Clearwater moves forward with plans for Scientology project downtown
Published By admin with Comments 0
Clearwater residents and City Council members engaged in an impassioned debate Monday night over the future of a parking lot.
Companies tied to the Church of Scientology have purchased at least 200 properties within Clearwater’s downtown since 2017, and the church is seeking to buy the city-owned lot on Garden Avenue, between Franklin and Court streets. It is proposing to use it as a performance hall and plaza.
Supporters of the project argued that the lot is difficult to enter or exit when there’s heavy traffic toward the beach and said they welcome a development that taxpayers won’t have to fund. Opponents argued that the Church of Scientology already controls downtown, which is filled with vacant buildings and businesses.
The sale was tentatively approved by a 3-2 vote Monday that one council member said was a straightforward decision.
“It’s, what, a 60-foot street with 20 parking spaces that nobody uses, let’s be real,” council member Ryan Cotton, who supported working with the church during his election campaign last year, said Monday night.
The purchase and sale agreement will come back to the council during its March 31 work session, and if it proceeds, it will advance to the April 3 council meeting for a final decision.
The deal requires that a majority of the land be preserved as a green space and is tentatively set with a price tag of $1.375 million.
City Manager Jennifer Poirrier said the church has been planning for several years to build an event hall south of its Flag Building. It submitted its request to acquire the land on South Garden Avenue in December.
If given final approval, the church will have to substantially complete the project by the end of 2029. If it doesn’t finish by then, it can pay a nonrefundable $300,000 a year to the city to extend the contract. By the end of 2033, the deal would expire, and the city could withdraw from it. The ownership of the land won’t change until the church has permits and completes the majority of the project.
Several community members came to speak against the proposal.
Mark Bunker, an incumbent council member who was defeated last year by Cotton, has been a vocal opponent of the large presence of Scientology in Clearwater. He said the proposed L. Ron Hubbard Hall would be a “monument to the biggest humbug of the 20th century.”
“The downtown’s dead,” he said. “I urge you to hold onto the street. It may be the only chip you have left.”
Content retrieved from: https://www.tampabay.com/news/clearwater/2025/03/18/clearwater-moves-forward-with-plans-scientology-project-downtown/.
