A $179.6 million proposal to replace a family-run golf course on 77 acres of city-owned land in Clearwater is drawing opposition from neighbors as the city considers competing plans for the property.

An evaluation committee met Thursday, Oct. 1, to review proposals for the Landings Golf Course property and determine the next steps. The Clearwater City Council's next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14, though the city has not posted an agenda confirming the Landings proposals will be considered at that meeting.

Nick Huston, owner of the Landings Golf Club at 1875 Airport Drive, said his family has operated the course since 2000. "My grandfather and my uncle started it, and now the third generation is running it," Huston told WTSP in a Sept. 29 report.

The city owns the property. Clearwater Golf Associates operates the golf course under a lease with the city that runs through February 2029.

$179.6 million plan would add fields, courts and pools

Clearwater Golf Associates submitted a competing proposal to keep the property as a golf course, WTSP reported. The original redevelopment proposal, involving Clearwater-based Porter Development LLC and Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment LLC, would transform the property into a sports, recreation and entertainment complex.

Plans call for 13 multipurpose fields, 24 covered pickleball courts, 12 sand volleyball courts, two putting courses, pools, a lazy river, water slides and fitness and wellness facilities, according to Tampa Bay Business & Wealth.

The City Council voted Aug. 6 to accept the proposal as a qualifying project for further consideration and directed staff to seek competing proposals. The vote did not approve construction or award the project to the development team.

The city subsequently opened a 30-day solicitation period for competing plans. Proposals were due Sept. 21.

The proposed project's estimated $179.6 million cost would be financed with about $108 million in private debt, $26.9 million in private equity and roughly $45 million the development team hopes to obtain from Pinellas County tourist development taxes. The county funding has not been secured.

City reviews identified issues that would need to be addressed as the proposal advances, while residents have raised concerns about traffic, stormwater, environmental effects and the property's proximity to Clearwater Airpark.

About 20 acres of the property contain a former landfill, according to the Tampa Bay Beacons. The development team has said it would pursue a brownfield designation as part of efforts to clean up and redevelop potentially contaminated portions of the property.

The development team also has revised parts of its plan in response to community concerns.

Voters rejected an earlier redevelopment plan

This is not the first redevelopment fight involving the property. In 2020, Clearwater voters rejected a referendum that would have allowed most of the golf course to be leased for an industrial development. Residents formed Keep Keene Green to oppose that proposal, and the group remains active in opposition to the current plan, the Tampa Bay Beacons reported.

Developer Les Porter also pursued a sports complex in Largo. Voters there rejected a proposed sale of city-owned property for that project in a 2022 referendum.

Neighbor Natalie Waterman told Tampa Bay 28 in an Aug. 24 report that traffic topped her list of concerns.

"My No. 1 concern is traffic," Waterman said. "This neighborhood will not be residential anymore. It's going to be congested. You don't put something like this in a residential neighborhood."

City says current proposal does not require referendum

City staff determined that a public referendum is not required for the current proposal because the sports complex would be consistent with the property's existing open space and recreational use. The 2020 proposal required a referendum because it would have changed the property's use.

Mayor Bruce Rector recused himself from the Aug. 6 council vote because he serves as general counsel for The Sports Facilities Companies, a Clearwater-based management company that would operate the proposed complex.

The Oct. 1 evaluation committee meeting was intended to review the proposals received and determine the next steps. As of Oct. 2, the city had not posted the committee's final evaluation or announced which proposal would advance.