Clearwater officials on Monday scheduled a special session to discuss the Church of Scientology’s plans for development downtown, following the announcement of a proposed entertainment complex City Council members said was met with misinformation and confusion.
The meeting is planned for May 28 at 5 p.m. in the Clearwater Main Library downtown, Council member Mike Mannino said.
An official agenda has not been set. Mannino, who proposed the meeting, said he wants to discuss multiple items, including projects on Cleveland Street and the entertainment center.
Scientology last month submitted requests to obtain portions of two streets, an alleyway and a city-owned parcel for the proposed entertainment complex. The application said “the development cannot be implemented” without approval of the requests.
The project is a partnership between a Texas-based entertainment company and the Cleveland Street Alliance, which is a limited liability company the church uses for development downtown.
According to news releases, the complex will have “the largest cinema screen on earth.“ The Cleveland Street Alliance announced Monday demolition of five buildings on the project site was underway. Plans for the entertainment complex date to at least 2017.
“The volume and persistent messaging suggests a level of certainty that just isn’t there, especially with the theater,” council member Lina Teixeira said. “The required reviews, land acquisitions, vacations and approvals, they haven’t been done.”
There’s particular confusion regarding who or what entity is behind the Cleveland Street Alliance, which formed in 2022. Scott Dobbins, founder and principal of a commercial real estate firm in Tampa, is the manager of the limited liability company.
Most companies building projects downtown let the city know their plans ahead of time, Mayor Bruce Rector said, but that didn’t happen with the theater.
“It’s put the five of us in a difficult spot,” Rector said. “We’re certainly, because of all the publicity, getting a lot of questions from the community about it, and we just don’t know. No one’s explained to me how all these entities are involved together.”
Companies with ties to the church have purchased more than 200 properties in Clearwater’s downtown, the Tampa Bay Times has reported. They have remained mostly empty and have stifled development downtown.
But a number of construction projects are finally underway, which the city has described as an urban renaissance.
Vice Mayor Ryan Cotton, while supportive of holding a special session, said the council should not be “hawkish” toward the entertainment complex.
“I don’t know why we would try and deter that or be negative towards it in any way, even if we don’t have all of the information,” Cotton said.
The church, which has international spiritual headquarters in downtown Clearwater, also resubmitted a request to obtain a portion of South Garden Avenue from the city. The church said it needs the roadway for a long-planned event hall.
The City Council initially approved the transfer last year, but the church pulled its application before a final vote in the face of public opposition.
Although the request would be considered during a future City Council meeting, city staff in the special meeting may discuss where the city is in the process.
Council member David Allbritton said he and the community are skeptical because of the church’s “decades of secrecy” and “their history of acquiring property without any clear public intent.”
“I am excited that finally things are happening,” Allbritton said. “Let’s have them come in and tell us what’s happening and be more public facing about it. Because it needs to be.”
