
"We won't submit anything that we can't afford. We're not going to do the bait and switch," Foster said.
Later this month, city council will start contract negotiations with the architect.
At that time, they'll be able to negotiate the specifics of what comes with the $50 million proposal and how it will stay within that budget.
The city hopes to get that contract finished within the next two months, but construction wouldn't start until at least 2014.