Clearwater Downtown Development Board Meeting - April 20, 2026
Clearwater Downtown Development Board Meeting - April 20, 2026
The Downtown Development Board (DDB) of Clearwater met on Monday, April 20, 2026, at 1:00 PM in the Main Library Council Chambers. The meeting covered event recaps, funding requests for upcoming events, revisions to the Micro-Pop-up Grant program, a presentation on Cleveland Street activation, and scheduling a special meeting. All votes were unanimous unless noted.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (ID#26-0387): The minutes of the March 2, 2026 DDB meeting were approved unanimously.
- February 2026 Financial Statement (ID#26-0462): The financial statement was approved for filing unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- During the discussion of the Micro-Pop-up Grant revisions, Dan Mahoney (representing the Hello Cleveland Street series) and another downtown merchant from the 400 block spoke. They expressed appreciation for the microgrants and described the operational challenges of applying repeatedly, while supporting the program's continuation.
Discussion Items
- 4.1 St. Petersburg College Fresh Start Market Recap: SPC staff presented a recap of the Fresh Start Market held over six Friday nights. The event activated the 400 and 500 blocks of Cleveland Street, with high attendance on pleasant nights, though tracking was difficult due to multiple entry points. Board members thanked SPC for the partnership and suggested stronger student integration could improve turnout.
- 4.2 Cinco de Mayo Taco Fest Funding Request (ID#26-0460): Unimex requested $23,760 in High Impact Funding for a free event at Coachman Park on May 3, 2026. The event budget is $29,700 with projected revenue of $5,940. Expected attendance is 2,000 (down from 4,000 last year per Placer AI). The applicant cited political climate for the conservative estimate, but board members appreciated the honesty and expressed confidence in higher turnout. The motion passed unanimously.
- 4.3 Market Marie Funding Request (ID#26-0461): Blair Valentine, organizer, presented a recap of the monthly market (June 2025–Feb 2026) and requested $30,000 for the next 12-month series (June 2026–May 2027). The market features 130+ vendors, attracts over 5,000 customers per event, and draws 60,000 guests annually. Board members praised the event's success and alignment with DDB goals. The request was approved unanimously.
- 4.5 Revisions to Micro-Pop-up Grant Guidelines (ID#26-0474): Staff proposed transitioning from a pilot to a permanent program, simplifying the funding cap to $5,000 per event, expanding locations to the 600 block and Station Square Park, and limiting grants to three per organizer within 12 months. Debate centered on the three-grant limit. Council Member Tashida advocated for supporting proven successes rather than arbitrary limits, noting over $592,000 in unallocated funds. Staff clarified the intent is to encourage organizers to graduate to larger funding requests. The board voted to approve all amendments except the three-grant restriction, keeping the original language on frequency. The motion passed unanimously.
- 4.6 Cleveland Street Activation & Mobile Vendors Initiative: Eric Santiago, CRA Division Manager, presented a comprehensive update on the four focus areas: mobile vendors, special events, public art/pop-ups, and streetscaping/placemaking. Highlights included the pilot parklet project (two locations on 400/500 blocks), a landscape architecture strategy for the district, and a proposed ordinance amendment to allow daily mobile vending on the 400/500 blocks. The presentation was received with appreciation, and board members emphasized communication with brick-and-mortar businesses to avoid competition.
- 4.7 Special Meeting Scheduling (ID#26-0491): The board approved scheduling a special DDB meeting for Monday, May 18, 2026, at 1:00 PM to discuss marketing strategies with RBOA (the DDB's marketing firm). Approved unanimously.
Director's Report
- 5.1 Director’s Report for April 2026: Jay Sessions, CRA Executive Director, reviewed ongoing programs, including the First Friday Lunchtime Market (concluded), Symphony by the Sea (rescheduled to June 6, 2026), and Market Marie’s relocation during Country Thunder (May 8–10, 2026). Country Thunder will allow one re-entry so attendees can visit downtown businesses. Staff noted heavy lifting required to accommodate the last-minute event move, and board members expressed gratitude.
Key Outcomes
- Approved: Minutes (Feb 2026), Financial Statement (Feb 2026), Cinco de Mayo Taco Fest funding ($23,760), Market Marie funding ($30,000), Micro-Pop-up Grant revisions (with the three-grant limit removed), and scheduling special meeting (May 18, 2026). All votes were unanimous.
- Notable: The Micro-Pop-up program will become permanent; organizers may continue to apply without a hard three-grant cap. Staff will counsel successful organizers toward larger grant categories.
Meeting Transcript
Our downtown development board this time we'll move to item 2.1 on the agenda. Approve the minutes of March 2, 2026 downtown development board meeting. Is there a motion? Move to approve. Second. All those in favor? Those opposed? Unanimous. Now move to item three on the agenda. This is be heard regarding items not on today's downtown development board agenda. Is there anyone to be heard regarding a downtown development board business item that's not on today's agenda? Seeing none, we'll move to item 4.1. The St. Petersburg College Press Start Market Event Recap Presentation. Good afternoon, Big Shire, CR Division Manager. St. Petersburg College staff will be presenting an event recap for the Fresh Start Market, including the overview of the event, key highlights and outcome. And SP staff is here to present. Thank you, board. Yes. We have a beautiful presentation here for you. But St. Petersburg College would like to thank you again for your partnership and doing the Fresh Start Market for the Friday nights. We had Gay SBC students, and we had a good turnout on the nights that it was pleasant out. But what we did find out is tracking attendance was a little difficult because there's so many ways to enter into the event. But we did have a high attendance in that 400 and 500 block. Primarily, I think it was the 400 block that was a little bit further away from the water. Um tend to be a good place where the music was and we had the entertainment, so we had um a good attendance those nights. Um we had a great media and marketing event uh efforts by our um our partner here in Saturday Shops. She's here as well to support me in this report out. Um and through the we did a lot of reporting through the Titan Hub and Titan News. Um here's our social media strategy to show all the events and how we um you know the beautiful flowers that we use to get strongly with the audience and the community. Um the team, all of our team, and this is their first night. So as we move to tonight's Latin nights was a very popular night. The music brings people, um, food always brings the people, so we had a good attendance, uh student sealed drum player. So this kind of um pets night out was very popular as well, and then our salsa night um was one of the last nights along with the pre-world super bowl party, which is very chilly by the time we got to the end of the event. Um that's about all I have. I mean, what we do have is what worked and uh what we feel like um drew the crowds primarily, and that stronger attention to the 400 block. Uh it did reduce the restaurant traffic, and the the cultural events are always very popular as well. So I think that's all I have. Um, thank you for your partnership and allow me to be here for the team. That's it. Did you have questions? Yeah, questions from the board? Yeah, excuse me. Uh council member Tech Chair. Uh, first of all, I want to thank you for the presentation, and I want to thank formerly uh St. College for this partnership. Um reflecting on some of the earlier conversations that I specifically had with uh Dean Hernandez. I recall several discussions of a vision that um included a campus kickoff, a different timeline.
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