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.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
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."
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."
Sunday, October 22, 2006
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.'"
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.'"
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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Monday, October 16, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, September 11, 2006
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.”
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.”
Monday, August 28, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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.'
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."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, August 21, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Surplus Becker homes to be sold
By CHRIS YOUNG
Two of the eight surplus houses that the city bought around Becker Road for the Interstate 95 interchange won't go to the auction block after all.
Community Services Director Trisha Swift-Pollard said her department will buy two of the homes and resell them to families on the waiting list for the city's housing program at the same price the city paid originally.
Advertisement "I'm sure for the people approved on the list, we'll find two families who think it's the greatest deal ever," she said.
The applicants need to qualify for a first mortgage, but the city will give them a zero-percent loan on the difference between the home cost and their mortgage, she said. The loan needs to be paid back when the house is sold.
City officials said they will auction off the other houses at a future date and might demolish three of them because of extensive damage.
The city bought the houses from residents several years ago to make way for the interchange, but the onramp design was modified to take up less land, resulting in extra houses the city no longer needed.
The houses are vacant and mostly stripped of appliances, according to city records. Neighbors at a public hearing Thursday on the I-95/Becker Road interchange said they thought mold might have grown in them, especially the houses with roof damage.
Swift-Pollard said her department will pay for inspections, but walk-throughs showed the conditions were "fairly good." "We didn't want houses with a lot of work needed," she said.
The value of the homes is in the $160,000 range, a good deal considering the average price for a local home, she said.
Neighbors also said they heard that St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity was going to refurbish the surplus houses, but Habitat Executive Director Al Rivett said his group wasn't working on any homes in the Becker Road area.
Two of the eight surplus houses that the city bought around Becker Road for the Interstate 95 interchange won't go to the auction block after all.
Community Services Director Trisha Swift-Pollard said her department will buy two of the homes and resell them to families on the waiting list for the city's housing program at the same price the city paid originally.
Advertisement "I'm sure for the people approved on the list, we'll find two families who think it's the greatest deal ever," she said.
The applicants need to qualify for a first mortgage, but the city will give them a zero-percent loan on the difference between the home cost and their mortgage, she said. The loan needs to be paid back when the house is sold.
City officials said they will auction off the other houses at a future date and might demolish three of them because of extensive damage.
The city bought the houses from residents several years ago to make way for the interchange, but the onramp design was modified to take up less land, resulting in extra houses the city no longer needed.
The houses are vacant and mostly stripped of appliances, according to city records. Neighbors at a public hearing Thursday on the I-95/Becker Road interchange said they thought mold might have grown in them, especially the houses with roof damage.
Swift-Pollard said her department will pay for inspections, but walk-throughs showed the conditions were "fairly good." "We didn't want houses with a lot of work needed," she said.
The value of the homes is in the $160,000 range, a good deal considering the average price for a local home, she said.
Neighbors also said they heard that St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity was going to refurbish the surplus houses, but Habitat Executive Director Al Rivett said his group wasn't working on any homes in the Becker Road area.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
FLORIDA: FREE HURRICANE INSPECTIONS & REPAIRS
Want a free hurricane home inspection? Want the state to pay half the cost of any recommended repair to prepare your home for the next storm? As of today, inspection applications are available at http://www.mysafefloridahome.com, a Web site operated by the Florida Comprehensive Hurricane Damage Mitigation Program. If you have an inspection and hurricane upgrades are recommended, the state will pay up to $5,000 in matching funds to qualified Florida homeowners; and low-income homeowners will be eligible for $5,000 grants with no match required. There are rules: The program applies only to Floridians who own a single-family, site-built home with an insured value less than $500,000; or owners in a residential building of up to four units providing all unit owners agree to participate. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, second homes, rental properties, apartments and businesses are not eligible. Interested homeowners should apply as soon as possible -- the program's funding, part of the state budget, has a limit.
For immediate assistance, visit the Web site or call toll-free:
(800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.
For immediate assistance, visit the Web site or call toll-free:
(800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Uncertainties hang over St. Lucie County plan
If St. Lucie County commissioners are concerned with any aspects of a proposed new land preservation and development policy, they should seek amendments until everyone is satisfied.
The Rural Lands Stewardship program, if adopted, would be the first on the Treasure Coast and one of the first in Florida.
On Monday, commissioners will consider changing the county's comprehensive plan and land-use regulations that would set the stage for the innovative program. County staff members have recommended approval of the changes and the county's planning board has recommended the comprehensive plan change.
But this is too important an issue to approve unless everyone understands the complicated program — so complicated that three weeks ago Commissioner Doug Coward, a land planner, said he still didn't understand it all. Commissioners, led by expert Coward, must be assured that developers are not getting a sweetheart deal with increased allowances for homes in what is now the middle of nowhere.
The program initially would require project officials to preserve parts of the the 16,466-acre Adams Ranch west of Fort Pierce in exchange for the right to build a new town on the St. Lucie-Indian River County line. But similar projects may occur within the county and serve as a model throughout the Treasure Coast and Florida.
Under the program, the Alto "Bud" Adams Jr. family would receive credits for setting aside parts of the ranch, barring the land from ever being developed. Those credits would be sold to Lennar Corp. and Centex, major national builders. They would create the town of Cloud Grove on a 6,000-acre tract in northern St. Lucie.
The problem is that developers would be able to build as many as 12,000 homes or more, serving a population of about 25,000, on land currently designated for only 1,200 homes.
The policy changes being considered by commissioners include complex formulas for determining the size of credits that the developers may acquire. County officials, however, say the total credits would represent a maximum and the county would still have the option of restricting the number of units in the project.
In addition to preserving portions of the land in Cloud Grove, the developers would have to make the new town self-sufficient — thus far a subjective measure and unlikely occurrence — requiring the expenditure of no county funds. Infrastructure and maintenance needs might be financed by a special tax within the town, another potential pitfall.
Some general observations:
• The new preservation and development policy was largely drafted by the developers themselves and their representatives.
• There has been little public input on the policy. Meetings with the public have been held, but they have been largely seeking input on how the town should be developed rather than on the policy itself. There has also been little input from Indian River County, which is likely to be impacted if the new town is built.
In fact, developers own adjacent land in Indian River County. What would they do with it?
• The developers have yet to present a detailed plan for Cloud Grove showing that it can meet requirements of the program, including the town's self-sufficiency. They have not been required to do so, but that plan would be helpful in determining the feasibility of the program.
Still, County Administrator Doug Anderson said this week that he is comfortable with the comprehensive plan changes and the land-use regulations being considered by commissioners, noting, "There are going to be a lot of checks and balances along the way."
Don't be so sure. The goal of the program — to preserve agricultural land in Florida in exchange for giving leeway to developers — is admirable. Ensuring that it works for the benefit of the community in addition to those directly involved, however, is another matter.
Downtown at the Gardens' success inspires new center near Port St. Lucie
By Eve Samples
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006
To understand why a Palm Beach Gardens-based developer is planning a $100 million-plus shopping-and-dining district just west of Port St. Lucie, one needs to look no further south than Downtown at the Gardens.
There, eight months after the open-air mall opened off PGA Boulevard, visitors are flocking to restaurants including the Yard House and opening their wallets at stores such as Whole Foods Market.
The scale of the project's success is something market studies never could have predicted, said Rob Jacoby, chief operating officer for Downtown at the Gardens' developer, Menin Development Corp.
And that's adding fuel to Menin's newest proposal, Main Street Village, a similar retail hub that's slated to sprout more than 30 miles north.
Menin revealed this week it intends to develop the 260,000-square-foot open-air "lifestyle center" on 22 acres at the northwest corner of Interstate 95 and St. Lucie West Boulevard, just west of Port St. Lucie's city limits.
"There are tens of thousands of rooftops there and more coming soon, so it's a terrific area," Jacoby said.
Main Street Village will include 40 to 50 shops and restaurants, Jacoby estimated, slightly smaller than the 70-tenant Downtown at the Gardens.
Already, some of Downtown's tenants have bought into the new venture.
Though Main Street Village is more than two years from opening — Menin is aiming for late 2008 or early 2009 — the Irvine, Calif.-based Yard House committed to opening there.
Sales at the Yard House's 12,000-square-foot Downtown site have been 50 percent higher than expected, restaurant founder and Chief Executive Officer Steele Platt said.
"We just feel that, with the success of Palm Beach Gardens, that Port St. Lucie would be the next natural city," he explained.
The restaurant, known for its lively atmosphere and a bar that includes some 150 types of beer, also is considering opening in Aventura and Boca Raton, Platt said.
Main Street Village won't include a movie theater like Downtown at the Gardens, but the shopping and dining selection will be similar, Jacoby said.
As at Downtown, he said, Main Street Village is likely to include several national chains that are looking to expand their Florida footprint.
"Several of the people you would expect from Downtown are going up and doing tours of it now," he said.
Yet Main Street Village won't be a clone of the Palm Beach Gardens project. Unlike Downtown, where visitors park in large lots at the perimeter of the development, Main Street will include on-street parking for quick access to specific stores, a hallmark feature of the increasingly popular lifestyle-center design.
"It will have the feel of a downtown area without height," Jacoby said. "It will be a place where people can come together, shop, dine."
Port St. Lucie's swift expansion — it has consistently ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the country — has attracted more retail developers to the area, said Anne Roman, a Boca Raton-based retail researcher for CB Richard Ellis.
"It is an underserved market, from what we've been able to tell," she said.
Just south of Main Street's planned site, Tradition developer Core Communities is building its own retail hub.
The Landing at Tradition will include 600,000 square feet of mostly big-box retailers including Target, and a nearby 75,000-square-foot lifestyle center of shops also is in the works.
"With what Core is doing and what we're planning, people are going to start thinking of that as a center of shopping, dining and entertainment," Jacoby said of western Port St. Lucie.
The company is refining its plans for Main Street Village and intends to submit an application to St. Lucie County this fall.
It has a contract to buy the 22-acre parcel, one of the last large undeveloped swaths in the PGA Village development, from Kolter Property Co. Jacoby declined to reveal the price. "It's vastly different than anything else in the county now," Kolter spokeswoman Mary Kay Willson said of Menin's plans. "So we think it becomes a destination of sorts."
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