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 )