The Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition, Sierra Club Suncoast Group and North Pinellas League of Women Voters have all signed on to say “no” to this ballot referendum asking voters to decide whether the Landings Golf Course should be redeveloped into a light industrial manufacturing complex. If passed, the land would be leased to a developer to build roughly 710,000 square feet of industrial facilities on approximately 58 acres of the property, along with eight acres of parkland and a 12-acre driving range, adjacent to several residential neighborhoods. But in a message to CL, opponents of the measure said there was little neighborhood input before council voted to push the ballot initiative. Proponents of the push say the proposed park could net benefits of up to $9.7 million for the city, but critics say “the projected jobs and corresponding salaries provided as rational for this project are speculative and arguable.” What’s more is that the land could be better used as multi-purpose playing fields. And the environmental benefits of keeping green space far outweigh those of building another industrial park.
“And let’s not ignore the ‘elephant in the room’: the unique risk Clearwater/Pinellas residents face from the parallel and ever-worsening threats of climate disruption and species loss, which is being driven primarily by land use decisions,” Bay area activist David Sillman wrote in a letter to CL. “If there was ever a time & place to think globally and act locally, this is it.”
Find the land elsewhere.
See all of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s 2020 recommendations here.
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This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2020.