City council to discuss ‘Save the Garden’ petition

A fight over who controls a public street in downtown Clearwater returns to City Hall tonight. City Council there is revisiting its decision involving Garden Avenue and the Church of Scientology. This after opponents collected nearly 11,000 signatures challenging it. Fox 13's Matt McClellan is live for us in Clearwater this morning. And Matt, there's a lot more at stake here than just one block of road, right? Yeah, this, Laura, has become part of a much bigger debate in Clearwater around the Church of Scientology. Of course, the church has been part of the community here for decades. Its international headquarters are downtown. But its expansion has also created some tension with people outside the church, people who live in the community. And really, lately, that fight is focused on something people, everybody uses, and that's public streets. The current fight started with South Garden Avenue earlier this year. Back in June, Clearwater Council approving... Conditionally giving up, turning over, public right-of-way, a long part of the street. This so the church could connect properties for its planned L. Ron Hubbard Hall. Opponents organized and the group saved the garden, eventually submitted more than 10,000 signatures, seeking to challenge that decision by council through a referendum. The council then sending the petition to the Pinellas County supervisor of elections for verification election officials verifying 7500 of those signatures. That's enough to force the council to reconsider its decision. But even then, city attorneys warning. There's another question. Does state law even allow voters to overturn this type of right of way decision through a referendum? The citizens of the city of Clearwater own that street. Correct. Yeah. It's not anyone's to bargain or negotiate with, it's their street. So that's the concern here. So the mayor really at odds with council when he made those remarks as they decided to turn the street over to the church. And Garden Avenue, not the only street at the center of this debate, the council has also voted to vacate public rights of way along portions of Laura Street, Grove Street and alleyway for the proposed Evo Entertainment Center. That project also backed by the Church of Scientology. Developers say it represents a $50 million investment with seven movie theaters and bowling and laser tag and an arcade. And they argue that closing those streets will allow families to We'll be right back. But the city is still waiting on an opinion, and this is interesting, still waiting on an opinion from Attorney General James Uthmeyer on whether state law allows that vote to happen. So to say it's complicated is an understatement, but really the tension between the church and everybody else in Clearwater Law. All right, Matt McClellan, live for us this morning. Matt, thank you.