The Clearwater City Council held a work session on Monday, May 18, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting began with a presentation of May Service Awards honoring Division Chief of EMS Anthony Tedesco for over two decades of service. The council then received an informational update on the Opportunity Zone 2.0 redesignation, discussed a proposed development agreement for the Palm Pavilion Hotel, and considered a citizen initiative petition. Numerous consent items were approved, including co-sponsorships for special events, sidewalk contract increases, equipment purchases, easement vacations, and contract extensions. Second readings of several annexation and zoning ordinances were also passed.
The following items were approved by unanimous consent without discussion:
Fire and rescue in May of 2001 and has served our community with unwavering commitment for more than two decades. During that time, he has risen through the ranks from firefighter EMT to lead medic, fire lieutenant, fire medic lieutenant, and fire EMS coordinator. In 2017, his leadership, experience, and dedication to excellence led to his promotion to division chief of EMS. Chief Gedesco exemplifies the highest standards of professional excellence and lifetime learning. He earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing, graduating cumulate, and holds a master's degree in management strategy and leadership from Michigan State University. As a graduate of the inaugural Executive Leadership Academy, he continues to serve as a mentor and role model for others, helping develop and inspire the next generation of EMTs and paramedics to perform at his highest level. His influence extends well beyond the city of Clearwater. Chief Tedesco is an active leader within the Florida Fire Chiefs Association, where he serves as co-chair of the EMS section. Locally, he paid he plays a vital role in strengthening countywide emergency medical services by chairing multiple committees focused on maintaining and improving the quality of care provided to residents. His leadership and expertise are also recognized at the state level, where he contributes to numerous EMS committees dedicated to advancing emergency medical services across Florida. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Chief Tedesco is known for his proactive spirit, collaborative leadership, and his commitment to the health and well-being of our workforce. He is supported by his husband Leo and their beloved dog Angel. Chief Tedesco's career reflects the very principles of a high performing government and our commitment to providing superior public service. Through his leadership, innovation, and dedication to continuous improvement, he has strengthened emergency medical services for our community while maintaining future leaders and advancing best practices across the region and the state. His work ensures that residents and visitors alike receive the highest level of care where they need the most, embodying the city of Clearwater's mission to serve with excellence, professionalism, and compassion. Thank you, Tony. Congratulations, Chief. Thank you for your service to the City of Clearwater. Okay, with that, we'll move to item 3.1 on our agenda. Informational update on opportunity zone 2.0 redesignation and nomination submission census tracks 258, 262, 264.01, and 264. So much. Today's presentation really provides an informational update regarding the city's opportunity 2.0 nomination and redesignation efforts. So to brought you a brief overview of what we're actually presenting on. It's generally just given a general overview. Obviously, there is an existing opportunity zone within the city of Clearwater that mostly consists of the downtown Clearwater area. However, we'll get into the details of why that one was not renominated. We'll give you a quick uh kind of idea comparison between 1.0 iteration and the 2.0 iteration, as well as why read redesignation matters, as well as the process, the timeline, what census tracks we all we we ultimately selected to potential opportunities on opportunity zone investment areas, and of course uh the next steps. So uh a general overview is that opportunity zones basically the first iteration of it was created under the 2017 federal tax cuts and jobs at the Trump administration and as a federal government uh economic development program to uh encourage investors to reinvest capital gains uh in those economically distressed areas and and really just serve as another tool ultimately uh in the economic development toolbox to encourage more private investment in economically distressed areas of the city or in communities across the country. And so obviously we have an existing designation. If you were to go on our website and under economic development and GIS Web Tech, you'll see under our special incentive areas, this is actually one of those designations that we currently have. We've had it since the 2017 Act. The existing downtown Clearwater Opportunity Zone designation is pictured to your screen to the right there. That is a kind of a overview of the area. It's really Census Track 259, but if you break it down, you'll see it'll say 259.01 and 259.02. This is really generally just a real quick snapshot of how the processes generally work. You have a qualified opportunity zone, and right now we don't have one for 2.0, we have one for 1.0. That's that's a given for 1.0, but the 2.0 is what we need to be redesignated and nominated based on current data. As it stands now, all communities in the state of Florida that have expressed interest in 2.0 have had to submit an application to the state of Florida to Department of Commerce, which ultimately gets decided upon by Governor DeSantis, who will make the recommendation as other governors around the country to then go and make their recommendations as part of a package to U.S. Treasury to confirm. Next, you would create what is called a qualified opportunity fund. And usually that is private equity. That is a private run fund that is formed. It is an investment restrictions would apply based on the current tax code and the way things are structured there. It is formally structured, usually as a partnership or a corporation. And then we segue into what are the eligible investments under the opportunity zone from 1.0 and it's business and real estate project investments. They must be an opportunity qualified opportunity zones, which is our role in the process of looking to nominate and compete to get that designation. The capital gains reinvested would be then reinvested back into that designated zone. And it would encourage more long-term investment. So the big question there, why not uh include downtown Clearwater? Existing downtown Clearwater was evaluated under the new criteria, new guidelines for the federal economic uh development eligibility criteria of opportunity zones, and it no longer qualified based on those data sets.