Florida city outraged after Church of Scientology demands right to take over entire STREET

Locals in Florida are outraged after city officials voted to vacate a public street and turn it over to the Church of Scientology despite months of pushback.

Thousands of residents in Clearwater have signed a petition to stop a block of South Garden Avenue from being taken over by the religious group after a narrow three-to-two vote on June 18.

The stretch of road has been at the center of controversy for over a year after the Church of Scientology disclosed plans to use the block for a massive event hall named after founder L. Ron Hubbard.

However, Save The Garden, an organization created by residents of the city, has banded together to challenge the recent ruling after claiming the acquisition is just the latest move to strengthen the group’s hold on Clearwater.

The Church of Scientology already owns more than 200 properties throughout the downtown area, according to WUSF.

Locals complain that many of those buildings are sitting vacant, making the once-vibrant city a ghost town.

The crown jewel of the religious group’s buildings is its massive headquarters, one of the largest in Clearwater, and borders South Garden Avenue.

The event center would seemingly be an addition to the already gargantuan property, and members of the church have stressed that the permanent street closure would make the auditorium safer.

But the battle over the block is only part of the underlying debate over Clearwater’s future as Scientology increases its grasp on the city.

‘We stand here not to discuss a street or to debate policies but to decide what Clearwater is and who it belongs to,’ downtown bar owner Tonatiuh Tello said at a city council meeting.

‘For too long the city has been shaped by hidden hands, silent deals and the system that thrives on secrecy.’

Save The Garden last updated their petition signature count to more than 9,000 on Instagram about two weeks ago.

Councilman Ryan Cotton, who voted to approve the street closure, believes that fighting needs to end to help revitalize downtown.

‘I think it’s time that we find a way in our city to unite, to accept each other for our differences, to find beauty in those, to build on our commonalities and our shared interests,’ Cotton said.

‘And make Clearwater the most unbelievable, beautiful city that we all know it can be.’

When the Church of Scientology originally attempted to acquire South Garden, they requested the area be vacated in exchange for $1.3million.

However, Save The Garden proposed $1.6million in a counteroffer and promised to build a memorial to black-owned businesses that helped build the area and promised to finish the construction in half the time.

Following the filing of the Save the Garden lawsuit which sought a preliminary injunction to stop the project, the request was denied by the federal court.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, the Church denied claims they were taking over the street. 

‘The Church has owned the underlying property for decades,’ they said. ‘The project was approved only after extensive public hearings, months of review and a vote of the Clearwater City Council.’ 

They added: ‘The subsequent federal lawsuit seeking to block the project was rejected because the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any substantial likelihood of success on their claims.’

In 2025, Councilman David Allbritton, who initially was skeptical of the religious group’s move to close the street, wrote a letter to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Allbritton asked who owned the street, whether it was Clearwater or the Church.

Uthmeier, who sits on a political committee that received a $1million donation from Patricia Duggan, a wealthy Florida Scientologist, according to campaign-finance records cited by the outlet, determined that the church likely owned the land beneath the South Garden.

Uthmeier’s spokesman told the Journal that Uthmeier weighed in on the dispute because he believed officials had engaged in First Amendment discrimination.

Several previous Florida attorneys general followed a guideline that weighing in on the duties of a local governmental body should be avoided unless a majority of members requested it.

According to the outlet, those guidelines were removed from the attorney general’s office website after appearing there as late as November 2025.

Uthmeier’s spokesman said that guidelines developed by previous attorneys general don’t apply to Uthmeier, and were removed as part of a website cleanup.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Save The Garden, Councilman Cotton, and Attorney General Uthmeier for comment.