Honeymoon Island State Park

Address to Dunedin Council of Organizations
Honeymoon Pavilion
November 20, 2009

For those of you who follow City business, you may have noticed that in recent years, and for the first time in the City’s history, the Commission has made economic development a top priority.  Part of that economic development will be promoting Dunedin as a destination for local, regional and national visitors and these islands and our other waterfront assets will certainly be part of that effort.

Let me talk briefly about our nascent efforts at tourism marketing.  Obviously, our local hoteliers and restaurateurs have been involved in this for a while.  More recently, a broader segment of people have taken notice of the importance to our economic health of tourism marketing.   For the past couple of years, an informal group of business owners, downtown merchants, members of the Chamber of Commerce, representatives of our cultural institutions,  City staff and the Park Manger for Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands have been meeting as the “Tourism Marketing Committee” and have led a successful effort to more broadly promote Dunedin as a visitor destination. 

I have been pleased to be part of this effort because of my representation on the Tourist Development Council, an advisory board to the Board of County Commissioners and its Convention and Visitors Bureau.  In each of the last two years, the Visitors Bureau provided the Chamber of Commerce, for the benefit of the entire City, $30,000 in cooperative funding for materials to help promote Dunedin as a destination.

Next month, this group will be making a presentation, and proposal, to the City Commission that it move forward with a process for developing a “brand” for the City.  What is a community brand?  Most simply, it is a perception, an identity, a definition of a place. It is not a slogan or logo by but a slogan or a logo may help create a visual identity for the brand and help communicate the brand to the world.  The process for developing a brand will involve inventorying the City’s major attractions, major assets and its people. It will be inclusive of the broader community and will involve the participation by a wide variety of stakeholders.  This process will help the City define itself and then live that definition through its messages and actions.  One of the benefits of a brand is that it will differentiate us from other communities as a destination for visitors.  I think this will be a very exciting step for our City and I encourage everyone here to “stay tuned.”

I am sure that our waterfront will be identified as a major attraction and asset.  Pete [Peter Krulder, Park Manager for Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands]  will be talking about our islands.  Let me address our other waterfront gems.

Over the last several years, a number of efforts have resulted in the Causeway looking better and being a little more ecologically friendly.  Last year, the City and the County collaborated on resolutions designating the Causeway as a Pinellas Greenway.  We are now exploring the possibility of the Causeway being designated a Florida Scenic Highway under a Florida Department of Transportation Program.  We are hoping that may open the way for grant opportunities.

I have long thought that Causeway Blvd., as an entryway to the Causeway itself and then to Honeymoon Island, deserves a lot more attention than it has gotten in the past.  Well, the past couple of years it has been getting attention.  A new sidewalk on the north side of that street and several crosswalks with flashing lights has made the boulevard far more walkable and pedestrian friendly.  Work has begun on decorative entry signs and landscaping on the corners where Walgreens and the Amoco station are.  Planting and landscaping of the medians between Alt. 19 and the water begin next month.

As part of the City’s planning for the 21^st century and for economic development, a corridor study for Causeway Blvd. begins next month.  The work, expected to be completed next May, will help the City and area residents decide the type and course of development on Causeway Blvd.

A similar process will begin late next year for the Marina and surrounding area.  This will dovetail nicely with one of the recommendations of the updated Master Plan for the Community Redevelopment District that takes us out to 2018.  One of the stated Goals in that plan is to leverage the marina and adjacent waterfront as an integral downtown asset and the corridor study for this area may be looking at enhancing its connectivity to Main Street and redefining the preferred land uses, development density/intensity, form and function and aesthetic appeal. 

I have chosen today to focus on our waterfront assets.  The efforts underway in the Causeway and Marina areas are just two of the many projects – from the various corridor studies, to overhauling our codes to ensure our citizens get the community they want, to protecting our increasingly fragile environment - in various stages of development throughout the City.  When these efforts come to fruition, they will help define Dunedin for many years to come.  We started on this journey in 2005 when, with the help and input from citizens like you, we formulated a Vision Statement for our community.  That Vision – retaining our unique, small, coastal town ambience - has been the touchstone of our work since then.