DUNEDIN, FL., April 16, 2006- The fate of the Schiller campus already had the town talking, but now the buzz has shifted into a high-profile showdown.

In recent weeks residents have attended City Commission meetings, carrying signs that read "No 250 Room Commercial Hotel & Parking Garage on Edgewater Drive." Hundreds of the placards were printed, some staked in lawns among the scenic road leading to Main Street.

And now the neighborhood group opposed to the hotel project has hired a powerful land use attorney, Ed Armstrong, to represent it before the Dunedin City Commission. Armstrong has made it clear that the developer, George Rahdert of St. Petersburg, must overcome legal obstacles to move forward with the resort hotel, including changing the residential zoning to commercial use.

"It appears that Mr. Rahdert's vision of the property is completely inconsistent with the vision held by the neighbors, and it's going to be awfully difficult to bridge that gap," Armstrong said last week.

Resolving the matter will take time: "Years," he predicted. "Years."

That sounded like a nightmare to Rahdert, who represents the St. Petersburg Times on First Amendment issues, and bought the 6.4 acres of land from Schiller International University for $8-million. Rahdert has circulated petitions of his own and says some business owners welcome the hotel. Resident backlash has already caused the project to move much slower than expected, he said last week. No site plan has yet been submitted to the city.

But years?

"Years would be a defeat in and of itself," Rahdert said after hearing about Armstrong's comment. "I don't intend to spend years fooling around with this."

At a recent City Commission meeting, about 35 residents stood by as Maryellen Tilly, who lives near Schiller on Lyndhurst Street, presented the commissioners a petition to "Save Dunedin Neighborhoods." That's also the name of their group that opposes the hotel resort.

Former Mayor John Doglione, presiding over his last meeting, acknowledged that the proposals have "got everybody a wee bit nervous." But he assured the neighbors that such plans are in the "embryonic stages."

City Attorney John Hubbard said commissioners need to make at least three policy decisions before anything substantial takes place. They would have to:

Draw up a condo-hotel ordinance.

Institute major changes in the city's zoning codes.

Create a development agreement with Rahdert.

"Those are three great, big hurdles for this process," Hubbard said. He then encouraged the petitioners. Being "informed and active is the way to go, he told them.

Once a glamorous 1920s hotel called Fenway on the Bay, the waterfront property had changed owners over the decades, and the buildings became dilapidated and an unlikely eyesore for residents in surrounding homes along Edgewater Drive.

Then Rahdert, a prominent developer known for historic preservation, announced he would buy the property last year. Neighbors celebrated, said Jo Golson, a psychotherapist who lives across the street from the Schiller campus.

But Rahdert later unveiled plans for an expanded 250-room, upscale hotel resort with fine dining, a day spa and a three-story parking garage. In January, his planners showed a group of neighbors a conceptual rendering that included two four-story wings to be added to the original Fenway. Other proposals were to widen the two-lane Edgewater Drive and add a crosswalk, a turn lane and a bus stop. Neighbors expressed shock and organized for a battle.

It was February when they first gathered at the Church of the Good Shepherd to sketch out a defense plan. Since that meeting, neighborhood leaders have said their circle of supporters has expanded from tens to hundreds, coming from all parts of Dunedin. "It's not the matter of a fight," Golson said. "It's about keeping Dunedin delightful. And everyone has a different reason" for opposing the hotel.

One resident, Cathy Shaw, said she has lived on Edgewater Drive since the 1960s and welcomes the project, which she thinks would boost property values.

"I think it'd be wonderful, just wonderful for the neighborhood, and I've lived there all my life," Shaw said. "I've watched Dunedin change and grow, and I feel this is an asset. It's progress, you know."

Rahdert is still leasing the property to Schiller; the school plans to move to Largo later this year. He said that downtown merchants seem to approve of his project and that his planners have circulated petitions among them stating that they want the Fenway preserved.

Many neighbors have countered that restoration doesn't equate to a 250-room resort.

"I'm a strong proponent of realistic preservations, where the business model will stand on its own," said Rahdert, who plans to put the hotel on the National Register of Historic Places. He noted that the original hotel owners had envisioned expanding the rooms.

Restoration wouldn't do much good in this marketplace if the project was kept to a small scale and the business failed, he said. At that point, the hotel would "go back to being endangered," Rahdert said. He envisioned a tourist destination akin to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg, with suites going for about $310 per night.

Already his planners have scrapped the idea of a fancy restaurant, hoping to appease concerns that it would detract from downtown dining and create extra traffic in the neighborhood.

Now they must contend with Armstrong.

"I'm sure it will increase the costs of dealing with this and slow things down," Rahdert said of the new wedge. "And I hope it will sharpen up our presentation so we're made better by the challenge."

Armstrong said he couldn't think of a bigger crucible for the Edgewater Drive area. "The heart and soul of the neighborhood is truly at stake here."