Longtime Clearwater residents near The Landings golf course are pushing back against a city-backed plan to convert the greenspace into a multi-use recreation center, arguing that City Hall’s redevelopment ambitions threaten to upend a quiet residential neighborhood that never signed up for the change.

Neighbors say they aren’t opposed to development outright — but they want any future use of the land to preserve the green space that has defined the area for decades, rather than hand it over to a project shaped largely by developers and city officials.

Natalie Waterman, who lives near the golf course, said her top concern is what the project would do to traffic and the character of a neighborhood that was never zoned for high-volume commercial activity. “This neighborhood will not be residential anymore,” Waterman said. “You don’t put something like this in a residential neighborhood.”

Fellow neighbor Robin Benoit said residents simply want the basics that drew them to the area in the first place. “People these days want the basics, and the big thing is green space, trees … quality of water and things like that,” Benoit said, adding that the current proposal misses that mark.

Waterman put the stakes in stark terms, saying she’s prepared to leave the community she has invested in for years if the city moves forward as planned. “I want to stay in this neighborhood, but I will not live with the wall and Astroturf and all this traffic and people coming from other states in and out and restaurants and ruining my whole neighborhood,” she said — a pointed reminder that decisions made at City Hall carry real consequences for the taxpayers who actually live with them.

Not every voice in the debate opposes the project. One resident who addressed the Aug. 6 City Council meeting argued the development could help retain younger residents. “If we want young people to stay here, build careers here and raise families here, we have to give them reasons to,” the resident said, calling the project “a step in that direction.”

Developers indicated at that meeting they were adjusting their plans in response to neighborhood pushback. Developer Les Porter, in a statement, emphasized that his team is composed of Clearwater-based companies. “This project will be developed by Locals for Locals,” Porter said, accepting the city’s decision on how to proceed while expressing confidence in the proposal.

The city remains in a solicitation window for developer proposals through 10 a.m. on Sept. 21. As of Monday afternoon, no additional proposals beyond the original recreation-center submission had been received, according to Assistant City Manager Alfred Battle. Depending on the response, the City Council may revisit the matter in October, though no meeting date has been set.

For now, the process leaves residents in a familiar position: watching a land-use decision unfold on the city’s and developers’ timeline, with no guarantee their objections will reshape a plan that could permanently alter their neighborhood.

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Google, & X

St. Pete-Clearwater Sun: local St. Pete-Clearwater & Tampa Bay, FL news at PIE-Sun.com