Abandoned energy plant donation to go before voters

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Key West voters will get the chance to decide whether to accept the donation of the former Keys Energy electric generator property in Bahama Village or throw it onto the white elephant pile.

City commissioners voted 6-1 to add a referendum to the Nov. 8 presidential election ballot that if passed would give city officials the go-ahead to take over ownership of the abandoned property, an 11,800 square foot, three-lot parcel at the corner of Fort and Angela streets that currently has three brick buildings on it. The motion passed on first reading at a special commission meeting on Aug. 11 and requires approval of a second reading before it can be added to the ballot.

While the offer of free property directly adjacent to the new Truman Waterfront Park that is currently under construction is appealing to some, there are costs involved. Amec Foster Wheeler, an engineering consultant hired by the city, estimated the cost to take over the property and demolish all three of the standing buildings at $630,000. The cost to demolish two of the buildings and “white box” the third building, which is in better condition than the other two, would be $1.158 million. The consultant also said the city would possibly have to spend an additional $422,000 on an environmental site survey and soil removal with either of the two demolition options.

City Manager Jim Scholl said the city always needs more space. Even though there is no plan yet for what exactly the Keys Energy property would be used for, Scholl urged commissioners to put the question to a vote.

“Whatever we would choose to do that is appropriate for that piece of property, we’d put together a plan and bring it to the commission for approval,” Scholl said.

That didn’t sit well with Commissioner Margaret Romero, the lone vote against the resolution. She pointed out that when the city took over the former Glynn Archer School building at the corner of White and United streets where the new city hall is currently being built – the city received the land and building free from the Monroe County School Board in a trade for another piece of city-owned land – the project has ended up costing $18.8 million.

“It seems like any time somebody doesn’t want something, it’s kind of ‘give it to the city.’ They’ll figure out something to do with it and they’ll absorb the cost. I think this is another one of these situations,” she said.

Commissioner Sam Kaufman pushed hard to approve the resolution, but then said he was “very concerned” about the expense the acquisition would require to make the property usable. He pointed out that the parcel is limited to commercial use only because years of toxic waste leaching into the soil have made the land unusable for residential use. While Keys Energy has removed contaminants from the soil outside of the building, they are offering the three structures “as is,” meaning any further environmental clean-up would be the city’s responsibility. City Engineer Jim Bouquet said in June that there has already been “extensive” evaluation of the site for additional contaminants in the soil and the state Department of Environmental Protection has issued a letter saying no further clean-up action is required. The DEP also said that any new owner of the property will not have to maintain ground water contamination monitors.

Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who represents Bahama Village where the property is located, urged the city to take over the property.

“We’ve coveted this property for certainly as long as I’ve been on the dais. Having this building is going to mean a lot. It has so many possibilities,” he said.

One potential use of the site that has been discussed is for the Florida Keys Community College to install a satellite campus on the property. Lopez suggested earlier that at least one of the electric turbines on the property could remain in place as part of a historical look at the neighborhood.

The 100-plus-year-old plant has been abandoned for the past 55 years.

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