The Clearwater City Council's reluctant decision Thursday to give up on saving the beautiful Calvary Baptist Church chapel illustrates the challenges involved in preserving large historic structures.
Most council members had supported Mayor Frank Hibbard's exploration of preserving the domed structure before it is torn down by new owner Opus South for construction of a high-rise condominium and retail complex. Hibbard suggested the 1926 chapel, a Clearwater landmark, could be cut away from the much larger Calvary building, moved from Opus' property to a city-owned lot down the hill, then transformed into a performing arts auditorium.
However, it was Hibbard who sadly closed the door on the idea Thursday night, and his council colleagues agreed with him. A project feasibility report, hurriedly assembled by a consultant and city staffers, showed them the hard realities.
"There is a tremendous amount of risk," Hibbard said. "I am at the point of having an extreme amount of trepidation about it."
Moving the huge structure was doable but risky, with the possibility that the building could crack or shift in transit. Geotechnical studies would be required to see if the ground at the base of the downtown bluff would support the chapel's weight. The ground there is grassed-over artificial fill.
Because the site is in a flood zone, the chapel would have to be elevated. Moving and retrofitting the building would cost $7-million or more - money the city doesn't have just lying around, raising the possibility that the city would have to issue bonds for the project.
And with the site on the downtown waterfront, the city charter would require a referendum on the project at a cost of at least $50,000. Because Opus South wanted the Calvary chapel moved by March, the city would have to invest some $200,000 in early preparations for the chapel move before residents even voted.
Council member Bill Jonson said he was disappointed that Opus South didn't see the benefit of preserving the chapel by incorporating it in its new construction. However, he said he is also disappointed that city government didn't have the foresight years ago to work with Calvary Baptist on a plan to save the chapel if the church left downtown, as it is now doing.
Planning ahead is the key. As the town of Belleair is learning and Clearwater now knows, after a developer has purchased a historic property is not the best time to start working to save it.
Belleair is struggling for some way to save the 108-year-old Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa from demolition by a developer. The massive wooden hotel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, cannot be moved and needs substantial work. The town of Belleair is too small to take on the financial burden of buying or maintaining such a property, and it remains to be seen whether the city will find a mechanism to prevent DeBartolo Development from tearing the hotel down for condominium construction.
Had Belleair approved a tough historic preservation ordinance back in the early 1990s, there might be more protection for structures there. Residents were upset in 1992 after professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and his wife announced plans to demolish a 17-room Mediterranean Revival mansion built in 1931. A tough historic preservation ordinance was proposed to save the town's remaining historic structures, but opponents called it "coercive" and said it limited property owners' rights. They wanted a voluntary preservation policy instead, they said.
Similar opposition arose when Clearwater officials proposed a historic preservation ordinance in the early 1980s to protect Harbor Oaks and similar properties.
Only advance planning and tough historic preservation ordinances can save these places - ordinances that require the owners of historic properties to protect them and give a local government or board the power to approve or deny modifications to those properties.
