FORT PIERCE \u2013 The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency cleared the final environmental hurdle Sept. 15 in its planned purchase of the vacant parcel at 1238 Avenue D. Agency members, who also serve as city commissioners, hope to use the property as a pedestrian plaza and possibly overflow parking for the adjacent Highwaymen Museum.<\/p>\n
In March, the FPRA Board authorized staff to execute a $150,000 purchase contract for the property and approved agreements for a Phase I environmental study and an asbestos study. Board Chairwoman Linda Hudson was authorized to enter into the agreements.<\/p>\n
The asbestos study was prompted by concerns from Board Member Michael Broderick, whose firm buys and renovates older buildings and frequently encounters asbestos. Drawing on his experience, Broderick warned fellow board members about potential complications associated with older structures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m assuming we\u2019re going to find asbestos,\u201d he said on March 19. \u201cI just think we need to know what the scope of that asbestos is. If we need to remove or encapsulate it, it becomes complicated; once it\u2019s complicated, it becomes expensive. I think it would be good to find that out up-front.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff subsequently hired Delray Beach-based GFA International, Inc, which does business as Universal Engineering Sciences, to conduct the Phase 1 study. The results of that study prompted a second environmental study by Orlando-based UES Professional Solutions, LLC, which has a local office in Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n
Community and Economic Development Director Shyanne Harnage provided the FPRA an update on that status of those studies during the latest meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis item is really just an update, [so] there\u2019s no action required,\u201d she said. You have previously approved the purchase and sale agreement. At the June meeting, we received the Phase 1 environmental. We discovered that there was some dry cleaning services and some fueling services taking place near the site, so they recommended the Phase 2. I\u2019m happy to report that Phase 2 came back with no additional findings, and they did not require any additional testing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harnage then addressed the closing on the property and condition of the small structure, which was unknown last March.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hopeful we can close this week, and we are ready to go,\u201d she sad on Sept. 15. \u201cThe last thing we also discussed \u2013 we didn\u2019t take a vote on it \u2013 was toward demolition of that structure. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s still how you feel, or if you want to discuss that tonight. I can come back to you about further direction with regard to the demolition of that structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member Broderick, who had examined the structure since the March approval, didn\u2019t hesitate to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve walked the building,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no salvageable value there \u2013 knock it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had held out hope,\u201d Chairwoman Hudson responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can\u2019t buy it cheap and remodel it, I knock it down,{ Broderick continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a good value for the land. It\u2019s crystal-clear that we need that location, but I saw no value in the structure itself for the City of Fort Pierce. We would be dumping truckloads of money into it to continue to maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chairwoman then looked to the rest of her colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody disagree with that?\u201d she asked but getting no responses. \u201cI think you have a consensus. Do you need anything else from us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, ma\u2019am,\u201d Harnage replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to buy five sledge hammers and we\u2019ll go out there and tear it down,\u201d Board Member Broderick told her. \u201cWhen\u2019s the projected closing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, the 17th,\u201d Harnage responded. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to move this along, so I\u2019ll come back before you with the demolition agreement. The actual demolition has to work its way through the city approval process. The funding of that will come back before you as the FPRA Board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member Broderick reminded her, however, that there would be one other review of the proposed demolition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in an historic district, so it\u2019s going to have to go before the Historic Preservation [Board], but the building\u2019s a non-historic structure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already initiated that process,\u201d Harnage answered. \u201cWe should be good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2013 The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency cleared the final environmental hurdle Sept. 15 in its planned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-404887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}