The Pinellas County Board of Adjustment and Appeals voted Sept. 3 to conditionally approve a Type 2 use modification to expand the Eastlake Recreation soccer complex at 3631 Old Keystone Road in East Lake Tarpon. The board approved the addition of three new soccer fields (bringing the site to five fields), nighttime field lighting and removal of earlier conditions on concessions, amplified sound and hours, while limiting weekday lighting to 9 p.m.

Staff told the board the application affects a 22.13-acre portion of a larger Facilities-Based Recreation (FBR) overlay and that current county code requires Type 2 approval for more than three fields and for nighttime lighting. The site already has two soccer fields and a parking lot; the county owns the property and Eastlake Recreation operates the fields under a license agreement that must be updated before site-plan approval.

Julia Burrows, the applicant representative, said the plan seeks to preserve wetlands and avoid the southern preserve area. "We designed this with the community in mind," Burrows said, adding that proposed lighting would follow local code, be hooded to prevent spill and would be shut off by 10 p.m. during initial discussions. Burrows told the board new fields will sit well back from neighboring properties, citing buffers of about 379 feet on the east, more than 300 feet from the road to the north, and more than 800 feet on the west.

Nearby residents raised objections about lighting, late-night noise, increased traffic and insufficient parking. Cher Gottman, a resident of Old Keystone Road, told the board the site is "not just empty land. It's really a living ecosystem" and warned of impacts on wildlife and flooding if wetlands are disturbed.

Mark Sanders, director of Eastlake Recreation, said the additional fields are needed for current demand and that teams use the fields for practices and occasional adult play. He described typical practice schedules running Monday through Thursday evenings and said occasional games can run into the evening hours.

Staff recommended conditional approval and listed required follow-up steps: a new site plan, all permits and fees, compliance with FBR standards, and amendment of Eastlake Recreation’s license agreement with the county before site-plan approval. The board amended the staff recommendation to limit weekday lighting to 9 p.m.; members discussed but did not impose additional numeric limits on the number of weekend events.

The motion to approve, made and seconded by board members, passed 5–1. The approval is conditional on site-plan review, county code compliance, lighting photometric plans demonstrating no spill onto adjacent properties, and required permits and fees. The license agreement between Eastlake Recreation and Pinellas County must be amended before site-plan approval and any operational details such as parking plans and traffic impact measures will be reviewed during the site‑plan phase.