PSL goes back to talks on corridor

PORT ST. LUCIE — City officials decided to put the ball back in Martin County's court on the fate of the Palm City Corridor.

The City Council directed Mayor Patricia Christensen Monday night to meet with Martin County Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi and ask him what exactly the county wanted from city officials.

A meeting between Martin County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne and Port St. Lucie City Manager Don Cooper abruptly ended two weeks ago, prompting DiTerlizzi to ask for cooperation at the City Council meeting last week.

Reached before the meeting, DiTerlizzi said the corridor would benefit the city's 15,000 residents who commute to Martin County, per results of a regional study done several years ago.

Officials said the issue was whether Port St. Lucie developers should pay to widen the road from two lanes to four lanes in the future. DiTerlizzi said those developers planning huge projects west of Interstate 95 will negatively impact Martin County's roads, boat ramps and beach access.

"All we're asking is those developers pay for their impacts," he said.

City officials agreed in concept for the connection years ago, Christensen said, but not the lane expansions. There was no interlocal agreement on the road, she said.

DiTerlizzi disagreed, saying the road was addressed in an interlocal agreement the two governments made about a year ago, dealing with either development orders on large developments or the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.

Before the meeting, Councilman Christopher Cooper said that a decade ago the connection would have been important, but with multiple routes to Martin County now, including a Becker Road access to Florida's Turnpike opening early next year, the corridor wouldn't be used as much.

The City Council also voted 3-2 to do more research and continue to educate its employees on the benefits of opening a health clinic for city workers, effectively rejecting the clinic opening as city staff hoped in early 2007.

Mayor Christensen and Councilwomen Michelle Berger and Linda Bartz voted for the continuation and Vice Mayor Jack Kelly and Councilman Cooper voted against.

The city could save more than $500,000 its first year with the clinic, according to city staff. The clinic would keep workers healthier, reduce time off work for medical appointments, and reduce the number of visits to specialists, Crowne Consulting Group officials said.

Human Resources Director Tamara Williamson said her staff had gotten only positive feedback from employees about the clinic, though the two police unions did not support it.

"Holding off will hurt us," she said.

Councilwoman Berger, who voted against the clinic concept before, said the city needed to renegotiate with the unions on health care benefits to control costs.

"Our health care costs are escalating, but they are everywhere (else)," Berger said. "We need to go back and renegotiate with the unions. We don't expand government as a response."

IN OTHER ACTION

The City Council:

• Tentatively approved a code enforcement amnesty program that was discussed previously. For all code fines and liens assessed before May 22, 2006, if violators fix the problem and pay a $150 application fee, they would be able to pay only a fraction of their fine. During the month of March, the amount is 25 percent, April — 50 percent, May — 75 percent.

• Voted 4-1 to waive about $29,400 in city fees the Workforce Development Board was billed for relocating its offices. The board asked to waive the fees because it was forced out of its offices to make way for the City Center.

• Unanimously approved a five-year lease with the St. Lucie County School District to let the district build a temporary school in the city. The city would get park facilities the district would build onsite after the district leaves.

• Accepted an environmental study by Port St. Lucie consultants Mark Youmans on the proposed canal park boat launch site on the C-24 Canal.

(By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com )

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PSL's City Center a work in progress

PORT ST. LUCIE — "No Trespassing" is scrawled in orange spray paint across the shopping plaza map that sits just south of the Dollar General.

But shoppers still hustle across the cracked parking lot at U.S. 1 and Walton Road, going to the store and its neighbor, Beall's Outlet. Most don't even spare a glance at the dirty yellow backhoe sitting next to a growing pile of concrete and tile next to the deserted storefront that once housed Keiser College.

LEB Demolition is knocking down buildings and scraping out asphalt and utility lines around open businesses. Beall's Outlet and Dollar General, sitting on the fringes of the shopping center, have long-term leases and the Department of Motor Vehicles — settled in the heart of the plaza — will stay open until February. On Saturdays and Tuesdays, a green market sets up shop on what's left of the parking lot.

Just south of the site is Midport II, a condominium complex where homes overlook the 70-acre site that slowly is being scraped clean. One resident, Cheryl Snow, has complained to city officials about noise and smells from the construction.

"I didn't think I'd be up at 7 a.m. in the morning, on the weekend," said Snow, who works at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. "If I can't sleep, I don't know if I'll be safe to drive on the road, or even to work."

Construction crews are working within city regulations, however, leaving Snow few options for relief. Demolition and construction is expected to last for several years, as City Center is built in phases. The city is moving as fast as it can, officials said.

"Get 'er done," said Vice Mayor Jack Kelly, who represents the area. "That's all I'm hearing (from residents). Get 'er done."

Demolition, groundwork on roads and utilities and building all will be happening on the site by April. In about a year, developer George de Guardiola will start on the private portion of City Center — three seven-story buildings with homes and retail slots and several restaurants and office buildings.

"That makes the project even more complicated at that point," City Manager Don Cooper said. "The problem will be when we start construction, having all those guys on the site ... the various contractors will start blaming each other for delays.

"It's going to be a busy site," Cooper added.

Redevelopment Director Glenn Vann is resigning his post Jan. 31, just as ground work is to begin and not long before construction is scheduled to start on the $25 million Civic Center. Coordinating the work could fall — at least for a while — to Cooper, who has not yet reviewed potential replacements for Vann.

But if all goes well, the Civic Center and many of the shops and restaurants could be open by 2009. It's the payoff that makes most of Snow's neighbors happy to put up with construction noise and dust.

"I'm excited to see something happening finally," said Mike Whalen, whose condo overlooks the site. "I can just plop over there and enjoy restaurants and shopping. A little bit of noise and banging doesn't bother me."

CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE

• Demolition is expected to last about two years.

• Construction of roads and utilities will start in February.

• Building of the $25 million, 100,000-square-foot Civic Center should begin by April.

• Within the year, developer George de Guardiola and his partners will start work on three seven-story residential and retail buildings and several restaurants and office buildings.

• The first part of the downtown, including the Civic Center, should open by 2009.

CITY CONSTRUCTION REGULATIONS

• Construction crews can work from 7 a.m. until sundown Monday through Saturday.

• Crews can work from 8 a.m. to sundown on Sunday and holidays.

(By HILLARY COPSEY
hillary.copsey@scripps.com
December 3, 2006)

Equity One buys 16 acres near Becker Road for $7.6M

Equity One, a South Florida-based real estate investment trust, purchased a 16-acre tract near Becker Road and Port St. Lucie Boulevard for $7.6 million earlier this week, according to county public records.

The company is planning a retail center on the site. In late October, the firm met with the city and residents of the surrounding community. While neighbors support a retail center, they oppose plans that would include a Publix. Equity One owns 203 properties nationally, 130 of them anchored by grocery stores. The project also depends on whether the city would improve the road at that intersection.

Overhaul of downtown Fort Pierce will mirror Venice

FORT PIERCE — Fast forward 10 or 15 years from now into Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency Director Jon Ward's world and envision downtown looking like St. Mark's in Venice, Italy.

Buildings that once were one story would be torn down and transformed into multi-storied attractive buildings overlooking the waterfront. Surface parking lots would be almost non-existent and replaced with new structures with parking incorporated inside the buildings. A public park would be centrally located in the heart of downtown surrounded by a promenade of shops and cafes.

"Imagine St. Mark's in Venice where open public space is surrounded by dense buildings," Ward said. "We could have exactly that here. I think people will start to see the impact of this when they start to see the skyline accentuated by the new Clerk of Courts building."

SCRAPPED GARAGE

Since the city scrapped plans — after spending almost $1 million — to build the downtown parking garage on the former JCPenney lot on Indian River Drive, opting instead to build it in the parking lot of City Hall, the 1.2-acre site has caught the attention of developers locally and out of state. The same is true for 2.43 acres of city-owned property across from the JCPenney site between Avenue A and Orange Avenue — the site where Palm Beach Gardens-based Catalfumo Construction bailed out of the condominium hotel, mixed-used Marina Square project.

City officials will seek a request for proposals on both sites within 30 days and hope to hear some good ideas for projects in prime locations. In particular, city officials would like to build a destination hotel or a mix of uses, including condominiums and commercial development, on the JCPenney lot and would like to preserve a portion of the Marina Square site for a public park and a promenade.

"The city of Fort Pierce will not be a destination until we have a destination hotel, a place where we can put the performers at the Sunrise Theatre and the people who come to see the shows," Ward said.

As an example, Ward said he's hosting the Florida Film Commission in town this week and, "they want to see the sights here, but they can't stay here. They're staying in Port St. Lucie."
Mayor Bob Benton said local developers such as Leo Henriquez, who's building the downtown Renaissance on the River Project, had expressed interest in the JCPenney lot.
"We need a hotel very badly downtown," Benton said. "We need visitors coming downtown."

MIXED REACTIONS
Some downtown merchants marvel at a potential park across from their businesses at the Marina Square site, but balk at a hotel on the JCPenney site. Many are bitter over the city's decision to ax the parking garage plans on the JCPenney lot and build it at City Hall.
And they have the ears of at least two city commissioners, Christine Coke and Eddie Becht, who both adamantly opposed building the garage at City Hall. The move was spearheaded by Benton and backed by commissioners Rufus Alexander and R. "Duke" Nelson, all of whom said a parking garage would not be the best use for prime waterfront property in the heart of downtown.

Several business owners contend the City Hall location is an inconvenient place to put a parking garage, especially for elderly shoppers who are leery of crossing the railroad tracks, let alone lugging heavy shopping bags back to their cars from businesses several blocks away.

"Putting a parking garage on City Hall right now is only going to serve one purpose — extra parking for city employees," said Charles Brinkman, vice president of the Downtown Business Association whose business, Java Charlie's, fronts the JCPenney and Marina Square lots. "We have a lot of elderly. We can't expect them to walk across the railroad tracks in wheelchairs and canes. I'm assuming it's all about politics. It just makes no sense to me to spend a million dollars in preparing the property to build and going, 'Oh, no, we want to build condos.' "

Terri Ann Palumbo, owner of The Barkery on Second Street, said city officials aren't considering how their decisions are impacting the downtown business owners. Palumbo, like several other downtown merchants, want officials to reconsider building the downtown parking garage back on the JCPenney site.

"From a planning and practical perspective, it just makes sense to have it there," she said. "Putting a parking garage at City Hall knowing in advance that it's likely to be more populated by city employees is not a solution."

SAFETY AND CONVENIENCE
Bob Swisher, treasurer of the DBA and an accountant at Chaney's House of Flowers on Second Street, said officials need to consider safety and convenience of having a parking garage at the JCPenney site.

"The first time somebody gets a cane stuck in the railroad tracks, oh my," he said.
In May, about 20 people signed a petition objecting to a parking garage at City Hall. Others say they weren't aware of the petition and would have signed it.

Brian Campbell, who co-owns Sunrise City Carpets on Second Street, has a different perspective about the parking problems downtown. He says building a parking garage at City Hall would force people to walk by other businesses they had not intended to patronize. He said more walking would draw more visibility to downtown merchants, which means more impulse buying.
"We need to build whatever is going to beautify the place and make people feel more comfortable downtown," Campbell said. "Fort Pierce has a stigma that we need to break. I have customers who won't send their wives down here because they have a perception that Fort Pierce is a bad place. I know people in Jupiter who won't stay in a hotel in Fort Pierce. We need to change that. If people aren't walking they're not noticing the businesses."

(By ALEXI HOWK alexi.howk@scripps.com )

Boat ramps will damage C-24 canal, Port St. Lucie residents say

PORT ST. LUCIE — Outspoken residents — armed with an environmental study they won't share with the city — are turning a $2 million plan to build boat ramps on the C-24 canal into a political debate.

Port St. Lucie has 6,000 registered boaters but just one boat launch. Every recent recreation survey has shown that residents want more ocean access, so the City Council decided earlier this year to plan a boat launch park on the canal, just west of Southbend Boulevard.

At a September meeting about the plan, Parks Director Chuck Proulx said 72 percent of residents who gave comments supported building boat ramps at the eight-acre canal site.
But a handful of neighbors say the plan is going to cause environmental damage to the canal and wetlands on the site. Given the complaints, Proulx is demanding City Council members either support or scrap the plan.

"I do not wish to waste further engineering costs, staff time and public consternation if politically this is not a project the City will pursue," Proulx wrote to City Manager Don Cooper on Monday.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the park at its regular meeting Dec. 4.

The city has a $60,000-plus contract with American Consulting Engineers to design the boat ramps and has spent about one-third of the money. A draft study the firm did in July said the wetlands on the eight-acre site were of poor quality and wouldn't be hurt significantly by the ramps.

Another study — paid for by residents near the canal — reached the opposite conclusion.
Led by Christy Church, the anti-ramp residents hired local consultant Mark Youmans to study the canal site and critique the city's study. Youman concluded ramps could hurt the wetlands and that the American Consulting Engineers study was biased in favor of the city.

"Many factors of the surrounding hydrological environment were completely ignored," the critique said.

Church showed Youmans' study to city officials and council members, but said her fellow residents did not want to give the city a copy.

"We paid with our taxpayer dollars (for the American Consulting study), and now our own... We paid good money for it," she said, adding she didn't feel comfortable giving out copies without asking her neighbors again.

Proulx said if the city had a copy he would take it to American Consulting Engineers to review.
"If they have valid information, we need to take it and adjust our plan accordingly," he said.
If City Council decides to pursue the canal boat launch — potentially two ramps and parking for as many as 90 trailers — getting permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection, South Florida Water Management District and Army Corps of Engineers could take years, Proulx said. Building would take about nine months, however, the city still must find the $2 million to pay for the project.

If council members scrap the canal ramps, the city has just a couple other locations where boat launches could be built, including another site off Southbend Boulevard.

PROPOSED CANAL PARK
• Eight-acre boat launch facility on the C-24 canal west of Southbend Boulevard.
• Two ramps, 60-90 trailer spaces, at a cost of about $2 million.
• Residents opposing the site paid for their own environmental study, which contradicts the city's study.
• City Council will discuss whether to continue the project at its meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 in City Hall. '
(By CHRIS YOUNG chris.young@scripps.com )

PSL hopes to compromise with Martin on road plan

PORT ST. LUCIE — City Council members and Martin County commissioners will have to get along if they want to give motorists another route to and from Palm City.

City Manager Don Cooper vetoed connecting the Western Palm City Corridor to Port St. Lucie Boulevard during a discussion last week with Martin County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne.

In an e-mail to the council, Cooper said he was following a council order that neither the city nor its residents — including developers — should have to pay for the corridor's maintenance or eventual widening to four lanes.

But Ballantyne said the plans approved by the city and state for the massive developments west of Interstate 95 require developers to pay for the corridor's widening.

"I would expect that Martin County will take further action via courts," Cooper wrote in the e-mail.

Before that happens, the council wants a chance to craft a compromise.
Martin County Commissioner Michael DiTerlizzi appeared at Monday's council meeting to ask the city to cooperate on the road project.

"We weren't in a position to give you an answer tonight," Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said. "We made a deal with you five years ago. A deal's a deal. (Paying for a four-lane connector) wasn't the deal."

DiTerlizzi and Mayor Patricia Christensen agreed to meet to negotiate after a City Council meeting December 4, when council members will decide what the city's terms should be.
"I think a lot more can be accomplished if I'm there, at least, with staff," Christensen said.
Other council members want to get the city the best deal from the connection. Councilwoman Michelle Berger suggested Martin County should have to pay for part of the intersection costs, which are part of a $50 million widening of Becker Road.

"We followed through on our end of the deal (contributing $500,000 to the corridor)," Berger said. "In the ongoing effort to be a good neighbor, they should absolutely help pay for that intersection."

DiTerlizzi said that "cooler heads will prevail," and that Martin County officials had already spent years and a lot of money designing the road. He said it would be a two-lane road initially if city officials granted the connection.

"I think the connection has mutual benefits," he said.

The $30 million corridor's connection into Port St. Lucie came into jeopardy this month when the City Council approved a roundabout at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Becker Road.

Cooper warned that the intersection of two major thoroughfares — Becker runs into a proposed mall site west of Interstate 95, while the corridor is an alternative to U.S. 1 and Murphy Road — would generate more traffic than a roundabout could handle.

Meanwhile, DiTerlizzi said the timing of the negotiations would force Martin County to further delay opening of bids for construction of the 5.6-mile road.

WESTERN PALM CITY CORRIDOR
Cost: $30 million.

Proposal: Connection to Port St. Lucie Boulevard at Becker Road.
BECKER ROAD

Cost: $40 million to $50 million.

Proposal: Expansion from two to four lanes. Roundabouts planned at Port St. Lucie, Savona and Darwin boulevards.
(By HILLARY COPSEY hillary.copsey@scripps.com )

Pioneers of PSL sharing history

PORT ST. LUCIE — They were just a couple of friends, sitting on a sunny patio, chatting about old times.

With a camera. And an audience.

Fay James, 79, and Mickey Ford, 66, are some of the first people to share their memories of the earliest days of Port St. Lucie for the city's Historical Society oral history project.

With help from the city's Communications Department, the society has recorded the recollections of more than a dozen Port St. Lucie pioneers — people who came to the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Contributors include Bob Minsky, the former mayor who spent more than an hour during his last week in office sharing memories with the camera.

"If we don't preserve our history as we go, we're going to look up one day and it's going to be gone," Minsky said.

James, who moved to Port St. Lucie permanently in 1978 after years of coming down from Virginia for vacations, recalled winter cocktail parties at golf course homes in Sandpiper Bay.
"People dressed up for the parties," James said. "I mean dressed — furs, you know this was in winter, and full-length gowns."

In those years, Port St. Lucie was a retirement village near enough to Martin County, the playground of Frances Langford Stuart, to attract a few famous faces. It wasn't unusual, James and other pioneers said, to see Perry Como out on the Port St. Lucie golf courses.
But the General Development Corp. town wasn't exactly the high life. There was one restaurant and one gas station.

When 83-year-old Roman Mager moved here in 1959, before Port St. Lucie was even incorporated as a city, friends laughed at him. They called the city an "out of civilization" place.
"That's where I wanted to be," Mager said. "Now, I'm missing the out-of-civilization place, to be perfectly frank."

Thanks to the population boom of recent years, most of the city's 150,000 residents are newcomers. Which is precisely why pioneers like Mager think Port St. Lucie Historical Society has the right idea trying to preserve history.

"There are very few people who know of it," Mager said. "Things were constantly changing. We need people to keep ... the past."

PORT ST. LUCIE REMEMBERED

General Development Corp. incorporated the original 80-square miles of Port St. Lucie in April 1961. The population in 1970 was 330. Early residents were mostly retirees from the Northeast.

Pioneers remember a variety of experiences including:

• Cocktail parties on patios overlooking golf courses.
• Roughing it in homes wired for just 60 amps. The electrical appliances were a refrigerator, a coffeepot and "maybe" a toaster.
• Telling friends to send letters to "Sandpiper Bay Country Club" instead of a city address.
(By HILLARY COPSEY hillary.copsey@scripps.com )

Retiring mayor's tough shell screens soft heart

By Teresa Lane
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 19, 2006

PORT ST. LUCIE — At 7 p.m. Monday, Mayor Robert E. Minsky will tap his gavel on the lectern one last time, say goodbye to the city's lawmakers and drive his Ford pickup home with the woman who's shared his life the past 38 years.

Not much pomp and circumstance for the mayor of one of the nation's most up-and-coming cities, but that's the way Bob Minsky has lived for 73 years.


Classic quotes from Minsky
1. 'Well, when you put it that way ... I still disagree!' - Common joke Minsky used at council meetings.
2. 'It is most unfortunate that you are under the delusion that your opinions are of consequence or importance to anyone but yourself, especially to me.' - February 1993 letter to a developer.
3. 'It's been very disappointing to find out that I am mortal after all.' - March 1993 comment to a reporter after critics said he was maturing in office.
4. 'The way GDC (General Development Corp.) developed this place, I describe it like the Oklahoma stampede - everybody goes out and drives their stake and waits for civilization to catch up.' - September 1994 comment about the city's lack of a downtown.
5. 'GDC stands for Genetically Defective Community. They sort of brought us into existence, but I sometimes look at it as a case of incest.' - January 1998 comment about city founderGeneral Development Corp.
6. 'Your letter is exactly the kind of letter someone who uses Preparation H for toothpaste would write. As for how I feel about CNN now that I have your apology, let me say you and your motley crew can all go to hell.' - December 2004 letter to CNN after Minsky was booted from a hurricane special the network was taping.
7. 'I was thinking about sending a condolence card to Burnham (Institute), seeing as how they'll be moving to Orlando now.' - August comment about the biotech institute choosing to build a lab in Orlando rather than Port St. Lucie.
8. 'The next time Martin County starts harassing us, we can tell them, "You think you're such a big-shot county? We've got more people than your entire county. Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" ' - September comment about Port St. Lucie's population surpassing Martin's.
9. 'I am constantly amazed at how hard some people will work to prove they are ignorant of the truth, and how willing they are to prove it.' - October letter to the editor responding to a resident's complaints about utility contracts and downtown redevelopment.
10. 'I don't like it that people will think of me every time they flush their toilets, but some things you've got to live with.' - November comment about his work to expand water and sewer lines citywide.

Simply. Directly. Larger than life.
"You either loved him or you didn't," said state Sen. Ken Pruitt, "but that was one of his redeeming virtues. He said what he meant, and he always had the city's best interest at heart.
"You just don't replace a Bob Minsky."

Indeed, Minsky's transition from gadfly to statesman mirrors the city's own coming-of-age during its 45 years on the map. Although Minsky never lost his acerbic tongue, he was more prone to compromise than confrontation after a rocky start in 1992 that saw City Manager Don Cooper hosting the equivalent of marriage counseling sessions for council members.

Cooper, once the target of candidate Minsky's wrath, said he's never seen a politician mature quite like Minsky, who has served longer than any other mayor in Port St. Lucie history.
"In an era where everyone was a slave to being politically correct, Bob was more concerned about getting the problem solved," the city manager said. "He was just saying what everybody else was thinking."

Ironically, city founder General Development Corp., the eventual bane of Minsky's existence as mayor, brought the Colorado real estate agent to Port St. Lucie in 1978.

"His aunt knew about GDC, and she told us he might be able to get a real estate job here," said Emily Minsky, who met her future husband while tending bar in a military officers club. "He got his Florida real estate license, but GDC didn't have an opening."

Minsky began selling real estate for Robert DeSantis, who still has a commercial real estate office in Stuart.

Although most people know the public side of Bob Minsky, the one who fires off hyperbole-laced letters and takes on anyone who dares criticize his beloved city, few know the man behind the rough facade.

"He's a pussycat," said his wife, who is three years older than Minsky and calls him the most honorable man she's ever met. "I've seen him come home many a night almost in tears, and he'd say, 'I feel so bad for the people because I had to say no.' It hurts him because we've been there."

They met at an Air Force base while Minsky was in the midst of a 20-year aerial photography career. Both were divorced with children, and neither was looking to jump into another marriage. But something clicked between the Jewish son of a clothing manufacturer and the Irish farm girl from Maryland.

"I said, 'What are you doing sitting at the bar by yourself? You look lonely,'" she recalled. "He said, 'I'm looking for a baby sitter. You wouldn't be able to help me.'"
It just so happened that she had an 18-year-old daughter who was looking for a job. Three months later, Bob and Emily married.

And life never would be dull again.

"Nobody thought it would last," she said. "We were so different. Bob was quiet and reserved, and I was one of them gals that had seen it all. I said what I felt, and I liked a good time."
In retrospect, she said her openness may have helped launch Minsky the extrovert. After retiring from the Air Force, he dabbled in numerous jobs, from moving furniture and managing a Montgomery Ward retail store to selling real estate and working as an armed security guard at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Most people knew him as a mailman.

Although the Minskys never went without food or clothing for their nine children, she acknowledges that times weren't always easy.

"He had to borrow $15 a week before payday just to feed the kids," she said. "That's why the stories about people losing their homes to taxes really gets to him. We've come from nothing, really."

Hardship and frugality

His childhood in the New York City borough of The Bronx was sometimes laced with poverty, he said. Although his father, the son of Russian immigrants, managed to open a small clothing factory in New York's garment district, the business collapsed twice. His father ultimately was forced to work for another company after union demands skyrocketed.

"I remember my mom selling her jewelry," Minsky said. "My dad was a very decent person. I never saw him raise his hand to anyone in the family."

Observers say Minsky's humble beginnings led him to be among the most financially conservative members of the city council.

Indeed, Minsky's political career was launched after the city threatened to charge him $16,000 he didn't have for water and sewer service along the infamous "Bayshore Corridor."
One of his greatest achievements in office was launching an expansion of water and sewer lines to every lot in the city for an average cost of $2,200 a lot. Expansion of parks for children also was high on his to-do list. The city even named its only gymnasium after him.

"He's one of the most honest men I've ever known," said longtime friend and colleague Jack Kelly, who helped Minsky get reelected before seeking his own term on the city council.

Although Minsky lost one reelection bid after voters accused him of growing too arrogant in office, the two-year respite proved a blessing in disguise. It was during that time that his wife developed breast cancer, prompting Minsky to remain at her side for more than a year.

"When they gave me chemo, he was sitting on the floor at the base of my chair," she said. "He cried when they told me I had cancer, not me. He told me if he'd been in office, he probably would have quit."

With his wife in remission and no trace of the disease remaining, Minsky approached her in 2000 while she was cooking.

"He said, 'Do you mind ...,' and I knew what he was asking," she said. "Before I could even say, 'Go for it,' he was out the door, burning up the road to city hall to file his campaign papers.
"He told me, 'You know I love you dearly, but our city ain't done nothin' in the past two years, and I can't stand it.'"

Minsky admits that, if it weren't for feeling guilty about leaving his wife at home every day while he dons a suit and heads to city hall, he probably would have run for his sixth term this year.
But the former high school swimmer can feel it in his bones: He's not as quick as he once was, and he no longer has the same zest for the job.

Plus, there are the six great-grandchildren and a few grandchildren in Oregon and California he and his wife haven't met. The job, and the public, always came first.

Not anymore.
"We'd like to travel, go see the national parks," said Minsky, who waited until Thursday to clean out his office in time for Monday's swearing-in of Mayor-elect Patricia Christensen. "I feel like the city is in very good shape, and it will continue to prosper. It's healthy for someone new to take over the reins."

Although some speculate Minsky will jump back into the local political scene after a few months of political detox, he vows that won't happen. But he's extended an open door to Christensen anytime she needs a little advice from an old pro.

He also passed out gifts Thursday to his fellow council members, many of whom had vocal battles with him on the council dais, only to crack jokes with him in the hallway a few hours later. Even his detractors admit life was never dull when Minsky was in the building.
"Love him or hate him, everyone will miss Bob Minsky," colleague Kelly said. "People have said he was a colorful mayor, but I think he was the aurora borealis of mayors."

Port St. Lucie begins City Center project

By Teresa Lane
Friday, November 10, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — Twelve exploding mortars and a simulated bomb jolted neighbors from their porches and sent a massive fireball skyward Thursday, but that's how officials wanted construction of the city's only downtown to begin.

With a bang.

After 20 years of clamoring for a central gathering spot, city officials think they've found it in the shadows of a nondescript shopping center that sits at the retail heart of Port St. Lucie on U.S. 1. As dozens watched the front wall of the former Village Green 6 Theatres crumble in the jaws of a track excavator Thursday, officials urged residents to keep their eyes on City Center over the next few years.

They might just think they're in a real city.

"We're going to see a new and beautiful downtown rise out of the dust," a beaming mayor-elect Patricia Christensen said. "What we'll see here in three to five years is something this community can be so proud of."

Indeed, with $85 million in taxpayers' money pledged and another $291 million in private investment, the transformation of the former Village Green Shopping Center into a CityPlace-like downtown will signal a new beginning for a town never designed to be more than a bedroom community, observers say.

"Everyone wants to feel like they're part of something," said councilman Jack Kelly, "and now people will have a place to belong."

As early as April, residents will see construction begin on the heart of the downtown: a 100,000-square-foot civic center in the northeast corner that will house everything from a gym and sprawling banquet rooms to a fitness center and the city's only public art gallery. The city also will begin work on two multistory parking garages and a large tiled plaza with interactive fountain that will have ample room for outdoor concerts and festivals.

Later in the year, Jupiter developer George de Guardiola and his partners, brother Eduard de Guardiola and Rendina Companies of Palm Beach Gardens, will begin work on three seven-story buildings that will house retail and residential units. The group also will start work on three stand-alone restaurants and two office buildings, all of which should open about the same time as the city's buildings in 2009.

Demolition of the former shopping center will last 18 months, largely because crews must await the February exodus of the Department of Motor Vehicles before razing the central part of the center. If it weren't for that, Community Redevelopment Agency Director Glenn Vann says, L.E.B. Demolition could rip through the aging walls of concrete and stucco in half that time, scraping up the massive parking lot and underground utility pipes as it goes.

While Beall's Department Store and Dollar General will remain open for years because of long-term lease agreements, all other buildings will vanish by mid-2008.

In their place will rise a Mediterranean-themed cluster of stores, offices, restaurants and homes, a close replica of West Palm Beach's CityPlace but situated on nearly twice the land. Pedestrians will stroll along tree-lined sidewalks just feet from slow-moving traffic, and cars will be tucked out of view in parking garages.

For Joe Holiday, president of the St. Lucie Professional Arts League, the promise of the city's first public art gallery means more than paintings and jazz performances.
It means the arrival of a true city.

"Art and music is the soul of any city," said Holiday, who longs to bring musicians and visiting artists to the 4,000-square-foot art gallery inside the civic center. "You need your stores and offices, but when you've got music and art, you feel a sense of completion."

Cooridor hookup debated by city

By Teresa Lane
Thursday, November 09, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — City officials are debating whether they'll allow Martin County road builders to connect the long-awaited Western Palm City Corridor to Port St. Lucie Boulevard after City Manager Don Cooper this week said the connection would doom the use of planned roundabouts on Becker Road.

Three months after Martin officials bought the last piece of land needed for the 5-mile, multimillion-dollar road from Martin Highway to Port St. Lucie Boulevard, Cooper told city council members in a memo Monday that excess traffic from the connection would cause roundabouts to fail.

Although the city contributed $500,000 toward the road, Councilman Jack Kelly said he'd rather beautify Becker than connect to a highway that will prompt Martin officials to complain louder about Port St. Lucie's inflow of motorists, boat owners and beachgoers.
Martin County officials feel so strongly about the effects of Port St. Lucie newcomers, they've asked state officials to deny Port St. Lucie developers the right to build on thousands of acres west of Interstate 95 until they pay for the impact to Martin's beaches and boat ramps.
"I'm going to agree with Martin County," Kelly said. "They want us to stop sending St. Lucie license plates down there, so we're going to help them."

While Cooper said the Palm City connection would cause a proposed public square or roundabout at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Becker Road to be overrun with traffic, he advised council members to give "serious consideration" to removing planned circles at Darwin and Savona boulevards as well if the road is built because of the expected stampede.

Councilwoman Michelle Berger said she believes a traffic light at Port St. Lucie Boulevard would handle the Martin connection plus hordes of drivers who could one day flock to a proposed mall just west of I-95 at Becker. The remaining intersections could sport roundabouts in a project that Cooper estimates will cost between $40 million and $50 million.

Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen, newly elected Tuesday to replace retiring Mayor Bob Minsky, said she's hesitant to refuse the Martin connection given congestion already in the Becker Road area.

"I think at some point in the future we will definitely need that connector road to ease the traffic, even when the turnpike interchange opens.

"Maybe we can ask Martin County to help contribute to our project because they're going to impact us."

In addition to roundabouts, Cooper is recommending buying about 150 vacant lots along Becker to store rainwater runoff, buffer nearby homes from commercial development and create a linear park to encourage pedestrians. The plan also would limit the number of driveways onto Becker, close several roads to reduce conflicts and require businesses to use side streets for entrance ways.

City council members will discuss the recommendations at 7 p.m. Monday at city hall.

Proposal for a Lowe's to go before PSL City Council

By Scripps staff report
November 8, 2006
A proposal to build a Lowe's home improvement store at St. Lucie West and Cashmere boulevards will go before City Council without the support of two resident advisory boards.
The Planning and Zoning Board followed the lead of the Site Plan Review Committee on Tuesday, voting unanimously to deny Lowe's plan. The 139,000-square-foot store will cause more traffic problems than the company is willing to fix, city engineers and planners said.

City engineers estimate the store will bring as many as 5,000 additional vehicles through the already congested intersection. They wanted Lowe's to make significant road improvements, including adding turn lanes and making Cashmere Boulevard four lanes from Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

The company refused and accepted the advisory boards' denials in hopes that City Manager Don Cooper could settle the disagreement before City Council considered the proposal.

Fort Pierce rejects plan for dock expansion

By ALEXI HOWK
November 7, 2006FORT PIERCE — The City Commission late Monday night denied developer Mason Simpson's plans to expand the Harbour Isle marina with an additional 28 boat slips.
About 40 residents in the 912-unit Harbour Isle development crowded commission chambers Monday night to object to Simpson's plans. The commission turned the request down 3-2, with Commissioners Rufus Alexander and R. "Duke" Nelson dissenting.

Simpson wants to expand the development's 63-slip marina with slips large enough to moor 60-foot boats.

Several residents complained noise pollution and diesel fumes created by the expansion would devalue their properties. The also worried the expansion would damage sea grass beds in the lagoon.

Philip "Flip" Gates, president of Visions of Fort Pierce and spokesman for the Harbour Isle at Hutchinson Island East Condominium Association, told commissioners about 200 of its members opposed the plan.

Additionally, about 60 residents signed petitions protesting the plan.

Several commissioners, including Mayor Bob Benton, said they would have looked at the proposal more favorably had Simpson completed commercial buildings on the property, including a restaurant, grocery store and a marina support building.

"To me, when we approved this we expected to see a finished product before we approved additions," Benton said.

Simpson argued there hasn't been a demand for commercial development and he has been unsuccessful finding people interested in running a restaurant.

"I can't see building a building and doing the field of dreams trick, if you build it, they'll come," Simpson said.

Philippe Jeck, attorney for the developer, said he received 25 letters in support of the project. Still, the objections far outnumbered those in favor of the plan.

"My apartment would be looking at a 60-foot boat, and I will be sucking in diesel fumes,"
resident Kerrie Russell said. "People will be looking into my window. I don't like that my privacy is going to be disrupted. My view is going to be obscured."

Resident Paul Gagnon said he recently received a letter from the homeowners association saying he would have to pay a portion of $50,000 to repair a deteriorating sea wall. He said additional slips would put more undue burden on residents, especially because use of the marina isn't restricted to residents.

Jeck told commissioners the boats would be about 50 feet from apartments. He said the existing marina, which is open to the public, is full. He said 27 of the 63 slips are used by residents and 36 are used by nonresidents. There are 37 names on a waiting list for slips.
Commissioner Christine Coke sided with residents.

"From what I'm hearing from the people that live here, they're responsible for maintaining that sea wall," Coke said. "So, you're looking to build something that is possibly going to jeopardize or damage their sea wall. They're going to be in charge of maintaining it or repairing it.

"They're going to be the ones putting up with the noise and the smell every time someone starts a boat. They're going to put up with it, while you guys walk away with the money."

IN OTHER ACTION
The commission:
• Dropped a proposal to prevent the public comment portion of its meetings from being televised.
• Postponed a planned unit development consisting of 284 town houses and 218 single-family homes on the east side of Selvitz Road, a half mile north of Midway Road. The commission instructed Midway St. Lucie LLC to work with residents in the surrounding area who oppose the project and come up with a compromise by the Nov. 20 meeting.
• Adopted the 2002 Port of Fort Pierce master plan into the city's comprehensive plan. The plan limits cargo development to berth 1 and encourages gentrification of the port through a mix of recreational, commercial, residential and industrial uses.
• Approved 244 recorded annexation agreements in the Paradise Park subdivision. The properties will increase the city's tax base by $47,000.
• Approved a proposal by Shelby Homes at Hutchinson LC to construct 35 boat slips, one of which will be city-owned, from the Mariner Bay town house development on the west side of South Ocean Drive, south of Indialantic Drive and north of Jaycee Park.

PSL's Riverwalk South closing moves forward

By CHRIS YOUNG (Scripps)
Despite some city officials' skepticism, the developer of the proposed hotel at Riverwalk South says the company will close on its land purchase.

Richard Mielbye, senior vice president of development for Innkeepers USA, wrote to the city that a revised planning document should be delivered today, putting it on track for review by the City Council early next year.

The site plan for the hotel, a seven-story Embassy Suites by Hilton, still would take at least through mid-2007 to be approved, Mielbye said.

Officials questioned the project's viability due to a disagreement between the city and Innkeepers USA plus another developer on how they would pay for road improvements through a special taxing arrangement called a SAD.

Councilman Jack Kelly is particularly riled about the timing. Kelly said when the city signed the contract to sell 9.75 acres near the St. Lucie River to Innkeepers USA in April, officials expected the sale to close by September.

"A deal was a deal," Kelly said. "They had no right to delay (the land purchase) for the SAD."
Mielbye said the land purchase could be speeded up if the city allowed it to submit multiple planning documents at the same time, which normally isn't allowed.

Innkeepers will close on the $4 million property after the city signs off on its site plan and other planning documents, he said.

Kelly scheduled a discussion to let Innkeepers expedite their plan submissions at the Nov. 6 City Council meeting.

"If the City Council approves it, there will be no more roadblocks to them closing on the property," he said. "That way they have to make a decision."

The City Council decided last week to scrap the special taxing arrangement with both developers and instead borrow $1.1 million to make sure intersection modifications at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Westmoreland will continue as planned.

Innkeepers plans to build a 1,800-foot-long boardwalk to connect to the existing boardwalk north of Port St. Lucie Boulevard, scheduled a year after the hotel approval, Mielbye added.
The property will also have a 6,500-square-foot restaurant and some retail shops, with condos to be built in the future.

PSL pool to get splashy additions with water park

By HILLARY COPSEY (Scripps)
Palm tree sprinklers, frog water cannons and a variety of geysers will splash into the Ravenswood pool next year.

St. Lucie County is building its first-ever "sprayground" — a water play area filled with splashing and spraying toys — in Port St. Lucie. The $727,000 project includes the 4,800-square-foot splash park, a ticket booth, a classroom and shade structures at the pool that sits just off the south side of Prima Vista Boulevard.

"We're just trying to build the pool up and make it grow," Manager Katie Grafton said.
St. Lucie County is getting the necessary permits now from Port St. Lucie and still must choose a contractor for the project. But if everything goes smoothly, the sprayground should be open by next fall, county spokesman Erick Gill said.

The county plans to build two smaller splash parks at the open space pool on Avenue M and in Lakewood Regional Park. Port St. Lucie also is thinking about building a sprayground of its own.
"It's an added feature that our parks lack," Councilwoman Michelle Berger said.

The city is about to start planning its $12 million Torino Regional Park. If residents want one, a sprayground could be part of the project, which is the largest park ever built by the city.

Residents can share their thoughts on Torino park — and its possible sprayground — during a Nov. 8 planning session from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Community Center on Airoso Boulevard.

SPRAYGROUND

St. Lucie County is building a water toy play area for $727,000 at the Ravenswood pool off Prima Vista Boulevard. The facility, which is slated to open next fall, will include:

• Palm tree sprinklers.
• Magic touch fire hydrant.
• Frog and seahorse water cannons.
• A variety of hoses and geysers.

Summit eyes housing costs

By Eve Samples
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PORT ST. LUCIE — The real estate mantra "drive till you qualify" can mean an awfully long road trip these days.

With a median housing price hovering around $250,000, St. Lucie County - once a haven for affordable homes - is off that route for many service-industry and public-sector employees.

Yet the demand for such housing will only increase in the coming decades, experts predict, potentially trapping the region in an economic vise.

By 2025, the four-county area stretching from Palm Beach County to Indian River County will need about 120,000 new "workforce" housing units: homes that are affordable for people who make 60 percent to 120 percent of the median income.

That's about one-third of all homes the region is expected to build during the 19-year period, said Greg Vaday, economic development coordinator for the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.

"That's a significant number," he said.

Vaday outlined the figures, compiled by the University of Florida's Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing, on Friday during the Realtors Association of St. Lucie Inc.'s first housing summit.

The roughly 40 real estate agents and local leaders in attendance spent the day studying the problem and compiling seven recommendations that they will bring back to local governments.
At the top of their list: Create more diverse rental properties.

"I would estimate that 90 percent of the teachers that we hire and recruit want to rent," said Steve Valencia, personnel director for the St. Lucie County School District.

High rental costs are causing the district to lose teachers, he said, citing a popular, second-year band teacher who recently moved away.

"Students loved him. Teachers loved him. The community loved him," he said. "He was doing a good job, but he just couldn't afford to live in St. Lucie County."

The county's sheriff's office and fire district are facing similar recruitment roadblocks, even as they need more hires than ever to keep pace with record growth, leaders reported.
"We can't compete with the salaries that are being offered to the south of us at this point, particularly Miami-Dade County and Broward County," said Rick Carreno, human resources director for the St. Lucie County Fire District.

Meanwhile, the average rent for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in Martin and St. Lucie counties rose 9.5 percent during the past year to $1,058, according to the Novato, Calif., firm RealFacts.

Buying is even further out of reach for many workers.
Starting salaries for teachers, firefighters and sheriff's deputies in St. Lucie County are in the low $30,000s, below the $53,000 a household must earn to afford a $250,000 home.
Even if workers can get into a home, the rising costs of insurance and property taxes may prevent them from staying there.

"Getting approved for the mortgage is not really the issue," said Sheila Grandison, head of recruitment for the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. "It is more the costs associated."
To alleviate that problem, the group recommended creating additional property tax exemptions for community service workers, similar to the senior homestead exemptions some counties have passed for the elderly.

That's something St. Lucie Property Appraiser Jeff Furst said he could support.
The group also wants local governments to create a "community land trust," which would purchase land and homes for affordable housing using money from a new trust fund.

That's among the ideas another housing group, the Attainable/Affordable Housing Task Force of St. Lucie County, plans to present to the county commission next week.

Palm Beach County has created a community land trust and is considering a bond issue to buy land.

But across the region, the fragmented movement to create more affordable housing during the past several years has created few bottom-line results.

Builders tend to oppose subsidizing affordable housing, while governments have limited resources with which to work.

"This is not an issue of fairness," Vaday said. "This is really an issue of sustainability."

Port St. Lucie City Council to set date to auction homes at interchange

By CHRIS YOUNG
PORT ST. LUCIE — With buyers dictating the local housing market, officials wonder how much taxpayer money they can recoup on a handful of houses originally purchased for an Interstate 95 access ramp.

The City Council is scheduled to set a date for an auction at its meeting on Monday. But with every passing day, the six homes near Becker Road the city bought are sitting without maintenance. Neighbors wanted the houses sold a long time ago.


"We need to sell them, now that they're totally worthless," said Michael Tomaselli, who lives across from several of the houses.

Some have swimming pools in the backyard, but Tomaselli said someone stole the metal enclosures for scrap several weeks ago. Tomaselli, 63, remembers them being "beautiful" when they were occupied, but time and weather has made them eyesores.

The city bought dozens of houses and vacant lots in 2004 for the I-95 interchange at Becker Road but found itself with the extra property when the interchange was redesigned in late 2004 with a smaller footprint.

Some former owners bought their homes back from the city and the city Community Services department is buying two for its housing program.

The city paid between $150,000 to $230,000 for them, according to county property appraiser records. City Manager Don Cooper suggested the auction use a minimum bid priceof what the city paid for each house.

Large white signs posted in the front yards read, "Property of City of Port St. Lucie. No trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted."

"All of a sudden, you're in a desolate area," Tomaselli said, gesturing at the block. Residents have said they couldn't sell their own houses with the expansion of the Becker Road area still being planned.

After inspecting the properties in June, the building department recommended demolishing two homes in the 4500 block of Cacao Street because of their poor condition, but those houses are still on the proposed auction list.

Councilman Christopher Cooper, whose district includes the houses set for the auction block, said he was worried the process had taken too long.

The auction company said the holidays are not a good time for an auction anyway, Cooper said.
"We probably will take a loss," he said. "They're fixer-uppers. Let's just get rid of them. I say, 'cut your losses and move on.'"

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Developers of PSL's Riverwalk South want to step up process

By CHRIS YOUNG
PORT ST. LUCIE — Developers of a hotel and commercial strip at Riverwalk South are trying to keep their projects from stalling any longer.

Innkeepers USA and Gladstone Realty Investments plan to build a seven-story hotel off Westmoreland Boulevard, though city officials said their $4 million land purchase hasn't closed. Frank Poma of Palm City Holdings plans a commercial strip called City Fountain Center at Westmoreland and Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

Steve Ball, agent for both developers, said all the fees they have to pay was "much greater" than anticipated.

In lieu of paying for road improvements directly, they have proposed paying into a Community Redevelopment Area to cover the improvements. But the CRA, which currently includes the City Center project on U.S. 1, hasn't been expanded to include the Riverwalk area.

The City Council is scheduled to hear from the public on whether to expand the CRA at Monday's meeting, but a consultant report justifying the expansion is full of flaws, according to city staff.

Those flaws mean the CRA expansion will be delayed anyway.

City Manager Don Cooper said regardless of what the developers do, the city needs to get on with the road improvements the developers were supposed to contribute to.
"This is a project that needs to get done, it needed to get done yesterday," he said.
The city has planned to widen Westmoreland Boulevard to four lanes, add sidewalks and landscaping, and add turn lanes onto Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

Cooper recommended borrowing $1 million and using $1 million from a Conservation Trust Fund to help pay for the project.

He wrote in a memo that the City Council can compel the developers to pay the estimated $1.1 million of their share as part of their site plan approval or in another taxing arrangement called a special assessment district at a later time.

Poma said the special assessment district the City Council is considering on Monday should include other properties in the area that will benefit from the Westmoreland project.
"I just want to pay my fair share," he said. "I'm not the only one in that (intersection) who will benefit."

He said he plans to break ground on his project early next year.

Friday afternoon, Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen said the developers met with her and other council members individually, but they wanted to talk with Don Cooper about his memo, which they hadn't seen

Cooper said late Friday he hadn't met them.

"They may ask for another delay (Monday) to review Don's response," Christensen said.

Report for proposed PSL boat ramp due out soon

By CHRIS YOUNG
Despite strong neighborhood opposition to a proposed boat ramp facility off Southbend Boulevard, parks officials expect to give the City Council a detailed analysis of the site soon.
About 90 residents gave their comments at a public meeting last week, "a clear majority" in favor of the site, Parks & Recreation Director Chuck Proulx said in an e-mail to his staff.

City officials see the site, tentatively named Canal Park, as the best place to expand the city's boat launching facilities. Only one city site has ocean access, at Veteran's Memorial Park at Rivergate.

"The city is growing in leaps and bounds, and we haven't added other facilities," said Chuck Proulx, Parks & Recreation director. "You don't have to be a mental giant to know we need more boat ramps in this town."

He said another site, off Southbend Boulevard and Bay St. Lucie Drive, faces tougher permitting requirements and construction costs.

Boaters said the C-24 site is sorely needed, even though the trip from the site to open water is about 45 minutes.

However, nearby residents took a not-in-my-backyard stance.

"Don't put ramps in a residential neighborhood," said Peter Church, who lives across the canal from the site.

He and a number of other homeowners built their own boat lifts on the canal and said he was concerned about drunk boaters crashing into his dock or other boats or damaging the canal itself.

The city's other ramp at Rivergate is "nothing but chaos and mayhem," Church said.
J.J. White, a boater, said he understood why the neighbors wouldn't want the ramp near their property, but said it's necessary.

"By 10 a.m. Sunday, if I go to Rivergate, I can't get in the water. I park at the Post Office (across the street) if I'm lucky," White said.

The proposed 9-acre site would have two ramps accommodating four boats at one time, and between 60 and 90 trailer spots, plus car spaces.

The park could cost up to $2 million, but there is no funding yet, Proulx said.

PSL subdivision construction shut down after damage to sewer

By CHRIS YOUNG
City officials have shut down construction on the Newport Isles subdivision after the determining the sewer system serving the entire development has been "infiltrated" by sand and debris because of building work.

"The magnitude of damage and destruction has assuredly placed the health, safety, and welfare of our current and future Newport Isles customers at risk and it must be immediately addressed," Utility Systems Director Jesus Merejo wrote in a memo last week.

Utility Systems spokeswoman Donna Rhoden said with so many vehicles and construction activity in the area, workers could have driven over parts of the water and sewer system.
As a result, the city building department won't issue any more permits or certificates of occupancy to the home builders, Lennar and Centex Homes, until they fix the damage, city officials said.

Lennar and Centex officials did not return a call for comment Monday.

Already, more than 500 homes have been built in Newport Isles.

The sewer system has to be inspected to find the extent of the damage and then cleaned, but City Manager Don Cooper said the debris will cause problems for the utility system regardless.
"You can never get all the sand out," he said.

Fort Pierce adds $20M to facelift fund

By ALEXI HOWK
FORT PIERCE — Redevelopment efforts got a $20 million boost Wednesday — by land and sea.
City commissioners approved a $10 million budget for the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency, including $250,000 toward a crime surveillance pilot program and $306,797 for the Sunrise Theatre operations.

The commission also approved $9.9 million in contracts to acquire property near the Port of Fort Pierce as part of a future redevelopment plan.

The redevelopment agency will start funding salaries for several employees in the community services and planning departments who will work with the agency on economic development projects, such as the Moore's Creek Linear Park plan and redevelopment of Avenue B.
Responding to Mayor Bob Benton's question about a $335,000 budget request for the anti-crime Weed & Seed program, Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency Director John Ward said $250,000 of the money would go to the police department for a pilot program to install surveillance cameras in the city's most crime-ridden areas.

"That was the only way we could fund it," Ward said.

Meanwhile, city officials have remained tight-lipped about their plans to redevelop port property.

The commission approved a $5.7 million contract to buy 1.67 acres on Fisherman's Wharf, including an acre of submerged land with 42 boat slips. The commission also approved a $4.2 million contract to purchase 5.2 acres on Second Street, the former site of Southern Film Extruders.

The purchase would give the city control over development on the site.

Benton said the city is currently in negotiations with two developers interested in developing a five-star hotel and a convention center on port property.

"This isn't something that is going to happen overnight, but it could be the largest waterfront redevelopment plan in Treasure Coast history," Benton said after the meeting. "I wish I could tell you more."

Eventually, the city wants to acquire more than 90 acres of port property, including 67 acres owned by prominent business man Lloyd Bell's property that have been the subject of years of negotiations between Bell and the city.

On Monday, Bell and his attorney met with county and city officials to discuss future plans for the land, but results were inconclusive.

Vaporizer pitched to lay waste to garbage

By Brian Skoloff
Associated Press
FORT PIERCE, Fla. – A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads – all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than the sun.

The $425 million plant expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world.

Supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration, although skeptics question whether the technology can meet the lofty expectations.

The 100,000-square-foot plant, slated to be operational in two years, is expected to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill – 4.3 million tons of trash collected since 1978 – will be gone in 18 years.

No byproduct will go unused, according to Geoplasma, the Atlanta-based company building and paying for the plant.

Synthetic, combustible gas produced in the process will be used to run turbines to create electricity – about 120 megawatts a day – that will be sold back to the grid. The facility will operate on about a third of the power it generates, free from outside electricity.

About 80,000 pounds of steam per day will be sold to a neighboring Tropicana Products Inc. plant to power the juice producer’s turbines.

Sludge from the county’s wastewater treatment plant will be vaporized, and a material created from melted organic matter – up to 600 tons a day – will be hardened into slag and sold for use in road and construction projects.

“This is sustainability in its truest and finest form,” said Hilburn Hillestad, president of Geoplasma, a subsidiary of Jacoby Development Inc.

For years, some waste-management plants have been converting methane – created by rotting trash in landfills – to power. Others also burn trash to produce electricity.

The plasma-arc gasification plant in St. Lucie County, on central Florida’s Atlantic Coast, aims to eliminate the need for a landfill. Only two similar plants are operating in the world – both in Japan – but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.

Up to eight plasma arc-equipped cupolas will vaporize trash year-round, nonstop. Garbage will be brought in on conveyor belts and dumped into the cylindrical cupolas where it falls into a zone of heat more than 10,000 degrees.

“We didn’t want to do it like everybody else,” said Leo Cordeiro, the county’s solid waste director. “We knew there were better ways.”

No emissions are released during the closed-loop gasification, Geoplasma says. The only emissions will come from the synthetic gas-powered turbines that create electricity. Even that will be cleaner than burning coal or natural gas, experts say.

Few other toxins will be generated, Geoplasma says.
But a critic disagrees.

“We’ve found projects similar to this being misrepresented all over the country,” said Monica Wilson of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

Wilson said there aren’t enough studies to prove the company’s claims that emissions will likely be less than from a standard natural-gas power plant.

She also said other companies have tried to produce such results and failed. She cited two similar plants run by different companies in Australia and Germany that closed after failing to meet emission standards.

“I think this is the time for the residents of this county to start asking some tough questions,” Wilson said.

Bruce Parker, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Solid Wastes Management Association, scoffs at the notion that plasma technology will eliminate the need for landfills.

“We do know that plasma arc is a legitimate technology, but let’s see first how this thing works for St. Lucie County,” Parker said. “It’s too soon for people to make wild claims that we won’t need landfills.”

Geoplasma expects to recoup its $425 million investment, financed by bonds, within 20 years through the sale of electricity and slag.

“That’s the silver lining,” said the company’s Hillestad, adding that St. Lucie County won’t pay a dime. The company has assumed full responsibility for interest on the bonds.

“It addresses two of the world’s largest problems – how to deal with solid waste and the energy needs of our communities,” County Commissioner Cris Craft said. “This is the end of the rainbow. It will change the world.”

Q&A: Wes McCurry, Tradition Development

By HILLARY COPSEY
Tradition, the massive master-planned community in western Port St. Lucie, is at the center of plans to turn the Treasure Coast into a biomedical research hub. Residents and retailers are beginning to arrive in Core Communities' 8,200-acre project, but even bigger plans are around the corner as California-based Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies plans to expand here.

Tradition Development president Wes McCurry talked recently about the past, present and future of Tradition and Port St. Lucie.


Q: How does Tradition fit in with the rest of Port St. Lucie?
A: With (Interstate) 95, it's a pretty big barrier and right now you just have one crossing. ... It's a little isolated. But we are seeing people come in here to go to the Publix or jog around the lake.
The customers buying here are pretty much the same as the ones buying across the street (Interstate 95).

Q: The housing market in Port St. Lucie — and all over the country — is slowing. How do you keep people buying?
A: The whole project is an amenity. You've got places to work and shop right where you live. It's something that you can't find in Port St. Lucie, or really much in this region.

Q: Tell me about the development types in Tradition. Are there new ideas or special projects?
A: We're going to be trying some different and innovative things. We're doing green buildings. ... We're also looking at land planning, tightening everything up and getting more density. ... We're turning the whole development inside-out, creating a social infrastructure — allowing (a development) to be a community.

Q: You've got a lot of interest from retailers now. You say Core has talked to these businesses for years, but when did the talking, the "maybes," become "yes, we want to open there"?
A: Port St. Lucie has grown up. It's not your sleepy bedroom town anymore. ... You've got a demographic with money in the north of us in Vero Beach and to the south of us in Martin County. And here, you've got the mass of people.

Q: You've planned for Tradition to be a research hub and a retail center, with a shopping mall, in the next five to 10 years. Where do you see Tradition — and Port St. Lucie — in the next 15 to 20 years?
A: You're just seeing the beginnings of a larger project. ... That's true for the city as a whole as well. I think people are just now beginning to discover it.

Officials OK downtown Fort Pierce parking garage

By TYLER TREADWAY
By a 3-2 vote, the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency gave the go-ahead Wednesday to plans for a parking garage on the City Hall grounds that would include a five-story building with retail stores and office space.

City commissioners, who also act as board members of the redevelopment agency, were shown preliminary plans for five-level parking garage with 477 parking spaces and an adjacent building with about 30,000 square feet for businesses on the ground floor and offices above.

Commissioner Christine Coke strongly objected to the plan, saying the inclusion of retail and office space would compete with downtown landlords who already are struggling to fill open spaces.

Coke, a longtime downtown business owner, suggested instead that space in the building be used for city offices 'where most members of the public need to go,' such as the building department.
Told by City Attorney Rob Schwerer that there are limits on how redevelopment agency funds can be used for city facilities, Coke suggested that the city pay for the building and the agency pay for the parking garage.

Bob Chapman, one of the consultants hired by the agency to develop the garage, noted that the retail/office building will be built as a shell, so that its exact use can be determined at a later date.

Commissioner Eddie Becht also voted against proceeding with the plans, noting that 124 parking spaces in the City Hall lot will be lost to build the garage, leaving a net gain of 353 spaces.
Becht also voted against the board's action in May to scrap longstanding plans to build the parking garage at the former JCPenney story site on Indian River Drive.

Commissioner R. 'Duke' Nelson moved for approval of the plan with the proposed retail space, saying he didn't want any more delays in the city's efforts to add much-needed parking spaces downtown.

An estimated price tag for the garage has not been determined; but a complete set of plans, ready to take bids on the project, is scheduled to be delivered by Sept. 15.

In other action, the redevelopment agency board:
• Authorized Jon Ward, the agency's director, to spend up to $16 million to buy land at the fisherman's wharf just north of the South Bridge for the development of a resort hotel.
Ward said that once enough property is obtained, the agency could approach hotel chains and developers for proposals.
• Agreed to let its proposal to pay $5.9 million for the 1.7-acre Rollins property at the South Jetty ride for 30 days. The owners of the property are asking $6.2 million. It's been appraised at $5.82 million.
• Said the redevelopment agency should run its much-delayed downtown trolley itself rather than continue negotiations with the Council on Aging of St. Lucie County to do the job.
Ward said the Council on Aging wanted about $75,000 a year to run the trolley, but that price didn't include fuel, insurance or maintenance. He said an annual budget of $101,376 would do the job.
The trolley was supposed to be running by October 2005.
Commissioner Christine Coke said the trolley's delays were making the city 'a laughing stock.'

Torrey Pines picks PSL as new home

By ROBERT BARBA AND HILLARY COPSEY staff writers
The city's biotech battles aren't over.
Port St. Lucie and Core Communities President Pete Hegener introduced Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies as a "new neighbor" Wednesday during a news conference at Tradition. The event originally was scheduled with the hope of announcing Burnham Institute's arrival.

Torrey Pines founder and President Richard Houghten and Port St. Lucie agreed on a letter of intent Wednesday morning, even while most city leaders were lamenting the loss of Burnham to Orlando.

"We know you'll love it here," Hegener told Houghten and his family at the news conference that afternoon.

Mayor Bob Minsky gave Houghten a key to the city and other council members gave flowers to his wife, Pam, and daughter, Lacy.

But later in the day, Palm Beach County officials — who have been negotiating with the La Jolla, Calif.-based Torrey Pines — said they don't consider the deal to be done.

Port St. Lucie's letter of intent is a tentative agreement to move Torrey Pines' headquarters and two spinoff companies to a 20-acre campus in Tradition. The deal still must be approved by the research center's board of directors. The move would bring 189 jobs over the next decade, officials said.

The letter of intent is not binding, said Carla Brown Lucas, vice president for marketing of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. Torrey Pines still could land in Boca Raton, she added.

"We're still a player," Lucas said. "This game is not over yet."

Although it's true the agreement is not binding, Hegener said he felt confident Torrey Pines' directors would approve it.

"We've met every one of (Houghten's) conditions," Hegener said. "His quote to me was, 'This is acceptable.' His direct quote to me was, 'We're not shopping this and we would not do that.'"
"He came here with his wife and family," Hegener added. "I take him at his word."

Houghten did not answer questions at the news conference because the deal still awaits his board's vote.

Torrey Pines began shopping for options outside of Palm Beach County in July because of ongoing tensions with county officials, said Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency, asked Pelton to assemble an offer for Torrey Pines.

"We have ... a very supportive public sector," Pelton said, "and a very supportive and aggressive private sector."
Port St. Lucie's incentive package, though still being negotiated, is comparable to Palm Beach County's $70 million offer, City Manager Don Cooper said. Both packages include state cash, donated land and public money.

Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan has promised Torrey Pines $6.5 million no matter where it locates. As part of the FAU offer, Torrey Pines would have 15,000 square feet of lab space at the school's marine science center at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution as its temporary headquarters.

If the research center comes to Port St. Lucie, a $6 million private endowment intended for Burnham also could be transferred to Torrey Pines.

"We already had plans for Burnham," Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen said. "We just have to rework the numbers and fill in the blanks with Torrey Pines. It'll happen a lot sooner. It'll go very quickly now."

Houghten has said he must have a finished deal by Sept. 5 to secure $30 million in incentives from Florida.

The city is ready to fast-track Torrey Pines' move to the region, City Council members said. Although disappointed to lose Burnham, city officials agreed with Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, who lauded Torrey Pines as a great start to the "Research Coast."

As for a possible counter-bid by Palm Beach County, city officials said they aren't worried.
"We have a letter of intent," Councilman Jack Kelly said. "They don't."

Personal safety tracking sexual offenders

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Aug. 22, 2006 -- Floridians who want to track registered sexual offenders and predators near them are getting some additional help from the state.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement upgraded its sexual predator and offender Web site to include more detailed information about past crimes and details about their vehicles and boats.

For instance, visitors to the site at www.fdle.state.fl.us can find out more about the seriousness of past crimes along with the case number and end result of the case. A link is also provided to the related circuit court clerk's office that will have the actual file on site with more details about what happened and when.

In addition, the make, model, tag number and color of the person's registered Florida vehicles are also listed, which can be helpful to parents who want to keep closer tabs on offenders who live near them. Those details could also be helpful in finding abducted children in some cases.

The FDLE Web site has information on about 39,000 offenders who have victimized children, adults or the elderly. A particularly helpful feature of the site is that it allows researchers to plug in an address or Zip code and find out just how close an offender lives.

Pictures and addresses of the offenders are provided.

Tom Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, has suggested the site be modified further to allow parents to do a search on whether a license tag number belongs to a vehicle registered to a sex offender.

Fort Pierce spicing up menu options

By TYLER TREADWAY
Will 13 be the lucky number for downtown diners?

If everything happens according to schedule, there will be 13 restaurants in the area Main Street Fort Pierce considers downtown by the start of the winter season. Six eateries on one block alone — Orange Avenue between Second Street and Depot Drive — will offer Italian, Cuban, Greek and nouveau American cuisine, and sandwiches and seafood.

Main Street Director Doris Tillman said the rising restaurant tide should raise everyone's boats, making downtown Fort Pierce a destination for hungry customers from throughout the Treasure Coast.

"People will go where they have the most choices," Tillman said.
Both incoming and longstanding restaurateurs agree — to varying extents.
"I think it'll be great," said Anne Vanmeter, whose Brewer's Café has been at 204 Orange Ave. for seven years. "Anything that will draw more traffic to downtown is great. I'll think we'll all feed off each other's business because we'll all offer different choices."

Helen Fassilis, who with husband Yianni Fassilis will move Yianni's Greek Café from a site on U.S. 1 to 224 Orange Ave. in mid-September, said the variety "will be great for downtown Fort Pierce. And I look forward to trading Greek food with the folks at the other restaurants on the block for Cuban and Italian."

The Cuban arroz con pollo Fassilis plans to get in exchange for Greek souvlaki will come from Mambo Grille, which co-owners Robert Ruiz and Jesse Bailey hope to open across the street from Yianni's in October or November.

But can you have too much of a good thing?

Keith Crandall, co-owner with wife Shelly Crandall of Café La Ronde at 221 Orange Ave. next door to Mambo, said the eateries will make downtown Fort Pierce "over-restauranted."
"Maybe having more restaurants will draw in more nighttime business," he said, "but during the daytime, there's only so many customers in the area; and people can't drive in to have lunch because there's no parking in downtown.

"So, basically, the pieces of the pie that each restaurant gets will get smaller. The good restaurants will stay, and some will have to close up shop," Keith Crandall said.

St. Lucie landfill could create future without trash

By BRIAN SKOLOFF The Associated Press
Welcome to the future, where trash is fuel and landfills are obsolete.

Trash to power isn't a new idea, but Geoplasma, a sister company of Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc., has a grand plan to take it into the science fiction realm and do away with dumps by vaporizing garbage into synthetic gas and steam to create electricity.

The company plans to build a $425 million plasma arc gasification facility in St. Lucie County, the first of its kind in the nation and the largest in the world. The facility should be up in about two years.

It will generate heat hotter than the sun's surface and will gasify and melt 3,000 tons of garbage a day by creating an arc between two electrodes and using high pressure air to form plasma. It's a process similar to how lightning is formed in nature.

Molten material much like lava created from melted organic matter — up to 600 tons a day — will be hardened into rock form, or slag, and sold for use in road and construction projects. It also will gasify sludge from the county's wastewater plant, and steam will be sold to a neighboring Tropicana Products Inc. facility to power the juice plant's turbines.

"This is sustainability in its truest and finest form," Geoplasma President Hilburn Hillestad said.
For years, some waste management facilities have been converting methane — created by rotting trash in landfills — to power. Plants also burn trash to produce electricity.
Experts say population growth will limit space available for future landfills.

The facility in St. Lucie County aims to eliminate the need for a landfill. Only two similar facilities are operating in the world — both in Japan — but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.

FUTURE OF LANDFILL
• St. Lucie County officials estimate their entire landfill — 4.3 million tons of trash — will be gone in 18 years.
• The plant will produce enough synthetic gas — a substitute for natural gas — to power up to 43,000 homes annually, and to run the facility free from outside electricity.