NFCU has offered to pay for a master plan for OLF 8 in Beulah if they can select the firm that conducts this work. |
I was travelling when the news broke about NFCU's offer to pay for a Master Planner to plan OLF 8 and/or to purchase OLF 8 outright from the county. Here is my response to that letter.
Debbie,
Thanks
for the information and I apologize for my late response (I commenced a long
trip of 22 hours flight time just 15 minutes before you sent this—didn’t see it
until now).
The
offer you forward is very intriguing, and I certainly believe it will soon be
discussed by the full board (at our next committee of the whole).
The
chief concern that I have is our $30 Million Dollar Triumph grant.
It
is not mentioned at all in the letter—however we will be in the running to
recoup these funds from Triumph if we can secure a minimum of at least an
additional 1,000 good jobs total with this property. If we simply
build-out low-wage retail and more housing, we lose that grant and
opportunity. If we are not going to pursue good-wage job creation with
ANY of the OLF 636 acres, that would be a travesty and at that point the only
objective should be to list the property on the open market for sale to the
highest bidder—so that the maximum amount of our investment in OLF 8 could be
recouped for the taxpayers county-wide.
I
hope that is not the scenario that comes to pass.
With
a spirit of cooperation in mind, I re-worked the RFP (attached) to find a
compromise between what staff put out initially and what you all countered
with.
I
believe the compromise document is very good, and contains the lion’s share of
all the additional information that NFCU, via Theresa Blackwell, had
added. The caveat is that I added back the language about Triumph gulf
coast and our grant with that body. I think one idea that might help is
if NFCU committed to also pursue that Triumph Gulf Coast money with whatever
master plan concept is sought. If that could be a part of the agreement
and the conversation it would be an easier sell I believe.
As
you know Debbie, I live in Beulah and I care about what happens out here just
as you do. I’ve lived out here a long time. However the larger concern
has to be that this project, from its inception, has been a county-wide
project that carries the potential to greatly benefit the entire county
and the region if we pursue job creation. And although I
strongly support some amenities for the Beulah community to be added as
well—this property was not purchased with money allocated solely by Beulah
taxpayers. It was purchased with dollars from every taxpayer in Escambia
County.
So
whatever happens should be for the benefit of the entire county—not just
Beulah—and I truly believe that everyone can get something from this property
if we do it right.
In
short, I believe we can have a great project out here that does it all;
creates amenities for the local citizens
(restaurants, retail amenities, elementary school site, walking trail, regional park), sets aside some property for NFCU expansion, and sets aside some acreage for job creation that keeps us in the running for the triumph grant.
(restaurants, retail amenities, elementary school site, walking trail, regional park), sets aside some property for NFCU expansion, and sets aside some acreage for job creation that keeps us in the running for the triumph grant.
I
have been vocal in my position that more high-density residential is not needed
on the OLF 8 site, due to the fact that our infrastructure is over taxed at
present--- and more than 2,000 residential units are currently approved or
already under construction within walking distance of the NFCU campus
already.
I
believe any master planner selected, regardless of whomever it is that pays for
the plan, will have to consider this existing area residential construction,
juxtaposed with the original intent of the project via the triumph grant and
restore act grant, when determining the overall highest and best use for this
property going forward.
Anyhow,
I look forward to further discussion on this topic upon my return next Monday
and again at the COW on the 8th.
Sincerely,
Jeff
Bergosh
Chairman
Escambia
Board of County Commissioners
221
Palafox Place Suite 400
Pensacola,
FL 32502
850-595-4910
office
850-377-2209
Voicemail
@jeffbergosh
2 comments:
Thanks for keeping your eye on the business here as well. Hope for a fruitful business trip for you there. Things are about the same back home. Nov 8..COW..Something about that date seems interesting..
Heads up there is a PNJ article about time crunch on ST and Triumoh and of course Underhill is trying to politicize and act like..the ususal..Thanks for multitasking and God Speed.
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