City of Clearwater seeks public comment on future of North Marina area

Tucked away just blocks north of downtown Clearwater is a neighborhood with vacant retail spaces, a former elementary school and commercial real estate waiting to be leased. Called the North Marina area, the neighborhood now seeks a promising future with help from the city and a Tampa consulting firm.
 
The area, 64 acres from Clearwater Bay to the Pinellas Trail between Cedar Street and Eldridge Street, is most notable for being the home to the Francis Wilson Playhouse, the Seminole boat launch and the historic now vacant North Ward Elementary School.
 
In order to revitalize the area and transform it into the neighborhood residents want it to be, the city of Clearwater is hosting three meetings to get feedback on their North Marina area master plan.  
 
One of the ideas the city is proposing is taking advantage of the waterfront, and making the area more boater-friendly.
 
“The access to the water that is already there is something we really need to capitalize on,” says City Planner Katie See at the city of Clearwater. “There aren’t too many public access areas for boats along the Clearwater harbor, so it would be nice to expand that area and have places for visitors and boaters to go to once they dock.”
 
See goes on to say that community input is a very important to the process. Therefore, participation from residents at the three meetings is essential.
  
The schedule for the community meetings is as follows:

• Aug. 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided.
• Sept. 16 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. The second meeting will be a planning and design charrette/public workshop. Heavy appetizers will be provided.
• Oct. 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided.

All of the meetings will be held at the North Greenwood Recreation Center, 900 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.
 
“All of the meetings build upon the other,” See says. “So while it’s not mandatory that people attend all three meetings, it helps to understand the process if you can attend all the meetings. We made sure to schedule them in the evening so they wouldn’t get in the way of work or school.”
 
The first meeting will be a town hall style community meeting, with all of the data and analysis given to the attendants. There will also be a survey where participants can provide feedback. The second meeting, will be more interactive with the Tampa consulting firm Stantec on hand to facilitate work sessions with citizens on the design and development. During the final meeting, Stantec will present all of the information and recommendations to participants to create a plan.