Federal maps will force Beach Walk buildings to be elevated, causing city officials to groan about "another fly in the ointment."
By JENNIFER FARRELL
Published January 4, 2004
CLEARWATER - When designs for a multimillion-dollar plan to remake the aging south end of Clearwater Beach were approved in September, city officials applauded the ambitious blueprint for redevelopment.
Elegant color renderings showed a curvy new S Gulfview Boulevard, bordered by a lushly landscaped public promenade and a beachfront path for bikers and inline skaters. As part of Beach Walk, officials envisioned upscale resorts and sidewalk cafes dotting a palm-lined waterfront boulevard.
What the plan didn't take into account were new federal flood zone maps that changed what can be built along the coastline. In development since 1997, the new rules moved flood zones inland and raised required building elevations in the area, effective this past September.
Suddenly, street level cafes and ground-level retail were ruled out and breakaway walls at ground level were required. Instead of flood-proof retail and restaurants permitted on the ground level under the old designation, the new zones force the buildings to be elevated 6 to 8 feet above the existing street, according to City Engineer Mike Quillen.
Detected at first in November, the regulations caused immediate headaches at City Hall, leading engineers to rethink their approach to the sweeping beach upgrades.
Developers, meanwhile, must reinvent projects planned along the water.
"We are scrambling," said Ed Hooper, a consultant for a luxury resort project planned south of the roundabout by beach hotelier Tony Markopoulos. "It's like all of a sudden you have a new set of rules to play by."
Now some city officials are questioning whether the project can work at all.
"It just completely puts a new wrinkle in everything," said city Commissioner Frank Hibbard. "We'll have to reconsider whether we're even going to do Beach Walk."
Like Hibbard, Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton worried that the new regulations could change the complexion of the project, which the city had hoped to pay for chiefly with grants.
For Beach Walk to succeed, the meandering promenade has to front shops and restaurants, say city officials. This week, survey crews are plotting existing businesses and engineers are studying how to elevate Beach Walk so it can blend with old and new buildings alike.
"You're just throwing another fly in the ointment," Hamilton said Friday. "Pretty soon, you're going to be infested."
Hamilton, whose family owns the Palm Pavilion, said he understands the need for accurate flood mapping, but sees the new rules as several steps too far.
"This is overkill," he said.
Quillen, the engineer, said the city is considering a plan to elevate S Gulfview as well as the promenade planned along its east side. By building up the road and the walkway, pedestrian and vehicle traffic would be closer to the entrances of elevated buildings. Any existing buildings that aren't elevated could use steps up to the promenade and road, which Quillen described as a compromise solution.
"All the properties that are out there right now are real low," he said. "Therein lies the problem."
On Friday, Brad Loar, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Clearwater should not have been surprised by the new regulations.
"It is not something new," he said. "They were well aware of what the general changes were going to be many years ago."
Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone said the city knew the changes were coming and had seen drafts. But he said the city did not learn details of the new regulations until November. Still, engineering for Beach Walk is in the beginning phase, so incorporating the flood zone changes shouldn't be too difficult, Stone said.
He compared the plans to Miami's South Beach, where many restaurants and bars are built several steps up from the street.
"I don't think it's going to be something that you would gasp at," Stone said.
Richard Gehring, who is working with attorney Bill Kimpton to bring another luxury resort to Clearwater Beach, downplayed the impact of the flood zone changes.
"That's a new wrinkle," he said. "It can be a positive tool if it's used right."
Mayor Brian Aungst said he is waiting to learn the results of the city's surveying results but feels confident the project can still go forward.
"It will be a little bit of a nuisance, but we'll be able to work around it," he said. "It is what it is. It shouldn't be major."
Hibbard said the commission may decide to consider alternatives to Beach Walk that would encourage redevelopment on the beach. There may be ways to improve the area in less drastic - and less costly - ways, he said.
Hamilton, too, said cost will be the deciding factor for Beach Walk.
"At some point in time, conceivably," he said, "you could all of sudden put a price tag on it that makes it undoable."
