Blues on the Bay Vince J Whibbs Sr Community Maritime Park June 23

2005 conceptual rendering by Urban Design Associates
Type	mixed-use public/private
Size	27.5 acres
Facilities	multi-use stadium maritime museum education/conference center concert green
Operated by	Community Maritime Park Associates
Location	Trillium property

The Vince Whibbs Sr. Community Maritime Park ( much abbreviated to Community Maritime Park or CMP ) is a public-private development that is planned to occupy the City -owned, 27.5-acre Trillium property. It will include a 3,200-seat " multi-use " stadium, a nautical museum, a conference/education center with University of West Florida classrooms, a assortment of mixed-use development and a large public park along the waterfront. The project was conceived and promoted by a group of big citizens including Admiral Jack Fetterman, businessman Quint Studer and UWF President John Cavanaugh. An initial layout was refined in public focus groups by urban planner Ray Gindroz, and the revised conceptual plan was approved by the Pensacola City Council in 2005. A grassroots ad hoc group called Save Our City attempted to overturn the council 's decision and forced a special referendum, but the stick out was affirmed by city voters on September 5, 2006. The park will be funded by a $ 40 million Community Redevelopment Agency bond and an calculate $ 30 million or more in individual investment. Control and budget for the project is oversee by the non-profit Community Maritime Park Associates. The master developer is Utah-based Land Capital Group, which formed an ad hoc corporation, Maritime Park Development Partners ( MPDP ), to handle construction and development. The park is named for former Mayor Vince Whibbs, who became a principal of the guess after the death of Admiral Fetterman before passing away himself during the referendum campaign.

history [edit ]

Main article: Timeline of the Community Maritime Park

setting [edit ]

In 2000, the City of Pensacola purchased a 27.5-acre peninsular tract of once industrial farming, normally known as the Trillium property, from The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit conservation organization that had acted as an mediator in the complex transaction, for $ 3.63 million. [ 1 ] Located south of City Hall and Main Street to Pensacola Bay, and bounded to the east and west by Port Royal and Bruce Beach respectively, it was the largest undeveloped waterfront property in the Pensacola area. The site was soon considered for a municipal auditorium to replace the aging Bayfront Auditorium. Architectural firm Bullock Tice Associates created a conceptual plan, called the Festival Park, which was approved by the Pensacola City Council on November 21, 2002. initial oeuvre had already begun, including a massive concrete breakwater on the southerly edge of the property, when a group called Citizens Against Trillium ( led by Charles Fairchild ) petitioned for a referendum on the undertaking, utilizing a yet-untried provision of the city 's charter. On March 25, 2003 the citizens of Pensacola voted to overturn the council 's decisiveness and scrap the plan .
In late 2004, months after Hurricane Ivan devastated the Pensacola area, city officials including City Manager Tom Bonfield and Mayor John Fogg met colloquially with a group of commercial enterprise leaders to discuss ways to revitalize the battered city. person mentioned that Admiral Fetterman and Quint Studer had been seeking homes for their respective projects : a museum of nautical history, which Fetterman had earlier tried to attach to the Festival Park visualize, [ 2 ] and a new approximate range for the Pensacola Pelicans, which Studer had initially planned to build at the old american Creosote web site. [ 3 ] According to Mort O'Sullivan, who was at the initial meeting, " Fetterman and Studer had never discussed the combination idea with each other and neither was give at the meet, but it was agreed we would seek the opinions of each. " [ 4 ] After meeting with the two, architect Miller Caldwell agreed to produce a conceptual give. After seeing the drawings, Fetterman reportedly pushed his notes into the middle of the table and said, " Ladies and gentlemen, I 'm all in. " [ 4 ] The group then approached John Cavanaugh, who was seeking to expand UWF 's presence downtown, and he suggested using the state of matter university 's umbrella to provide matching funds to the nautical museum .
The Community Maritime Park Associates presented the plan to the Pensacola City Council on January 18, 2005 with more than 350 supporters in attendance, many wearing stickers with the motto " Right Idea, correct Time. " The plan was approved in concept by an 8-1 vote. Dissenting council member Marty Donovan said of the display, " obviously, while we were working on hurricane recovery, another group came up with their design, mugwump of we city leaders. My constituents read about it in the wallpaper. And two days late, we were at a well-orchestrated pep rally. " [ 5 ]
Festival Park opponent Charles Fairchild called the marriage proposal " an interesting plan that has a batch for everyone, " [ 6 ] but requested that city staff conduct a public input summons to refine the park 's design. Urban planner Ray Gindroz, whose Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates helped create the CRA 's historic zone overcome plan in 2003, was invited back to host a series of public remark sessions and focus groups. " This is one of the most excite things I 've seen, " Gindroz said. " I 'm very impress with the generosity and the public-spirited nature of the people involved and the way they are handling this. " [ 7 ] The Avery Group, led by Marty Donovan 's brother Tim, donated its consult services to the attempt. [ 8 ]
Diagram of the revised plan by Urban Design Associates After more than 50 presentations and 16 public remark sessions, Gindroz unveiled the revised conceptual plan on April 7, 2005. Many of the details had been changed to reflect recommendations made by residents ; for model, the agency buildings and other structures, primitively located near the bay, were moved to the northerly edge along Main Street. [ 9 ] " I 'm arouse about this project, " Gindroz said. " The waterfront now is about deoxyadenosine monophosphate dead as you can get and is separated from the rest of the city. … The intent is to make something unique for Pensacola that plays on its history. " [ 10 ] concisely after the retool conceptual designs were released, the Pensacola News Journal published a point of view by Charles Fairchild that decried the design as " a small open waterfront space that lacks easy access, has limited park, and for the most share becomes a private enclave for those who have the commodity fortune of having their buildings and activities there. " [ 11 ] Councilman Marty Donovan suggested issuing a countrywide request for proposals ( RFP ) for the Trillium property, but his motion was voted down 9-1 on June 9. [ 12 ] City Manager Tom Bonfield late defended defended the lack of a more thorough RFP action, saying the Community Maritime Park Associates were the only group to present a " timely and reactive " design since the Festival Park proposal was overturned. [ 13 ] On June 23, 2005, the council voted 9-1 ( with Donovan again the lone dissenting vote ) to move forth on the CMP marriage proposal. [ 14 ]

referendum [edit ]

Main article: Community Maritime Park referendum

On November 4, Marty Donovan released an exposed letter to Quint Studer and Charles Fairchild calling for a referendum on the maritime park stick out. Fairchild had started an opposition group called Save Our City that was already investigating the possibility. " I think the referendum would kind of induce it over with, " he said. " The longer this thing waits and festers, the worse it 's going to be. " [ 15 ] Mayor John Fogg expressed disfavor for the mind, calling it " government by referendum. " Studer concurred : " You ca n't just keep waiting for one more thing, another meeting, another study, another vote. Because every day when we do n't move forward on our projects, we lose more of our young people. " [ 15 ] CMP principal Admiral Jack Fetterman died on March 24, 2006, after months of declining health. [ 16 ] Just days subsequently, on March 27, the City Council voted 9-1 to approve the dominate lease agreement for the stick out. Save Our City kicked off a prayer campaign to force a referendum the same day. [ 17 ] Mayor Emeritus Vince Whibbs, a vocal advocate of the project, was selected on May 12 to succeed Fetterman as the third gear star of the Community Maritime Park Associates, [ 18 ] but himself passed away on May 30. [ 19 ] The City Council late voted to name the park in his honor. [ 20 ] On May 24, Save Our City submitted more than 9,000 signed petitions to the city, which forwarded them to Escambia County Supervisor of Elections David Stafford for verification. [ 21 ] A minimum of 5,600 valid signatures were needed, and Stafford 's office completed confirmation of 7,122 signatures on June 13, ensuring a referendum would take rate. [ 22 ] The publish was placed on the September 5 ballot, along with the state primary races and a refilling of the half-cent school tax .
In the remaining months before the referendum, both sides — Save Our City and a pro-park group called Friends of the Waterfront Park — engaged in a hard-hitting campaign that much resorted to personal attacks and accusations. The Friends political group, funded largely by Quint Studer, mounted a campaign portraying critics of the plan as crusty naysayers, embodied by a pair of cartoon characters named Chuckie and Donno. [ 23 ] Save Our City depicted Studer as a scheme carpetbagger who was getting a " $ 100 million ballpark " ( a visualize derived from the bond, interest and an estimated value of the property ) for only $ 1 a year. [ 24 ] Fairchild besides produced a series of emails from marketing firm E. W. Bullock Associates, obtained through a public records request to university and city administrators, which he claimed showed an inappropriate back-room undertake " to push their plan on the council and the people of Pensacola " and represented a conflict of matter to on the part of the firm, which frequently did shape for the City of Pensacola. [ 25 ] In one electronic mail, dated January 19, 2005, public relations specialist Raad Cawthon offered a read of the council members ' predispositions and boasted of at least " five votes in our air pocket. " [ 25 ] however, both Bullock and the council insisted Cawthon was just " counting votes " and denied any impropriety : " No one from the maritime park has therefore much as bought me a Diet Coke, " said Councilman P. C. Wu. " If I 'm in their pouch, they got me very brassy. " [ 3 ] Just days before the referendum, local anesthetic militant Tom Garner filed a complaint with the submit lawyer 's office, citing the emails as evidence of potential Sunshine Law violations. [ 26 ] The department of state lawyer 's office cursorily dismissed the complaint, determining there were " insufficient facts to establish that any trespass of the Sunshine Law occurred. " [ 27 ] [ 28 ] In the end, the park undertaking received endorsements by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, [ 29 ] the Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce, [ 30 ] the UWF Board of Trustees, [ 31 ] media outlets including the Pensacola News Journal [ 32 ] and Independent News, [ 33 ] and a countless of professional groups, businesses and outstanding individuals. The Friends of the Waterfront Park spent about $ 600,000 to promote the project, most of it donated by Studer and his company, compared to the $ 68,700 raised by Save Our City. [ 34 ] The Community Maritime Park was approved in limited referendum on September 5, 2006, with around 56 percentage of city voters approving both the conceptual plan and the $ 40 million public bail. [ 35 ] The official tally was 9,684 to 7,701. [ 36 ]

Development [edit ]

Master developer selection [edit ]

After an extended deadline, the two candidates for master developer submitted their RFP responses in late May 2008. The marriage proposal by Land Capital Group [ 37 ] alone estimated the cost of public improvements, as individual investors would be sought former, but included a letter of sake from Marriott International regarding a possible hotel on the property. The proposal besides omitted a count of features, including the Great Lawn, formal gardens, lower west promenade, wharf and piers, the beacon, dredge of the west marina, and the cardinal parking structure, which they claimed could not be built with stream funds : " Until this issue is resolved, the current plan is only conceptual. " however, the total cost of the revised project was estimated at $ 54 million — $ 16 million more than the remaining public fund. The group proposed seeking federal grants in combination with sake earnings and gross bonds to make up the deficit. Their timeline ( using " best case assumptions " ) estimated undertaking completion by December 2010. The proposal by Trinity Weston Cypress [ 38 ] combined public and calculate private costs ( which one city adviser called " jumble " [ 39 ] ) for a entire buildout price in excess of $ 247 million. however, the budget for redress and infrastructure entirely totaled closely $ 50 million, or about $ 12 million more than the remaining public money. The TWC timeline estimates several years of let and web site work, with construction conclude in 2013. The Land Capital marriage proposal was selected by the CMPA Board on ( date needed ). After City Manager Al Coby and consultants took publish with several points in early drafts, the abridge went through several months of revisions and negotiations. A final examination draft was approved by the Pensacola City Council 's Committee of the Whole on April 20 ; [ 40 ] by the CMPA Board on April 21 ; [ 41 ] and by a consentaneous right to vote of the fully City Council on April 23. [ 42 ]

construction begins [edit ]

Two important environmental permits, one from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the moment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were received by the CMPA Board in February 2009. [ 43 ] The official innovative ceremony for the ballpark took place on September 17, 2009. [ 44 ]

Features [edit ]

Multi-purpose stadium [edit ]

One of the largest and most contentious elements of the Community Maritime Park is the multi-purpose stadium situated in the eastern-central helping of the property. It will become the family airfield of the Pensacola Pelicans, owned by CMP principal Quint Studer, who has pledged an annual rent of $ 170,000 for at least ten years to use the approximate range. [ 45 ] The stadium will besides be designed to accommodate early uses, including soccer and football games and outdoor concerts .
Diagrams of the multi-use stadium in baseball, football, soccer and concert configurations

Maritime museum [edit ]

Main article: Fetterman Maritime Museum

The western side of the property will feature the Admiral John H. Fetterman State of Florida Maritime Museum and Research Center. Conceived by the late Vice Admiral Jack Fetterman, for whom it was former named, the 50,000 squarely foundation, $ 18 million museum was originally planned to be funded one-half by private donations and half by the State of Florida 's Alec P. Courtelis Matching Gift Program. The museum 's interactional, educational displays will showcase artifacts from Pensacola 's maritime history. The University of West Florida will operate active research facilities in the areas of public history, submerged archeology, marine biology and environmental science.

Education/conference center [edit ]

The University of West Florida will besides host classes for its business and continuing education departments at the ballpark. The same complex will besides house a conference center, which Quint Studer has promised to use for his company 's health worry seminars. The university will contribute about $ 15 million for the center 's construction and will pay an calculate $ 350,000 in annual rip for at least ten years. [ 46 ]

Mixed-use area [edit ]

several buildings will be constructed on the northerly end of the place, between Main and Cedar Streets, to be leased to third base parties for retail shops, restaurants and other uses. These leases are expected to generate a large assign of the park 's tax income .

Public park distance [edit ]

Water garden & Spring Street parking lot [edit ]

South park & waterfront promenade [edit ]

Rendering of Plaza DeVilliers

Plaza DeVilliers [edit ]

Plaza DeVilliers will be a civil square located the terminal of the DeVilliers Street extension, adjacent to entrances of all the major attractions and serving as a central " meet distributor point " for park visitors. It will feature a paved plaza, information booth, and a grassy lawn landscaped with canopy trees .

DeVilliers Wharf [edit ]

DeVilliers Wharf will be a public amble running north-south along the westerly edge of the property as a pedestrian reference of De Villiers Street. It will be 55 ' wide and features a split-level design .

early features [edit ]

Parking [edit ]

The final buildout of the ballpark calls for two main off-street parking areas on the parking lot property : a surface batch of approximately 70 spaces in the northwest recess and a four-story park garage in the central mixed-use pulley, which will be " wrapped " by the five-story-tall commercial and residential structures, resulting in a total parking capacity of around 1,060 vehicles. [ 47 ] however, as the cost of the garage may not be possible in the scope of phase one, it may start as a surface batch of around 350 spaces .

Marina & fishing piers [edit ]

beacon [edit ]

The master design depicts a beacon in the southwest corner of the property, but this is not included in the telescope of phase one .

Heritage museum [edit ]

In addition to the parking lot 's eponymous nautical museum, other museum ideas have been proposed by diverse groups to occupy the property. In 2005, leaders of the Pensacola Sports Association ( the headquarters of which are near the Trillium locate on Main Street ) expressed sake in adding a Sports Hall of Fame to the park project, showcasing the careers of celebrated Pensacola athletes like Jerry Pate, Emmitt Smith, Roy Jones and Justin Gatlin. [ 48 ]

Funding [edit ]

CRA bond [edit ]

much of the park 's public support comes from a $ 40 million Community Redevelopment Agency ( CRA ) bond. The CRA is a tax increase finance district created to revitalize the city core. City and county taxes paid on property improvements since 1984 are deposited into the CRA store and reinvested into the zone through das kapital projects. therefore, a alliance through the CRA is paid by property owners within the zone, but does not require any new taxes. At the time of the park marriage proposal, the CRA had an annual gross of $ 3.4 million and was growing at a rate of 20 percentage a year. City Manager Tom Bonfield used more bourgeois estimates in considering a CRA shackle, assuming zero increase in the 2006 fiscal year, and announced to the council that " there is a way for the plan to be financially feasible. " [ 49 ] According to Bonfield, the final cost with interest over the life of the bond would be $ 77 million. " There is a monetary value, there 's no hide that, " he said. " But that 's the room public projects are done. " [ 49 ]

Strand decision [edit ]

In 2006, Pensacola veterinarian Greg Strand filed a lawsuit challenging the Southwest Escambia Improvement District, which proposed to use tax-increment finance ( TIF ) issue $ 135 million in bonds for the let out of Perdido Key Drive. Strand argued that the bonds were unconstitutional because they obligated the citizens within the district to long-run debt without their mastermind approval by referendum. In 2007 the Florida Supreme Court sided with Strand, overturning decades of case law and endangering TIF-funded projects throughout the department of state. even though the CMP plan had been approved in a referendum by voters in the city, which includes the entirety of the CRA zone, City Attorney John Fleming indicated that a county-wide referendum may be needed. Backers of the parking lot project began looking for modern ways to finance the $ 40 million attachment. however, on September 18, 2008, the Supreme Court reversed their earlier decision, allowing the project to move ahead with CRA bonds. [ 50 ]

other populace money [edit ]

much of the park fund will besides come from other public sources. The $ 18 million maritime museum will receive up to one-half of its construction costs from the State of Florida 's Alec P. Courtelis Matching Gift Program. manoeuver costs for the museum and research center will be paid by the state-funded University of West Florida, in addition to at least $ 350,000 in annual rent for the education/conference center field. [ 46 ] The overlord developer, Maritime Park Development Partners, is besides pursuing millions of dollars in federal grants from the american english Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 .

private donations & investments [edit ]

five Studer has made a number of fiscal commitments to the Community Maritime Park. He has pledged for the Pelicans to play at the park for a minimal of ten years, paying an annual lease of at least $ 175,000. He has besides agreed to pay $ 250,000 a year for five years to cover any initial operate deficit ; if there is no such deficit, the money will be donated to local charities. [ 51 ] Pensacolian Randall K. " Skip " Hunter and his wife Martha donated $ 1 million to the UWF Foundation for the construction of an amphitheater on the waterfront lawn and to help fund development of the nautical museum. The concert carapace will be designated the Randall K. and Martha A. Hunter Amphitheater in their respect by the university. [ 52 ]

Rising costs & development " phases " [edit ]

When urban planner Ray Gindroz revised the initial ballpark invention, he was not asked to stay within a budget. As a resultant role, according to Tom Bonfield, he " added a solid bunch of stuff that was n't there before " [ 53 ] — amenities like a beacon, a concert beat, and a large-scale replica of the William Panton Mansion. Combined with an estimated 12.5 percentage increase in construction costs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, [ 54 ] and park developers began contemplating multiple " phases " of construction that would deliver all the promised features while not exceeding the $ 40 million populace bind.

When Land Capital entered into final examination negotiations to serve as victor developer, it was revealed that their proposal to develop the populace dowry of the park totaled more than $ 50 million, exceeding the $ 40 million bail allotted for those improvements. Land Capital president Scott Davison was confident that $ 12 million or more would be available through federal grants, but indicated that the alternative would be to include the UWF classrooms or league center in a parcel of the secret improvements or postpone construction of those elements until funds were available. [ 55 ]

economic impact [edit ]

In February 2005, the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development released a learn that projected about $ 51 million a year in fresh economic bodily process from the park, including about 767 newly jobs and $ 24.1 million in parturiency income a year. The center besides estimated an extra $ 124 million in initial growth and construct shock, along with 1,694 jobs and $ 51 million in department of labor income. [ 56 ] Former finance professor and park critic C. C. Elebash has claimed the economic impingement will be closer to $ 39 million. [ 45 ]

Ownership & government [edit ]

The Community Maritime Park will be administered by the non-profit Community Maritime Park Associates ( CMPA ), which will be responsible for the development, process and care of the park. The City of Pensacola retains ownership of the place, which it will lease to the CMPA for 60 years at $ 1 a year ( a calculate much used in accounting to represent a transplant of restraint ). All final gross received from leases will be deposited back into the city 's budget, and the city will own all buildings and other improvements located on the place after the lease expires .

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