Clearwater Council Reviews Possible Sites For New City Hall

CLEARWATER, FL — After spending two years ensconced in a leased 13,200-square-foot space on the sixth floor of the One Clearwater Tower office building, the Clearwater City Council is ready to get some digs of its own.

This month the city council began the process of reviewing potential sites for a new city hall to replace the original city hall at 112 S. Osceola Ave., which was built in 1966. The old city hall sits on prime real estate on the historic bluffs of Downtown Clearwater next to Coachman Park overlooking Clearwater Harbor.

The 55-year-old building lies within the city's Imagine Clearwater project designed to revitalize the city's waterfront district. Rather than update and remodel the old city hall, the council agreed the property is too valuable to be used as a government building and would better serve the city as part of the Imagine Clearwater redevelopment effort. The council plans to tear it down and sell the property to development investors.

In the meantime, the council hired Harvard Jolly Architects of Tampa in March to scope out alternative sites and do feasibility studies for either a standalone city hall or a combined city hall and municipal services building.

The architectural firm is assessing 10 sites:

• Myrtle Avenue West at Court and Pierce streets south of the Municipal Services Building.
• Myrtle Avenue between Park and Pierce streets.
• Thee former Walgreens at the northeast corner of Myrtle Avenue and Cleveland Street.
• A lot owned by the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.
• A Community Redevelopment Agency parcel at Cleveland Street and Betty Lane,
• The Frank Crum Property at Missouri Avenue and Gould Street.
• The site of the Main Library.
• IDatix at Court Street and Gulf to Bay Boulevard
• The Court/Chestnut streets triangle.
• Nall Lumber Co. at Drew and Laura streets.

Gina Clayton, director of planning and development for the city, said each site was selected to accommodate different needs and configurations.

Courtesy City of Clearwater

Some would allow construction of a two-story standalone city hall with surface parking. Others could combine city hall and municipal services into a multi-story city government center with either surface parking or a parking garage.

Mayor Frank Hibbard said he's long been in favor of moving city hall into the Main Library at 100 N. Osceola Ave., which contains 90,000 square feet, much more space than the library needs. The city could then build a new library elsewhere or incorporate both the library and city hall in one building.

"We built a 90,000-square-foot library and it was only supposed to be 64,000 square feet," Hibbard said. "Libraries don’t need as much space as they did in 2000."

Councilmember Mark Bunker Bunker said he sees no need to replace the current Municipal Services Building at 100 S. Myrtle Ave.

"Is there really a need for a new municipal services building?" he asked. "It seems like a fine building to me."

But councilmember David Albritton said the city is looking to create a Municipal Services Building that's more customer friendly, and this would be the ideal time to do it. The city then could sell the Myrtle Avenue site for redevelopment.

The city is also looking at a 2-acre site on Park Street owned by the PSTA being which is considering it for a new bus terminal, two lots already owned by the city and three properties owned by limited liability companies tied to the Church of Scientology.

Hibbard said the information was too voluminous to digest at a single council meeting and suggested that the council host a special meeting devoted to the new city hall.

In the meantime, the council is preparing for a workshop July 28 at 9 a.m. to discuss the city's proposed $152.1 million 2020-21 budget with public hearings set for Sept. 3 and Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.

The majority of funding (52 percent) is for police, fire and emergency services.

The council agreed to set the same millage rate as last year: 5.955 mills. One mill represents $1,000 of the assessed value of a property.

Courtesy City of Clearwater