“Minimal” damage to waterfront park from powerboat races
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Concerns that the recent powerboat race staging areas in Truman Waterfront Park damaged grass and other landscaping were downplayed recently when Key West City Manager Jim Scholl said his inspection showed minimal damage.
There had been some complaints from residents during the eight-day race event that heavy boat trailers and other equipment in the “race village” located inside the park had torn up the newly-sodded fields. But Scholl said he had visited the area four times during the races, which stretched from Nov. 4-11, including walking the entire park after the event closed, and found nothing amiss.
“I can tell you from my own personal observation and from [city] public works [department] there was very minimal damage that was done to any of the grass areas and landscaping,” Scholl told city commissioners at their meeting on Nov. 20. “It’s fine. It will be just fine.”
That allayed commissioner concerns but they asked Scholl to put crystal-clear language in the new contract to operate next year’s powerboat races that will ensure the event operator is responsible for repairing any landscape damage. In addition, Commissioner Jimmy Weekley said he had received complaints that all of the handicapped parking spots in the park were blocked by boat race equipment. He asked that language prohibiting this also be put in the new RFP.
The five-year contact with Super Boat International Productions (SBI) to promote and manage the powerboat race event expires at the end of the year and will be put out to bid. SBI owner John Carbonell told city officials in 2013 he was considering offers from other Florida cities to host the event after the Monroe County Tourist Development Council cut its contribution to the Key West event from $120,000 to $100,000. Worried about losing the popular race, which Carbonell estimates brings millions of dollars into Key West, city commissioners at the time quickly drew up a five-year, no-bid contract for SBI. That contract expires in early 2019, prior to next year’s races.
Earlier this year, a potential competitor, World Powerboat Foundation, tried to lock up the event, offering to explore the possibility of creating a powerboat museum in the historic diesel plant in Bahama Village. But the proposal also included language that would have given the Foundation “the rights to sanction and produce the Key West Powerboat Races in the future.” City commissioners quickly vetoed the idea.
Another issue the powerboat contract talks might include is the city’s contribution to event expenses, including police, fire and public works. The current contract states that SBI will contribute a maximum of $35,000 to those costs, which have run as high as $60,000. The city has paid for costs in excess of $35,000.
Scholl said the contract for all special events on city-owned property include a provision about damage. For large special events like the powerboat races and Fantasy Fest, there is language in the contract specific to that occasion, he said.
“Any special event, we want the condition of the city to be what it was before an event happened,” Scholl said.
In other commission business at its Nov. 20 meeting, outgoing mayor Craig Cates was honored with a plaque and resolution naming him “Mayor Emeritus,” giving him unspecified “rights and privileges” for his over nine years of service. After a standing ovation, Cates said he was proud of the city “as it continues on with its progress.”
“You know how much the city means to me so it will be an honor to continue promoting the city of Key West everywhere I go,” he said.
One of the things Cates may be bragging about in the future is the just-announced designation of the new city hall as a platinum-level LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, building, using less energy and water and reducing greenhouse emissions. Solar panels and other resource-efficient features were included in the redesign of the former elementary school building, making it one of only three city halls in the country to received the platinum LEED designation.
“LEED certification identifies Key West City Hall as a showcase example of sustainability,” said Mahesh Ramanujam in a letter notifying Scholl of the designation. Ramanujam is the president and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council and Green Business Certification, Inc., which issues the designation.
In addition to being environmentally-friendly, many of the features are expected to lower energy costs in the historic building.
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