Keys Energy building donation will be on November ballot

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

With no discussion, Key West City Commissioners gave local voters the power to accept or reject the proposed donation of the former Keys Energy electric plant in Bahama Village.

The Nov. 8 presidential election ballot will now contain a referendum question that if approved will turn ownership of the 11,800 square foot, three-lot parcel at the corner of Fort and Angela streets over to the city at no cost. However, there are significant renovation fees associated with the donation, including demolition costs ranging from $630,000 to $1.158 million and another $422,000 for an environmental survey and possible contaminated soil removal.

Commissioners had previously voted 6-1 on first reading to put the referendum on the ballot. Any new acquisition of land, even if it is donated, must be approved by voters.

The same 6-1 vote prevailed upon second reading of the referendum. As before, Commissioner Margaret Romero was the lone dissenter. She believes city officials are rushing to accept the property donation without fully understanding the costs and what the property, which is directly adjacent to the new Truman Waterfront Park, will be used for.

“I still don’t see that we have enough information on this to go to referendum,” she said at the Aug. 16 commission meeting. “I just don’t see it.”

The parcel can only be used for commercial purposes 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. 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, earlier 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 floated is for the Florida Keys Community College to install a satellite campus on the property. The 100-plus-year-old plant has been abandoned for the past 55 years.

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