A successful citizen petition will not result in a Clearwater referendum after the City Council voted against reconsidering its decision involving South Garden Avenue and the Church of Scientology.
Save the Garden organized the petition after Clearwater approved vacating part of the downtown street for a development connected to the church. Organizers collected more than 10,000 signatures, of which 7,577 were verified as valid. The city required 7,067 signatures for the petition to qualify.
Nevertheless, the council voted 3-2 on November 5 to stop the process. Vice Mayor Ryan Cotton and councilmembers Mike Mannino and David Allbritton supported taking no further action. Mayor Bruce Rector and Councilmember Lina Teixeira opposed that decision.
The decision quickly generated suspicion in a discussion on Reddit. One commenter bluntly asked, “How many Scientologists are on the Clearwater City Council?” No evidence presented in the discussion established that councilmembers belonged to the church, but the question reflected the distrust surrounding the vote.
Councilmembers said their decision was based on state law rather than the petition’s popularity. An opinion delivered by the Florida Attorney General’s Office concluded that referendums cannot be used to reverse certain land-development decisions.
The Church of Scientology welcomed the outcome, declaring that “the law has prevailed.” Petition organizers have taken the opposite position and are considering a court challenge.
Clearwater residents successfully gathered more signatures than the city charter required. Whether those signatures can legally produce a vote may now be decided by a judge rather than the council—or the voters who signed the petition.
