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Dunedin LPA recommends contracting 0.7‑acre Main Street parcel to allow Largo Medical Center ER
Summary
The Local Planning Agency recommended approval of ordinance 25‑03 to contract (de‑annex) about 0.7 acres at 2201 Main Street so the site can be developed as a unified freestanding emergency care facility with utility service from Clearwater; staff cited infrastructure costs and jurisdictional fragmentation as drivers of the recommendation.
The Local Planning Agency on April 9 recommended that the City Commission approve ordinance 25‑03 to contract approximately 0.7 acres of real property at 2201 Main Street (Pinellas County tax parcel 30‑28‑16‑00032.0‑002) and return it to unincorporated Pinellas County so the property can be annexed and developed by the City of Clearwater as part of a unified site for a freestanding emergency facility proposed by Largo Medical Center.
Staff said the change is intended to allow unified permitting, utilities and code enforcement under Clearwater rather than split systems between Dunedin and Clearwater. "The request here is to construct a new, emergency care medical facility on the Southeast Corner," said George Kenny, Community Development Department. Nan Bennett, Dunedin utilities and engineering director, said: "When it was a used car lot, Pinellas County provided water, and the City of Dunedin provided the sewer." The applicant said Clearwater utilities are best positioned to serve the site.
Why it matters: staff and the applicant said building a freestanding emergency room with utilities split between jurisdictions would require substantial infrastructure upgrades and complicate long‑term maintenance and enforcement. Nan Bennett estimated that upgrading the existing small force main and related onsite improvements to serve the proposed facility would require roughly $500,000 in capacity upgrades (including a new or enlarged lift station and 1,700 feet of pipe), and Dunedin staff noted the city previously invested about $30,000 in a 2014 redevelopment of the site.
Staff presented planning and financial considerations: the parcel lies within Clearwater's service boundaries for water and sewer in county plans, and the parcel is an outlying sliver east of Belcher Road that staff characterized as inconsistent with Dunedin's planning pattern. The 2024 TRIM notice showed roughly $3,000 in city tax revenue on the parcel while a prior structure stood there; staff said that amount would be modest relative to the cost of required infrastructure improvements if the parcel remained in Dunedin.
The applicant, represented by Katie Cole of Hill Ward Henderson, said the project has been worked on with both Clearwater and Dunedin for two years and that contracting the parcel would permit a unified development plan without an impractical developer cost for long sewer runs. Dunedin staff said the contract would return the parcel to unincorporated county control, after which Clearwater would pursue annexation.
The Local Planning Agency approved the recommendation to contract the parcel by voice vote with one recorded opposition.
Next steps: if the City Commission approves the ordinance, the parcel would be returned to unincorporated Pinellas County and the City of Clearwater would need to complete its own annexation and permitting process; utility upgrades and construction would proceed under Clearwater’s jurisdiction.
