A Clearwater group has collected more than 7,300 signatures to challenge the City Council’s 3-2 decision to vacate a stretch of South Garden Avenue for the Church of Scientology.

Save the Garden needed 7,067 valid signatures. It has already cleared that number, with a Sept. 16 deadline still ahead. After that, the city clerk will verify the petitions. If they hold up, the council must reconsider Ordinance 9907-26. If the council does not repeal it, the ordinance goes to the voters.

The June vote handed the church one downtown block so it can fold the roadway into its long-planned L. Ron Hubbard Hall and plaza. The church and affiliates already own a large share of downtown property. Council members David Allbritton, Ryan Cotton, and Mike Mannino voted yes. Mayor Bruce Rector and Council member Lina Teixeira voted no. Cotton, a firefighter, said public safety was his deciding factor. Critics said closing a public street served no public purpose.

The money trail is what turned a land-use fight into a process fight. The council had earlier approved a vacation tied to a payment of roughly $1.3 million to $1.4 million. That deal collapsed after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier weighed in, arguing the church most likely already held the underlying interest and should not have to buy the road. The city then vacated the street for nothing. That sequence is why residents are not only trying to unwind this transfer. They are circulating a second petition that would require voter approval before the city gives away streets or land downtown again.

Brooks Gibbs, the campaign director, put it plainly: get Garden Avenue back as a public street, then change the charter so the city cannot repeat the move without the public. Volunteer Patt Tiemeier said the whole city, not just part of it, should have a say in what happens downtown.

The timing matters. The city has already scheduled a Sept. 17 discussion on vacating Laura Street, Grove Street, and an alley. Gibbs wants those plans paused until residents vote on the charter question. That is a reasonable demand even if one accepts the council’s legal theory on Garden Avenue. Giving away public right-of-way is not a routine building permit. Once a street is gone, it is gone.

This is not a referendum on anyone’s religion. It is a referendum on whether five people on a dais should be able to extinguish a public street, especially after the price dropped from more than a million dollars to zero. Large landowners, churches included, have every right to apply for vacations. Taxpayers have every right to insist that public streets stay public unless voters agree otherwise.

The clerk will count the names. If the petitions are sufficient, Clearwater will either reverse course or let the public decide. That is how local government is supposed to work when the asset on the table belongs to everyone.

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