The Church of Scientology and EVO Entertainment took one step closer to their proposed $50 million entertainment center in downtown Clearwater.
City council members voted 3-2 on Thursday night to approve the first reading of an ordinance that would vacate Grove Street, portions of Laura Street and a 15-foot alleyway in between.
The streets are part of the site planned for an 83,000-square-foot EVO Entertainment family entertainment center at Cleveland Street and Myrtle Avenue.
Myrtle Development LLC, the development firm tied to the Church of Scientology, requested the street handovers.
The project will feature movie theaters — including what it calls the largest screen in the world at over 130 feet in width and 70 feet in height — bowling, dining and an arcade.
Council members who voted in favor for the move were David Allbritton, Ryan Cotton and Mike Mannino. Councilwoman Lina Teixeira and Mayor Bruce Rector voted against it.
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Robert Potter, attorney and representative for the Church of Scientology, said giving up the streets is necessary to make the project possible.
“The purpose of the vacation is to support and facilitate the construction of what we think will be a world-class family entertainment center,” Potter said.
He said the street vacations would give the developer greater control over the site. Potter added that it would create a safer environment when the complex opens.
EVO Entertainment CEO Mitch Roberts was also in attendance to share the plan with the council.
He said a public street running between the project's parking area and the venue would create safety concerns.
“We cannot have our guests exposed to unsafe conditions when they come to our facilities,” he said. “We unequivocally cannot have a public street separating our parking lot and our venue.”
The proposal divided council members over how much of Clearwater's public street grid should be surrendered for private development.
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Mannino supported the vacation, describing it as an economic development tool rather than simply a transfer of public property.
“I don’t view this as the City of Clearwater giving away a street,” Mannino said. “I view it as Clearwater strategically leveraging a public asset to help unlock a much larger private investment in our downtown.”
He also pointed to Grove Street — which he said has been closed and barricaded since 2017 — and a nearby city-owned property that has been off the tax rolls for decades.
Meanwhile, Teixeira said she supports the entertainment center but opposed the site plan as presented because of the loss of an east-west connection through downtown.
“Every connection we eliminate places more importance on the connections that survive,” she said.
Teixeira proposed keeping Laura Street open or finding another way to keep an open route through the development. Those proposals were not added into the plan before the council.
“Buildings can be redesigned… site plans can be redesigned,” she said. “Public streets, not so much. Once they're gone, they're gone.”
Rector questioned whether permanently closing the streets was necessary, particularly because the proposed site plan includes roughly 400 surface parking spaces.
“This street and this the alley and Grove Street… they're in the parking lot,” Rector said. “It's not about the building... it’s about the parking.”
Rector said the city's downtown has limited space for future development and argued that a parking garage could provide a better use of the area while still allowing safe access between the parking area and entertainment center.
He also pointed to the city's downtown development plan, saying it calls for a street that is vacated to be replaced with another connection.
“[It] is not not good for our city,” he said. “And here we're being asked to do that twice here in recent history without replacing it with something else, without giving an additional avenue for uh somehow helping support our transit grid around the downtown.”
Albritton strongly criticized Rector's opposition, arguing the city should support the private investment.
“You should be bending over backwards for a $50 million investment into our downtown,” Albritton said. "But you're not doing it. I don't think you're doing your job."
Public comment leans in favor of the decision
The meeting also featured public comment — a majority of which was in favor of giving up the streets.
Michael Thrash, President of the American Culinary Federation Tampa Bay chapter, said the complex would be helpful to local businesses.
“We could do young culinary competitions there,” Thrash said. “We could have events where we teach young children.”
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Still, a few people spoke out against the plan.
Brooks Gibbs, campaign director for Save the Garden, urged the council to delay the vote.
He said a separate charter amendment petition is being circulated that would require voter approval for land transfers and right-of-way vacations in the downtown area.
“If you let the people vote to give away these streets or alleyways and a city lot for the development of a theater, they will take ownership of its success and ensure the project is successful through their patronage,” Gibbs said.
The council's vote was the first reading of the ordinance. A second reading will be required before the street vacations are finalized.
