Votes expected on billboards, new Wal-Mart

CLEARWATER -- County commissioners have a busy agenda tonight, with votes scheduled on a proposed settlement with a billboard company and a proposed Wal-Mart that has been described as Pinellas' biggest rezoning request in 10 years.

Under the proposed billboard deal, Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. would remove 24 billboards over the next year. Others of the 125 affected billboards would come down gradually. But dozens would stay up until 2042. Many could remain standing if they are annexed into a city.

The county passed a billboard ordinance in 1992 that would have removed billboards from most roads outside Pinellas County cities in 1999. But when the time came, three billboard companies challenged the law. The county settled with two companies last year.

The county will hold a public hearing on the issue before voting. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Also tonight, commissioners are scheduled to consider a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 19 near Lake Tarpon in Palm Harbor. A developer wants the county to change the zoning and land use on the site to make way for a 205,000-square-foot megastore and a residential development with up to 10 units per acre.

Citing concerns that the development would further clog U.S. 19, Pinellas planners have twice recommended the project not be approved. The site is the home of the 392-unit Cypress Pointe RV Resort. Its residents beat back a proposal more than a year ago to build a Target and Lowe's home improvement store on the land.

This afternoon, commissioners also are scheduled to vote on what type of bridge to build to replace the Belleair Causeway Bridge. County staff members and the county's consulting firm have recommended a high, fixed-span bridge. But some residents want a mid level drawbridge instead.

That vote is set to take place during the commissioners' afternoon meeting, which starts at 3 p.m. No public hearing is planned.

Both meetings are scheduled for the fifth-floor assembly room of the Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St.

-- Staff writer Ed Quioco contributed to this report.

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