New Slip Leases and New Street for South Beach PlannedBy Anne McKay GarrisTwo items on tonight's Clearwater City Council meeting should be of interest to boat owners and pedestrians at Clearwater Beach. A new street, to be named 2nd Street, will be approved to extend from Coronado to South Gulfview. It will be located halfway between where 1st Street and 3rd Street used to be. Both of these streets were vacated earlier, to allow the Hyatt Hotel and the planned project to the north of the Hyatt, called the Kiran Grand Resort and Spa, to be developed. This left people along Coronado and Hamden Drives, as well as the people staying on the South Beach fingers, with a sizeable hike if they wanted to walk to the beach. 2nd Street will help that! When the City agreed to vacate 1st Street for the Kiran Grand Resort and Spa, it was because the street bisected the property. Part of the agreement was that, in return for the vacation of 1st Street, the developers agreed to transfer to the City, 12,000 square feet at the south of their property for the building of 2nd Street. The land was conveyed to the City in March of 2006, along with a minimum of $241,500 for the cost of developing the new street. The roadway was built entirely with private funding except for the relocation of public utilities. At tonight's Council meeting, the new street will be accepted and established as public right-of-way and, once again the people on the east side of south Clearwater Beach will have reasonable access to the Gulf of Mexico. A new monthly recreational license agreement for boaters wishing to use City of Clearwater docks, at the Clearwater Beach Marina, on Island Estates or at the new downtown docks is also on tonight's Council agenda. City Staff reports that deposits have been placed on 30 of the 126 Downtown Boat Slips, and the monthly average of vacancies in the combined Clearwater Beach Marina and Island Estates docks is about 30. According to the staff report, "It is hoped the changes will make slip rental more attractive to tenants without adding additional regulations or restrictions even as it protects the City's interest."
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