Bracing for a drain on beach traffic, a cash-strapped Clearwater plans for a marina, a monorail and millions in beautification.
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published May 11, 2003
CLEARWATER - Three years after voters killed a sweeping $300-million plan to remake downtown, backers still lament the lost opportunity and ponder what might have been.
If only.
Amid pockets of redevelopment, empty storefronts remain, leading to mounting fears that the struggling commercial corridor could wither and die when the new Memorial Causeway Bridge opens and beach-bound traffic is diverted forever off Cleveland Street.
But city officials remain hopeful. After months of study, they are preparing to bring forward their latest plan to remake downtown into the tourist and community magnet they say its geography has destined it to be.
City commissioners say they are prepared to take bold risks to get there. They have the projects detailed on paper.
What they don't have is a clear way to pay for everything.
"What is there right now could not be considered in any way, shape or form a destination," said Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton. "Small changes I'm not sure are what we're looking for."
The exhaustive new proposal incorporates elements of past plans, including a revamped Coachman Park and millions of dollars for beautification and other improvements to the downtown core. What's new is the acknowledgement that City Hall is available for sale if the right development project comes along. And now Calvary Baptist Church's property next door - a key to development - is on the block, too.
Also planned are a downtown marina, a monorail to the beach and a parking garage on Osceola Avenue. Meanwhile, the plan will serve as a road map of sorts by creating six unique "character districts" with general design guidelines meant to shape future development.
"We're really trying to set our vision, or our goal," said City Planning Director Cyndi Tarapani. "And let the developers come in with a specific project."
To residents who wonder about previous wide-ranging plans now collecting dust in City Hall, city officials urge faith.
"There's no question in our mind that this plan will result in more development in downtown Clearwater," said City Manager Bill Horne. "I'm not the kind of guy that develops a plan, then puts it on the shelf."
Said City Commissioner Frank Hibbard: "We're going to have to look outside the box and potentially get radical. This is a commission committed to downtown and willing to entertain bold steps."
But what's to say the market will respond?
Downtowns all over the country are struggling to reinvent themselves, and Clearwater faces tough competition from other cities willing to spend more money.
"Our experience is there's no free lunch," said Boca Raton attorney Charlie Siemon, who has worked as the city's master redevelopment consultant. "Cities don't get what they want without investing in it."
The new plan includes incentives for developers willing to help pay for public amenities, such as a parking garage, or expensive streetscape improvements. These include relaxed zoning regulation, some matching funds and tax breaks.
But commissioners acknowledge that they might need more to offer.
They have started to talk seriously about asking voters' permission to borrow the millions they predict it would take to kickstart redevelopment.
"It's not on the top of my list," Hibbard said. "But we may have to bond to potentially do a parking garage."
Monday, commissioners will consider soliciting proposals from developers for a plan to remake the parking lot east of Station Square Park into a combination of offices, retail stores and residences.
Next week, a contingent of city officials will travel to West Palm Beach for a look at redevelopment successes.
There and in other spots across the state, city officials envy examples of strong downtown redevelopment, including Fort Lauderdale, St. Petersburg and Miami's South Beach.
"That's what we envision in downtown Clearwater," said Horne. "You salivate, because you want the downtown to be a destination."
But Clearwater faces unique challenges, including its distance from a major interstate. And the dominant presence of the Church of Scientology has fed the perception that investments downtown will chiefly benefit the church, Siemon said.
But that perception is false, he said.
"(Scientology is) not what's causing the failure of redevelopment," Siemon said. "What makes them stand out in downtown Clearwater is they're the only ones there. I think dilution is the only solution."
Commissioner Whitney Gray agreed.
"If you feel like there's a large presence of Scientologists downtown, it's because it's in isolation," she said. "The more great things there are to do downtown, the more people will come."
City officials see the redevelopment of the City Hall property as the linchpin of remaking downtown.
West Palm Beach developer George de Guardiola, who proposed the plan rejected three years ago, said the city faces an uphill battle convincing voters. He said the failed referendum sent a clear message: "It led me to believe that the likelihood of redevelopment happening and using public land is highly unlikely. Ever."
But officials say they are not ready to give up.
Developers already don't want to come to Clearwater, Gray said. The new plan could only mean an improvement, she said.
"This is not necessarily destined to fail," she added. "You have a whole different crew of people behind it. . . . I guess it's up to us to get the public behind it and get people back downtown."
The hard part, Commissioner Bill Jonson said, is setting priorities.
"I have been a great proponent of trying to find small things that we can do downtown until we get the big dominoes to fall," he said. "The thing that I'm struggling with is where do you start? Recognizing the limited funds that we do have, where do you spend them best?"
