CLEARWATER, Fla. — The fight over keeping part of South Garden Avenue open as a public street is continuing in Clearwater. Now, grassroots group Save the Garden has filed a lawsuit against the city.
The lawsuit alleges the group completed all the "necessary steps" to trigger a provision in the city's charter requiring action on the issue through a referendum.
It also claims the city is refusing to comply with that requirement, despite having a clear legal obligation to do so.
The legal action follows the Clearwater City Council's decision not to reverse its decision to vacate part of South Garden Avenue for the Church of Scientology.
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Save the Garden collected enough verified signatures opposing the street vacation to trigger the city's charter provision, a threshold confirmed by the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections.
Despite that, the city chose not to reverse its decision. An opinion letter from the Office of Florida's Attorney General concluded that state statute prohibits Clearwater from applying its referendum process to the petitio
However, Save the Garden says otherwise, prompting the group to take the dispute to court.
Brooks Gibbs, campaign director for Save the Garden, said the group believes city officials are violating the law.
"In the end, mark my words, the very guys that say they care about obeying the law are actually breaking the law right now, and a judge will tell them so," Gibbs said.
The lawsuit now puts the dispute before the courts as the group continues its effort to keep the portion of South Garden Avenue public.
Tampa Bay 28 contacted the City of Clearwater for comment. City officials said they had not yet been served with the lawsuit and in any case, do not comment on pending litigation.
A copy of the lawsuit can be found below:
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