Waterfront park gets nod from planning board
Fifteen years in the making – with at least another 10 years ahead until the park opens – the ambitious redevelopment of the Truman Waterfront took a giant leap forward this past week when the Key West Planning Board gave a unanimous thumbs up to the master plan.
Key West city commissioners had been scheduled to take action on the design plan at their meeting but ran out of time before a vote could be taken. However, with the planning board OK, commissioners will revisit the design plan at their first meeting in May. If the architectural and landscaping plan is approved at that time, it then goes to the Navy, which transferred the land to the city in 2002, for a 90-day review.
“They [Navy officials] have pretty much assured us they do not need 90 days to approve the plan,” Key West City Manager Bob Vitas said.
Once the master plan, designed by Bermello Ajamil and Partners, is approved, engineers will begin preparing design and construction drawings for Phase I, which covers approximately 80 percent of the total waterfront development project, estimated to cost between $18 million and $23 million. The construction drawings will cost $1 million of that total.
Phase 1 is expected to be completed by March 2017 and will include building site infrastructure such as roads, parking and utilities; landscaped passive recreation areas; a new, multi-use athletic field; a multipurpose center on the site of the proposed community center gym; and demolition of the existing Police Athletic league (PAL) building. In addition, the police stable, the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park entrance and the PAL program will be relocated.
Phases II, III and IV will include demolishing and/or renovating Building 103 for use as a museum and restaurant, building a 250-person amphitheater, and building the remaining portions of the community center.
“It’s going to be over 26 acres,” Vitas said. “We’re looking at a massive project. It’s the singular largest project we’ve ever undertaken.”
Approximately 6.6 acres of the total project are slated to be used to create social and financial benefits for the residents of adjoining Bahama Village. Those hoped-for benefits include job training, property tax funding for the neighborhood, athletic fields and a children’s community center.
The proposed Truman Waterfront Park master plan is a result of over 15 years of planning that included input from community members and joint agency meetings, the Navy, the Bahama Village
Redevelopment Advisory Committee, the Truman Waterfront Advisory Board and the various city commissions sitting as the Naval Properties Land Redevelopment Agency.
While the first two construction phases are anticipated to take between five and seven years to complete, planners have increased that to 10 years to include time to obtain state and federal funding. To date, the City has secured $2 million dollars in funding for the amphitheater and also submitted an application for a Restore Act Grant for the property.
Specific elements in the waterfront park include a community center housing an indoor gym, an industrial-sized kitchen and classrooms. The amphitheater, in addition to 250 fixed seats, will have a 3,000 square foot theater building with bathrooms and an adjoining lawn for concerts. Two children’s playground facilities will be built, as well as a sports field large enough to host high school games. Recreational exercise paths will wind through the open space areas in a public garden and eight-foot wide bicycle lanes will be in designated areas.
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