CLEARWATER —Nearly 17 months after a panel of urban planning experts presented an array of ambitious recommendations for reviving downtown Clearwater, city leaders have completed just under half of the 13 priority projects.
The city has so far created a stakeholder advisory group; launched an incubator to foster technology companies; built a science, technology, engineering and mathematics program at the Main Library; created a brochure to market vacant downtown properties; and examined the use of bonds for downtown development.
Six other projects recommended by the Urban Land Institute are under way, including the development of a revitalization plan for the North Marina Area, a master plan for the Bluff/Coachman Park development and enhancing gateway signage to direct visitors downtown.
Mayor George Cretekos said he would have liked the ULI efforts to be farther along by now, but with the complexities of urban planning, patience is key.
"The main thing people need to understand is that this is a very methodical process," Cretekos said. "It's going to take us some time because we don't have a magic wand to say 'do it,' and it's going to get done."
One of the most sweeping projects include upgrades to the Bluff and Coachman Park area, which was jump-started last month when the City Council approved potential charter changes to allow development currently restricted in the area. The proposals to build a city-owned band shell with temporary seating, floating restrooms at the Municipal Marina, concessions for recreational equipment, and other changes, will go before voters March 15.
This week the City Council approved a request for proposals that will begin the process of hiring a consultant to help design a master plan for the Coachman Park area.
A consultant should be hired by March, which will help the city create a blueprint for what the Bluff/Coachman Park area should look like in the future.
"Everything is moving along expeditiously, we don't have any real delays, and I think everyone should be happy that it's moving forward," Assistant City Manager Rod Irwin said at a ULI update workshop of city leaders and residents Tuesday. "Now the big effort will be the Bluff master plan that will be the center of our public engagement efforts . . . for the next year, year and a half."
Since September 2014, the city has spent $576,861 on ULI efforts, Irwin said.
Resident Karen Cunningham said she is eager to see downtown development take off and wondered if having a stronger arts community could help foster that growth.
"It seems like a lot of the communities that have become very successful in Pinellas County have had a strong art component," she said at Tuesday's workshop. "We have a lot to offer, but the visual arts, I'd like to see more of that . . . I don't see us competing with Dunedin or St. Pete. I see it as an extension."
Clearwater Beach activist Anne Garris said she hopes Coachman Park remains an open, recreation space for the public to enjoy the natural beauty of the area.
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Explore all your options"Coachman Park is the only place where an average person with not a nickel to their name can go and see a wide open space of water," she said. "There's so much of it out there, but we have blocked so much of it that Coachman Park is the last place that's open to the public, and they don't have to spend money to go there."
Brian Aungst Jr., who served as chair of the committee that made charter recommendations to the council last month, said a comprehensive redevelopment plan may not be complete for the area until 2017 or later.
Once a master plan is written, any upgrades to the Bluff will have to go before voters for approval, in addition to the preliminary changes going on the ballot March 15.
He said, in the meantime, community input is key to creating a plan for the future.
"We wanted to build and maintain momentum for progress going through this process and we wanted the community to feel they are participating in a process that is ongoing and happening now as opposed to something that's happening later," he said Tuesday.
Other workshop participants said long-awaited changes to the Bluff could filter into downtown development by using Clearwater's waterfront to attract visitors.
"We see the future success of the downtown as inextricably linked to the fuller utilization of the Bluff as a magnet to attract tourism," said Downtown Development Board Chairman Paris Morfopoulos.
Contact Tracey McManus at tmcmanus@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4151. Follow @TroMcManus.