Mayor Ashton Hayward’s Urban Redevelopment Advisory Committee (URAC) met this past Friday for the second time and heard from a panel of VIPs who represented organizations with stakes in developing Pensacola’s urban core. This second meeting was devoted to gathering information about existing projects, programs and properties within the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). The seven-member URAC is charged with providing the Mayor by the end of June with an action plan outlining specific projects for continuing to rebuild downtown, the waterfront and surrounding neighborhoods.
The five panelists were Collier Merrill, Community Maritime Park Associates, Inc. (CMPA) chair, Lois Benson, Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) board member, Kim Kimbrough, Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) director, Scott Luth, Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce senior vice president, and Rick Harper, director of the University of West Florida’s Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development. Chuck Tessier, of Tessier Associates, of Asheville, NC, the self-described “executive on loan to the committee,” acted as moderator for the panel presentations.
CMPA chair Collier Merrill started things off with an outline of the building progress and expected events at the Community Maritime Park. The events included an opening day ceremony for the Park, complete with fireworks on June 9, the Blue Wahoos baseball opening game on April 5, and the expected completion of the Park’s outdoor 5000 person capacity amphitheater on May 15. Merrill explained that the amphitheater would be the site for concerts and theater productions and other like events. He explained that the stadium, in the off-season, would not be used for such events because that would entail “putting up a $20,000 stage and require the expense of protecting the baseball field grass.” Instead, Merrill suggested that the stadium would be available for such things as weddings. Merrill then spoke about the rest of the sites at the park that are available for commercial development. He said that none of the nine properties have been leased yet and that “no one is beating down the doors” to develop the sites.
ECUA board member Lois Benson spoke next. Benson’s remarks focused on the ECUA Main Street sewage plant property and the city administration’s recent attempt to limit the use of the property through amendments to the city’s Land Development Code (LDC). At a City Council Committee of the Whole meeting and at the following council meeting on January 12, Mayor Hayward had recommended that the council pass what amounted to a complete overhaul of and expansion of the boundaries of the land covered by Section 12-2-22 of the LDC. Amended Section 12-2-22, which would be renamed the Maritime Redevelopment District overlay, would encompass the ECUA Main Street sewage plant property. The recommended amendments to the district tended to restrict the use of the ECUA property to residences. No such restrictions exist for the property in the current LDC. Both Benson and ECUA attorney Bradley Odom appeared at the city council meeting in January to object to, not only the proposed amendments, but also the inadequate notice provided to the ECUA by the mayor and the city’s planning department regarding the amendments. Since the January council meeting, Benson said that the ECUA has met with city staff and that they are trying to work out new solutions for allowed development of the ECUA property.
On Friday, Benson told the members of URAC that regarding the amendments to Section 12-2-22, “the ECUA board is unanimously opposed to the overlay district changes as too restrictive.” Speaking as a long-time resident of downtown, Benson said that she believes that the ECUA property needs an economic engine, like a culinary school, in addition to residences and thereby could be developed for mixed use. She said she sees the property as a bridge to connect the east and west sides of the city and the DeVilliers neighborhood with the waterfront. Benson also suggested to the committee that it should be mindful that onerous restrictions on land use as was originally proposed by the mayor can serve to “limit the vision of a developer.”
The director of the DIB, Kim Kimbrough next made a presentation to the committee about the mission and successes of the DIB. He explained that the DIB was more focused on marketing and providing services to businesses downtown as opposed to the CRA which has a brick and mortar mandate. In addition, he said the DIB concentrates its efforts toward making downtown more pedestrian friendly and creating and managing downtown events like Gallery Night and the Pelican Drop.
Scott Luth, who is head of economic development at the Pensacola Chamber talked to the committee about two Chamber projects within the CRA: the Technology Park on 9th Ave across from the Civic Center and the Chamber’s small business incubator project. Luth explained that the Tech Park’s infrastructure had been completed and the Chamber was moving into the marketing phase for the Park. The other economic development project is the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE), a partnership between the Chamber and Pensacola State College. Luth explained that the CIE targets small businesses in their early stages of growth and then helps them develop by providing the new companies with shared office space and services and business consulting. The CIE is located in the PSC building at the corner of Garden and DeVilliers streets.
The last speaker was Rick Harper, Director of UWF’s Haas Business Research and Economic Development Center. Using a series of slides showing demographic and economic statistics, Harper presented the committee with an overall view of where the Pensacola area has been economically and where it appears headed in the future. The good news was that Pensacola is well-positioned to take advantage of growth toward city living; the bad news is that high wage jobs appear to be leaving the area. However, according to Harper, one of the sales categories that is growing is tourism and leisure, which he expects to continue. Harper suggested that the committee go with the trend and focus on tourism in developing projects for its action plan.
Before the panel discussion had begun, Tessier had reminded the members of the committee that all of the city’s past urban development plans and all presentations made to the committee are posted on the committee’s webpage. Tessier urged the URAC members to do their homework and become familiar with the planning and development history for Pensacola as reflected in the posted documents. He said these first few meetings were like the wide end of a funnel where the committee would be gathering as much information as possible about the CRA and then at later meetings the committee would narrow the input to reach a conclusion. The next meeting of the URAC is scheduled for March 23, and will concentrate on gathering information about marketing Pensacola.
7 comments
Johnny D says:
Mar 13, 2012
“He explained that the stadium, in the off-season, would not be used for such events because that would entail “putting up a $20,000 stage and require the expense of protecting the baseball field grass.” Instead, Merrill suggested that the stadium would be available for such things as weddings.”
Collier Merrill just confirmed the biggest lie about the Baseball Stadium at the URAC meeting!!! This was sold to the public as a “Multi-Use” stadium according to all the park supporters meaning all types of sports, concerts and activities. The promise was that it would have a retractable outfield. That was poofed with everything else promised to the citizens of Pensacola. Now, we find out that the Baseball Stadium is not to be used in that capacity. Now he says we can have ‘weddings’ there … REALLY! SERIOUSLY! and that is going to pay the bills!
Do these people have an ounce of Shame? There is no longer a single promise regarding that park they have kept to the citizens of Pensacola. OH, I am mistake, there is grass.
What a farce says:
Mar 13, 2012
No boy scout jamborees
No sing a longs
No movies in summer
as promised for months
but a wedding? Ewwwww
CJ Lewis says:
Mar 13, 2012
As a reminder, Mayor & CRA Executive Director Ashton Hayward told the real CRA Board that he had formed this group without their knowledge to advise him on advising them the real CRA Board. For the record, Chief of Staff John Asmar has said that Ashton Hayward is the CRA Executive Director, i.e. he presumably works for CRA Chairperson Brian Spencer. He’s both Mayor and now also doing Thaddeus Cohen’s old job. Now we know why Hayward fired Cohen. Follow that tortured thinking? How do the keep all the lies straight?
It has become increasingly obvious that the CRA Board serves no useful purpose and the CRA can be abolished. The great benefit is that the rest of the city will reap the profits as property values rise in the two square mile Urban Core Community Redevelopment Area. Would voters support an ordinance on the November ballot abolishing the CRA? Maybe.
Do we also still need a DIB its own Executive Director Kim Kimbrough here explains is no longer accomplishing the policy objectives described in Section 3 of the Pensacola Downtown Improvement Board Act of 1972? It seems to have become mostly a mini-Chamber of Commerce. Haven’t we fixed enough “commercial blight” in downtown? Section 3(c) of the DIB Act begins, “The downtown area is plagued with vacant and deteriorating buildings which are neglected and produce a depressing atmposphere.” Really? Is that what people see on Gallery Night? If the DIB went away would anyone notice? Probably not. The City could do all of its functions, i.e. “Do More With Less.” Dump the CRA and DIB and let the City do it all. It will also force the City to work better with the County, School District, ECUA, etc.
With respect to the now bare bones projected use of the so-called Multi-Use Stadium, on March 10, 2010, Scott Davison briefed the Propeller Club at the Pensacola Yacht Club. He said it would be used for soccer, lacrosse, football, tennis, volleyball, political rallies, the Pensacola Seafood Festival, banquets, weddings and corporate functions. The only thing he left out was monster truck races, flooding the place to hold seaborne gladiator fights and then freezing the water for an outdoor figure skating competition.
CMPA Board member John Merting emphasized that the stadium needed to be used 365 days a year. Merting expressed concern about using natural rather than artifical grass given the intended “multi-use.” Davison said the stadium’s architect had expressed similar concerns. Davison said the stadium would be open from 6 am to 10 pm each day for use by the public if it wanted to “hang out.” Apparently not. Worse, almost no one knows that the public no longer even owns the stadium. The Council gave it away for a song to the CMPA.
So did the CMPA, a private developer and not a government entity, i.e. the City Attorney advises us that CMPA Trustees are not public officers, deceive everyone selling us a bill of goods? Was it fraud? Who do “we” sue? We can at least still vote, until the Council amends the Charter also revoking that right.
Seven of the Council incumbents (Wu, DeWeese, Johnson, Jerralds, Townsend, Pratt and Hall) voted in May 2009 to falsify completion of the Community Maritime Park’s economic viability analysis study never even begun. In fairness, Wu, Johnson and Townsend can’t possibly have known what they were doing. Those three are not into “details.”
They all later saw City Manager Al Coby’s written response to my public records request admitting that the CMPA had slipped the Council a study having nothing at all to do with what the CMPA and a co-opted city staff claimed. Too bad people don’t have to testify under oath at Council meetings. Johnson later admitted to mutual friends he knew what had happened and was not worried, i.e. he will never forget that the Studers gave him $1000 in the 2008 “Get Marty” campaign. Not one Council member has ever demanded to see the most important study in the history of the City never even begun. The official Council mascot should be an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.
Lastly, the City of Pensacola had a net population loss of 4,322 (-7.7%) between 2000 and 2010 at a time when the State of Florida grew by 17.6%. People do not want to live within city limits and too many to count say they will leave if and when they can. They won’t move to Michigan. They’ll move to Buelah, 9 Mile Road, Pace or Navarre. So who is going to live in all of this new downtown housing we do not live? Lois Benson is right. We need something unique downtown, like the Savannah College of Art and Design, a Pensacola Culinary Academy, a private law school, etc.
JW says:
Mar 15, 2012
Please note: Dr. Harper is the director of the Office of Economic Development and Engagement (OEDE). The OEDE was created in January 2011 with Dr. Harper at the helm.
We've seen the city's special work says:
Mar 19, 2012
The consultants told the city council our entrances should look like one has arrived at a special place.
They listened and promptly installed a special industrial storage yard at the city’s entrance with a special gigantic pile of salvaged bricks in front of the new Cervantes bridge
Very special indeed!
Pete Evers says:
Mar 19, 2012
I sent the following email to the CMPA and UWF.
March 19, 2012
The Blue Wahoos will NOT be hosting home games on April 21th and April 22nd of 2012 at the CMP multi-use stadium. However, the UWF baseball team will be playing the University of West Georgia Wolves in Pensacola on those days. I suggest that the CMPA offer UWF a deal they can’t refuse. Why not have the UWF baseball team play at the multi-use stadium on these dates? This is a “no-brainer”! The large college crowds would provide a boost to downtown businesses. CMPA and UWF would both benefit. A win-win proposition for all involved. Play Ball!
As a side note, the CMPA needs to hire attorneys that can add. Even high school students know that January 13, 2012 plus 45 days is not February 2, 2012. This is an inside tidbit that some of you may not be aware of. But, it is true. Do the math! The CMPA should hire competent attorneys.
Pete Evers
Pete Evers says:
Mar 19, 2012
A brief comparison of the City of Pensacola line-item budgeted financial statements for Fiscal Years 2011 & 2012 show that:
For 2011: Total CRA Budgeted expenditures were $923,600.
For 2012: Total CRA Budgeted expenditures were $3,625,600. Also, the 2012 budget shows a $300,000 outlay to private agencies. Is this money being budgeted for CMPA maintenance?
available at: http://www.ci.pensacola.fl.us/finance/reports/monthly