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Moratorium likely dead issue

While officials and residents say planning inconsistencies need clarification, they agree a time-certain ban is not the means.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published January 19, 2005

CLEARWATER - Even the city's top administrator admits a proposed building moratorium for a portion of Clearwater Beach appears to be dead.

City Council members questioned the nine-month construction ban on new condominium buildings Tuesday morning at a city work session. In the afternoon, the city's planning board recommended the moratorium be rejected by council members at a meeting later this week.

About two dozen residents and business owners attended a Community Development Board meeting to protest the rarely used planning tool.

One resident, Peter Meroli, brought an e-mail from City Manager Bill Horne in which Horne wrote, "the moratorium issue will melt away next Thursday."

Horne said later he does not think enough council members support the idea.

"I'm not finding an overwhelming degree of support for it as I talk to the council," said Horne, who was attending a conference in Washington, D.C. "Not all of them have told me what their position is going to be, but the tenor of the conversations we have had suggest to me it's probably not going to be supported."

Still, city planners say a time-certain moratorium could help clarify inconsistent planning documents for a transitional area between tall beach condos and the northern residential neighborhood.

One document says townhomes and single family residences are preferred. The other makes no such distinction, and several developers have proposed multistory condominiums for the area, which stretches for several blocks north of Rockaway Street.

Planners say they need a timeout to reconcile the documents, both authored by the same high-priced consultant, Charlie Siemon.

"It is difficult for us to administrate," said planning director Cyndi Tarapani. "There are many inconsistencies and omissions. There are gaps in policy direction. It does not give us enough guidance."

Tarapani said planners need nine months to study the land use patterns in the neighborhood, gain public input and make the necessary changes.

She won't predict the outcome of the study, but residents believe planners would seek to prohibit condominiums in the area, known as the "Old Florida" district. A condo ban would affect property values in the neighborhood.

"You just can't call timeout," said Clearwater attorney Ed Armstrong, who represents a group of landowners. "This is people's livelihoods. These are people's property values."

Community Development Board members recommended rejecting the moratorium without much discussion. The recommendation passed 5-1, with planning chairman David Gildersleeve supporting the building ban. He did not explain his vote.

"Moratoriums are not good for the city," said planning board member J.B. Johnson, the only member who offered any explanation.

Property owners attending the meeting agreed the planning documents needed revision. But most thought a moratorium was extreme.

Others wondered what took planners so long to uncover the inconsistencies in their code. Polanning staffers had supported condo projects in the neighborhood previously, said beach resident Melodie Ferguson.

"Precedent has been set. Pandora's Box has been opened. Now the planning department wants to put the lid back on and stop it," Ferguson said. "Moratoriums leave a bad taste in one's mouth that won't go away for a long time."

Council members will consider the moratorium at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 727 445-4160 or asharockman@sptimes.com

Three substantial Clearwater projects received the unanimous approval of the city's planning board Tuesday, giving each the go-ahead to begin construction.

The Entrada is the new name for a resort and condo project that will replace the Ramada Inn Gulfview on south Clearwater Beach. Wisconsin developer Decade Properties will build a 128-foot tower adjacent to the current hotel. The project will have 52 new hotel rooms and 189 renovated ones. The first four floors of the tower will be a parking garage, with 46 spaces for the public. The project will have 38 condos and a 14,000-square-foot penthouse.

The Harrison Village/Island View residences will be built on the former site of the salvation Army on N Fort Harrison Avenue. Approved were 191 condominiums in two buildings, including one 150-foot tower, and 20,000 square feet of retail and office space. The developer is Osceola Jones Properties of Clearwater.

Antigua Bay's 133 condos will be in two 100-foot towers on the former site of Clearwater Bay Marina. Clearwater Bay Marina, LLC, is developing. It's headed by Jeff Keierleber, who also is president of the developer of the Entrada project.

[Last modified January 19, 2005, 00:32:23]