Officials look to bolster renewal of downtown Pensacola

The mayor of Charleston, (S.C.), who was here recently, made the comment that we who live in Pensacola don't have the slightest idea how huge our potential is. He suggested that it would be almost impossible for us to think large enough. an excerpt from the article below

The City of Pensacola is in the midst of changes that will impact the area for decades.

These opportunities and challenges include waterfront development, changes at the Port of Pensacola and in the Historic District.

Decisions are being made on how to deal with environmental issues and the removal of the downtown sewage treatment plant so more people will visit and move to the city.

Officials want to breathe new life into the inner city. They want new businesses, restaurants and       housing opportunities, and educational and professional opportunities for young people.

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Community Redevelopment Agency Director David Bailey said new activities are beginning to emerge in the city's inner core. The CRA was created in 1980 as a special-tax district to revive the urban core and includes the area between A Street and 17th Avenue, south of Cervantes Street.


"In the last 10 to 20 years, there have been all kinds of things going on in the south Palafox area. Even five years ago it was very different," Bailey said. "In one sense, people are frustrated, but they forget how much things have changed in the last five to 10 years. Change happens slowly but constantly."

Bailey said there are 4,000 residents living within the boundaries of the CRA, but he expects those numbers to climb.

"If you take the density of the Historic District and add that up, we could end up with 10,000 to 12,000 to 14,000 people in the inner city," Bailey said.

Bailey joined Pensacola City Manager Tom Bonfield and Mayor John Fogg in a recent question-and-answer session about challenges facing the city.

Q: What steps are the city taking to work with other agencies to find the $165 million needed to move the Escambia County Utility Authority's Main Street sewage treatment plant away from downtown?

Fogg: The sewage plant is the controlling project for the city. An analysis on funding is going on now between the ECUA and the city, but it will take the whole community marshalling together. We're going after state and federal money. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, it has far-reaching impacts. I've been meeting with people since May of last year in terms of trying to sort out all these things. We're talking about seven to 10 years to ultimately reduce pollution, and it also frees up 40 acres of property downtown. Another 33 acres are impacted negatively. We have to have a sense of resolve.

Bailey: Another positive is that the Legislature recently approved $4.9 million for engineering and feasibility studies to get the project going.

Bonfield: That's the first major grant. That is a result of a lot of pressure to bring forth this as a priority.

Q: Pensacola's population declined by about 3,000 from the 1990 census to the 2000 census. What steps is the city taking to reverse this trend?

Bailey: Laurie Volk (of Zimmerman/Volk Associates Inc.) did a story and gave us a picture. We are meeting with a residential task force. The higher-end housing is taking care of itself. We may need to offer incentives for moderate- and lower-income housing for four to five years; these are not things you do in perpetuity.

Fogg: The Laurie Volk study told us that one of our targets is young people, and they want housing that is relatively inexpensive. They like to live in a place with a lot of activity, and we want to provide them with that. We are also focusing our efforts for downtown housing on empty-nesters and couples.

Bonfield: There is interest from all kinds of folks looking to move downtown. The increase in business and the interest in downtown is all related.

Q: What response do you have to those who say that too much emphasis is placed on "downtown" and the CRA area?

Fogg: I have a master's degree in public administration, and I've studied this. The urban core years ago began to see urban flight. It happened everywhere. If this is allowed to continue, it is like a cancer. Eventually, we would have a community with no heart and no soul. The Downtown Improvement Board has really focused on downtown, and so has the CRA. People are coming in now and saying this place is beautiful. The city represents, in a lot of people's minds, what people think of as our community. That includes Santa Rosa and part of Alabama.

Bonfield: The downtown is the heart and the lifeblood of the region, whether some people want to admit it or not. None of the surrounding communities will be successful if the city is not successful. Whether you just work here or live here -- Pensacola is everybody's city. I take a lot of pride in where we've come in our neighborhood programs. But what happens in the Cordova Park neighborhood is probably only noticed by somebody who lives in Cordova Park.

Bailey: The downtown also happens to be the oldest part of the city. The investments the city has made in roads, street lights and parks is consistent throughout the city.

Q: What is the city doing to implement the Ray Gindroz master plan for the Historic District?

Bailey: There are five initiatives, and Alcaniz Street has been identified as the low-hanging fruit, as Gindroz says. That does not mean we will be completely finished with one phase before we start another one. We are having community meetings. We think it's important to establish momentum. Once we see a few things happen, then we'll move on to the next initiative, which is Ninth Avenue. Not everything in the study involves the public sector. Some things involve private properties. We're also beginning to talk with some of the Department of Transportation staff about realigning the Interstate 110 off-ramps. Some people have suggested that this is impossible, but it depends on what the benefits are.

Q: The $40 million waterfront festival park and auditorium plan for the Trillium property was defeated by voters last year. Do you have a plan or a vision for the 40 acres of waterfront property?

Fogg: I don't see how we can even begin talking about specific uses at this point -- other than public access. That's a given.

Bonfield: We have to come up with a process. I've talked to Ray Gindroz a number of times, and his feeling is that the city is not ready to design another master plan. He feels almost like we would walk away from the whole Historic District plan, and then everybody's attention, focus and resources would be moved somewhere else. The bigger challenge to me is designing a process so people can buy into the plan. We have to design and work through a process, then a master plan. My vision is that I want a vibrant addition to the rest of downtown. I'm not sure yet what that means.

Bailey: When you look at it, 40 acres might not sound large, but 40 acres of well-developed, urban downtown land can accommodate many uses. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity to reconnect the city to the water. When it comes to decisions on projects, we can't be making decisions on whims. That's not going to get us where we want to go. We may see 14 to 15 proposals for the Trillium property before we come up with the right one.

Q: The City Council has made the decision to demolish Bayfront Auditorium. When will that happen, and are plans in place for a park on that spot?

Bailey: We're in the process now of taking care of bidding documents for the demolition. A decision will probably be made on that in October. We do have some general plans, drawn up in 2001, of a park. But the specifics, or what kind of activities will be encouraged at the park, really remain to be worked out in a public process.

Bonfield: The plans for the site definitely won't be finished until after the demolition. None of us knows what it will be like to not have that building sitting there. We really believe that once it's gone, other possibilities will emerge. It's still a public space, but how it's laid out hasn't been determined. Then we'll have to decide, how do we approach the whole planning process? Do we bring in a consultant, do we have a planning competition? We've batted around a couple of ideas.

Q: Would the city be open to alternative suggestions for the Port of Pensacola? How can the city put the issue of what to do with the port to rest once and for all?

Bonfield: It would be kind of foolish to sell the port short in the long term, but you have to somehow subsidize the operation of that property until you get there. We will continue to market ourselves for cruise lines. Economically, cruise lines are one of the best things to have. I know the cruise committee will keep working with the cruise-line industry to provide them data about our population, tourism numbers and all of those kinds of things. (Holland American Line Inc. recently chose New Orleans over Pensacola as a destination for a 1,266-passenger cruise ship.)

Fogg: We have a study under way that will conclude in August. We need to know what the maximum potential is for the port. Clearly, there has been a perceived conflict between heavy-industrial operations and the (Florida) Institute for Human and Machine Cognition's ability to recruit the kind of talent they want to attract. And it's not just the FIHMC -- everything else downtown has changed. The port is part of Pensacola's history. The mayor of Charleston, (S.C.), who was here recently, made the comment that we who live in Pensacola don't have the slightest idea how huge our potential is. He suggested that it would be almost impossible for us to think large enough. If we have 2,000 passengers step off a cruise ship for 12 hours, they'll spend about a quarter of a million. That's pretty significant.

Retired Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman is probably one of the most capable individuals in our community. If he decides to raise $20 (million) or $25 million, or whatever that number is, for a maritime museum, then that will happen. It has to have deep water, so it will either be on the port or on the Trillium site. We've got to find a way to make the maritime museum happen.

Q: What other challenges does the city face?

Fogg: I personally know people who have left Escambia County because of environmental concerns. That is my prime directive. The damage was done over decades. We're going to do everything we can to resolve this issue.

The Pensacola News Journal

June 20, 2004  

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