Bahama Village Community Center plans get first airing

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Members of the Bahama Village Redevelopment Advisory Committee (BVRAC) recently got a first look at the proposed community center the city wants to build in the historic neighborhood.

The 6,000-square foot structure would be attached to the Douglass Gym on Olivia Street, which itself just underwent an extensive renovation. City officials had originally planned to build a community center in the new Truman Waterfront Park but when the cost of the park approached $58 million, the project was moved to Bahama Village, where Tax Incremental Funding (TIF), a percentage of neighborhood property taxes funneled back into the area for community improvement projects, will be used to pay for the estimated $3 million cost of the new structure.

Key West Engineering Director Jim Bouquet presented the plans, drawn up by Hayes/Cumming Architects, to redevelopment advisory committee members for their feedback. The plans call for a one-story attachment between the existing gym and the new two-story community center, with an open-air courtyard placed on the site of the existing gym parking lot. A covered entry and covered sidewalks will link the community center to the gym front entrance and courtyard.

“When we had gone through the concept, we were looking for a facility that would accommodate a community center and classrooms for a learning center, music, computer, etc.,” Bouquet said.

While no vote was taken on the preliminary plans, BVRAC member Annette Mobley was concerned that the existing parking lot will be eliminated. Parking for both the community center and Douglass Gym will move to the existing public lot on Fort Street, which is across the street from the proposed center.

“The parking lot on Fort Street is already full,” Mobley pointed out, as did BVRAC Chairman Aaron Castillo.

No solution to the potential parking squeeze was suggested, however, Bouquet did say multiple bike racks would be installed on the property to accommodate the youthful users, most of whom would be under the legal driving age.

Castillo also asked why the structure attaching the gym to the two-story community center was only one story. He worried that the center needs to maximize its space to accommodate all the neighborhood groups that will want to use it. But he was more concerned that the plans do not currently call for any commercial use of the new center. The building needs to provide a way for the Bahama Village neighborhood to generate revenue that would go back into the district, he said.

“I’m looking at the big picture… We keep handing it out and I see nothing coming back. It’s time this board works like the Bight Board,” he said, referring to the Key West Bight Management District Board, which handles commercial rentals in the city-owned historic seaport.

The existing, dilapidated structure next to the gym was previously used by the Monroe County Health Department as a medical clinic that paid rent to the city. BVRAC members Clifford Mingo and Jethon Williams agreed that space needed to be set aside for revenue-generating commercial uses such as business incubators, computer training or tutoring.

“We need the ability to be able to utilize it commercially,” Mingo said.

Key West Planning Director Patrick Wright said that the area is zoned for residential use only, meaning most types of commercial use would need a variance, something that can be difficult if local residents object. However, Wright said, city zoning does allow “accessory” commercial use, meaning if a revenue-generating business directly supports the use of the community center or gym – perhaps a concession stand – it would not need a variance.

“This has got to be included in this here before I can have any love for your project,” Chairman Castillo told Wright. “I can’t love a project when I see we are just giving and there’s nothing coming back.”

Key West City Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who represents the Bahama Village district, attended the BVRAC meeting and said he would hold a community meeting to get feedback from neighborhood residents on the preliminary concept plan. He said that the 6,000-square foot addition would likely be large enough to accommodate all Bahama Village community groups because two of the larger local youth groups, the Southernmost Boys & Girls Club and the Key West Police Athletic League, have their own, separate designated buildings.

“Temporarily, there may be some cramped conditions where we’ll have to squeeze everybody into the newly-renovated gym area itself until this building is completed,” Lopez said.

Once the plans are approved, construction would not begin until 2021. It will take that long for the Bahama Village TIF fund to collect enough money to move ahead, Bouquet said.

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