CLEARWATER — A developer’s proposal to turn the city-owned The Landings Golf Club into a light industrial complex has been decried as a tragic loss of greenspace and an infliction on nearby residents.
It has also been praised for its potential to catalyze the city’s industrial sector and replace an underwhelming golf course with a hub for high paying jobs.
On Thursday city council members moved the proposal one step closer to a November voter referendum, saying residents should have the right to decide whether the city should lease the golf course to Harrod Properties to build an industrial park. The council voted 4-1 to declare the property surplus and to approve potential terms for a future lease agreement. Council member Kathleen Beckman voted no.
“I have faith and confidence in the voters and the citizens of Clearwater to do the homework, to look at the opportunities both positive and negative … and vote their conscience in November,” city council member Hoyt Hamilton said.
The City Charter requires a referendum to lease city-owned open space for any other use. City Attorney Pam Akin said the lease question will only appear on the November ballot if the council approves referendum language next month. If voters pass the referendum, the developer would still have to apply for a land use change on the property from the city, Pinellas County and the state.
“There are many more steps and if any one of those fails, then we don’t have a project,” Akin said.
Since the council first agreed to begin negotiations with Harrod Properties in May, the developer has changed some aspects of the plan for the Landing’s 77 acres that border the Clearwater Airpark.
Plans now call for the developer to build nine buildings on 57 acres, down from 10 buildings on 65 acres.
The developer added a park with a 4.8- acre field and 3.5 acres of water features to help buffer the southwest portion of the site that faces St. Andrews Cove residents.
The plan still includes a 12-acre golf green that will be operated by the Huston family, who now run the Landings.
The lease would be a 65-year term between the city and Harrod Properties with three 10-year renewal options. Although the developer does not yet have tenants identified, the use would be geared toward light industrial and medical production as opposed to heavy manufacturing, according to Harrod senior partner Rob Webster.
“There will be no smokestacks,” Webster said in an interview this week.
The developer would pay the city $2.15 million upfront for the first 10 years of the lease, according to economic development and housing director Denise Sanderson. That payment comes after $2.3 million in credits to the developer for debris removal, a refund to pay the Huston family for irrigation investments and installation of a foundation required to address the debris field.
Sanderson estimates the complex will bring the city $9.7 million in net benefit in the first 10 years, which includes ground rent, property taxes utility revenue and fees. She also projected the complex would hire 1,700 direct employees and create 1,581 spinoff jobs.
Currently, the city-owned property is off the tax rolls and brings in $1,000 a month in rent from the Hustons.
None of these benefits assuaged dozens of concerned residents that have written to and called council members over the past month and several who appeared at the meeting Thursday.
Terry Getz, who grew up and lives near the golf course, said he’s concerned about developers throughout Pinellas County paving over the last pieces of green space.
“Don’t do it for our age, do it for our grand kids and great grand kids, save the property for them,” Getz said.
Resident Scott Anderson, an engineer, said traffic is already a problem on Airport Road, which is the only street between Hercules Avenue and Keene Road with no traffic lights and is used as a pass-though for drivers. He fears it’s only going to get worse when an industrial complex proposing to hire 1,700 direct employees is built.
“As a citizen of the city of Clearwater I understand the value of that property to the entire city, but as a citizen of the Marymont subdivision, which is directly south of it, it’s going to be a direct impact on my quality of life and the quality of life of my neighbors,” Anderson said.
Beckman voted against moving the proposal forward, stating residents would not have enough time to become informed about the project before the election, with mail ballots going out in early October.
“Once these 77 acres are gone and they’re not green anymore, they’re gone, there’s not going to be a reversal,” she said.
But her colleagues deferred to the voters. Council member David Allbritton said this project brings a unique opportunity to grow the industrial sector in Clearwater, which has lagged behind regional areas.
“This gives Clearwater a chance to really get into being competitive with its neighbors,” Allbritton said.
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Development of the city’s Landings golf course closer to referendum - Tampa Bay Times
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