Church of Scientology the "United Churches of Florida" the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase. Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless. In the years since its foundation, the Flag Land Base has expanded as the Church of Scientology has gradually purchased large amounts of additional property in the downtown and waterfront Clearwater area. Scientology's largest project in Clearwater has
Tax status of Scientology in the United States and were replaced by three Sea Org members. Hubbard, however, remained very much in control; he held ninety-eight of the 100 issued shares and the US Court of Claims later found OTC to be a "sham corporation". The Sea Org had no separate corporate identity, so the activities of the Scientology fleet were carried on through a division of the Church called Flag (for "flagship"), based aboard Hubbard's flagship "Apollo". Money was funnelled from the CSC to Flag, which usually relied on cash to pay its bills, with little regard for the law. When the United Kingdom introduced restrictions on