Parking and Bird Protection on Clearwater Council AgendaBy Anne McKay GarrisOnce again, a location for a Clearwater Beach parking garage, as well as the topic of banning dogs on the beach, will be before the Clearwater City Council at tonight's meeting. Audubon Society members will be on hand with evidence of the damage dogs do to nesting birds. Also a list of possible sites for a Beach parking garage will be presented. At Monday's Council work session, Councilmember John Doran suggested that the temporary state permit to allow parking on the west end of Memorial Causeway should be slated to expire when 400 public spaces at the parking garage portion of the newly built Aqualea Hotel becomes available. Since the temporary permit for Causeway parking dates back at least ten years, and expanded several times, the newer Council members were not aware that it was done by temporary State permit. All of them were taken unawares when City Manager Bill Horne informed them that staff was working on plans to blacktop the lots on the causeway and put parking meters on them. Although the subject of the Causeway parking lots is not on tonight's agenda, it is possible it will come up for discussion in light of the revelations at Monday's work session.
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