CLEARWATER – The Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved on April 8 an application from the city of Clearwater to construct a 42-slip commercial dock in a boat basin off of Mandalay Channel.
The project will be constructed on 4.26 acres on the southeast corner of the intersection of Mandalay Avenue and Bay Esplanade in partnership with a private mixed-use Sandpearl Resort development.
According to the application, the site has about 1,024 feet of waterfront frontage on Clearwater Harbor. It is located adjacent to the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center with a recreation building on the east with basketball courts, pool and tennis courts on the west and a parking lot in between.
According to the agreement, Sandpearl developers will pay for the construction of the 1,343 square-foot dock. In return 27 of the boat slips will be leased to Sandpearl, leaving 15 public day slips available for the general public, plus three transient slips that also will be used by Sandpearl.
The project required a public hearing due to the required variance because the structure will exceed the 500 square feet required for administrative approval. Also, the slips will be placed beyond the seagrass growth area.
The boat basin is shared by Belle Harbor and a letter of no objection was received from the Belle Harbor Owner’s Association prior to the public hearing. County staff reported that no other parties would be impacted by the dock as there is no general navigation in the basin.
The proposed structure has been designed to minimize environmental impacts by designing around the seagrass beds and locating the walkout in an opening in the mangroves.
No one spoke in opposition to the dock’s construction during the April 8 public hearing, and no opposition was heard at a March 3 administrative hearing.
