Firmenich Development Concerns Audubon Expert

Barbara Walker is very familiar with the Firmenich property. 

As a Clearwater resident and frequent traveller to the area, she has passed the old citrus center site on State Road 590 in Safety Harbor many times over the years. 

Recently Walker, the vice president of the Clearwater Audubon Society, has been worried about the fate of the 34-acre parcel, knowing the property is up for sale and a large-scale residential development has been proposed for the site.

“I’ve been looking at the Firmenich property for sale, I’ve passed it many times, and I’ve been dreading the day the bulldozers come,” Walker said. 

Walker, who deals primarily with habitats for birds of prey, cautions anyone who wants to build on the land to be aware of the environmental repercussions any development would have on the area.

“The property has a lot of long leaf pines. Those are super canopy trees that are important to bald eagles. Seeing those taken down would be very bad.” 

Walker said she got a call from a concerned citizen prior to last week's city commission meeting on the Richman Group’s proposal for the Firmenich property. 

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The resident asked her to provide her professional opinion on what kind of environmental impact the proposed development — a 276-unit residential apartment complex with 20,000 square feet of office space — might have on the area. 

Walker submitted a letter to the commission. But without having walked the property, she can’t be sure of what types of flora and fauna actually occupy the land. 

"There could be all sorts of birds of prey and rare plants there. People will have to be careful where they step."

She said regardless of what species are living there, any removal of trees could upset the delicate balance of the ecosystem.

“Go to Google Earth and anyone can see the Firmenich property forms a corridor between two undisturbed natural spots. It’s really a big concern if anything were to upset that balance.”

"There's a whole ecosystem back there and the developer needs to be careful about what they preserve."

Walker said she asked Robert Pergolizzi, the representative for the Richman Group of Florida, if she could take a tour of the property to see what kind of plants and animals are actually living there.

Pergolizzi told her he would have to consult with the owners of Firmenich, she said, and she has yet to hear back from them. However, she does credit the developer with attempting to preserve the wetland and natural tree buffers on the property, according to their proposal. 

“I think there was some effort on the developer’s part to do the right thing. It’s refreshing that they did that much,” she said. “But they could be a little more adaptive on how they develop the site."

“I get that they want to bring more development to Safety Harbor,” she added. “But I would think they would want to do it the right way without bringing harm to the wildlife.”

Related Content:

• Complete coverage of the Firmenich property saga