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Letter to the editor

Clearwater, Dunedin get boost from grants

Clearwater and Dunedin are big winners in a competition for state grant money to buy land for recreation. ¶ There has been little public discussion and no controversy about Clearwater's plan to use the money to help pay for 49 undeveloped acres near Lake Chautauqua Park in east Clearwater north of Union Street. The city wants to use the area for passive recreation and horseback riding. The cost of the land is estimated at $6-million, but the city won a state grant of $4.8-million to help with the acquisition.

Much more controversial is Dunedin's proposal to buy 6 acres along Bayshore Boulevard/Alt. U.S. 19 north of downtown. The land, owned by songwriter and local resident J.C. Weaver, includes a small piece on St. Joseph Sound west of Bayshore, and a larger piece on the east side of the road that is shaded by large trees and backs up to the Pinellas Trail.

Weaver's original asking price of $18-million for the land raised a storm of criticism from people who believe either the price is too high, the property is not appropriate for a park, or the city has enough parks. Some of those critics have mistakenly assumed that because the city applied for a state grant to pay for the property, the city was poised to go ahead with the purchase and give Weaver his price.

That assumption was wrong. That Dunedin won a $4.5-million grant from the Florida Communities Trust for buying a portion of the land now gives the city the opportunity to launch a discovery phase.

This phase will have two primary goals: to get appraisals to determine what the land is worth in today's market, and to determine where the city might get the millions of dollars it would need to match the state grant.

As a grant recipient, the city must get appraisals from two independent appraisers who are on a list approved by the Florida Communities Trust. The appraisers are hired only after a grant applicant wins funding.

The city attorney also has been studying the boundaries of Weaver's land after getting some indications that the city may already own slivers of it.

Well down the road still is a City Commission vote on whether to attempt to buy the property. If the commission votes to go ahead, it could delay creation of a park until city funds were available. Meanwhile, the land would be preserved for the public.

Congratulations to the staffs of Clearwater and Dunedin for the effort that led to the two city projects being ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, among 118 applications for grants from the Florida Communities Trust.

With little open land left in Pinellas, any opportunity to buy and preserve property for the use of the public, especially when outside dollars are available, should be explored.

[Last modified November 15, 2007, 23:24:26]