Reopening Sigsbee military housing back on table

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Never say never.

Despite a firm ‘no thanks’ from the U.S. Navy last June in response to the city’s request to reopen the 166 vacant military apartments located in Sigsbee Park, state and city officials aren’t giving up.

Key West City Manager Jim Scholl said state representatives are going to make another attempt to convince Navy officials to activate the apartments, located on an island about a half-mile north of the city, to help alleviate the housing shortage in Key West. Rep. Carlos Curbelo’s office told Scholl that with a new Secretary of the Navy set to be installed under the Trump administration, it may be worth another shot.

“They want to reengage heavily with the Navy to look at the opportunities beyond what the Navy’s initial response was with regard to these housing units,” Scholl said.

While Navy Air Station Key West Commanding Officer Capt. Steve McAlearney was initially receptive to the idea of making the apartments available to active-duty military and civilian personnel stationed in the area, the decision to reopen Sigsbee Park can only be made by top Navy officials. After a review of the cost of renovating the apartments was done by the Navy, the decision was that it would be too expensive to reopen the housing complex.

However, Scholl said that the renovation standards used by the Navy in the Sigsbee review were set at a very high – and expensive – level that is no longer required. Those standards were eliminated when the Navy privatized its housing in 2006. Under what is called an “enhanced use lease,” the Navy can now partner with private developers or even a city housing department to manage the property. And the formerly military-only apartments can also be considered for civilian workforce housing, something that is in short supply in Key West.

“The Navy has been very slow and very limited in the scope they recommended and provided” in the Sigsbee review, Scholl said. “They didn’t look at any other options.”

Commissioner Sam Kaufman, who organized a tour of the Sigsbee facility a year ago for city, county and state representatives along with Navy officials, said he was encouraged at the new turn of events.

“We’re still hopeful,” he said.

After the facility tour last year, four area representatives sent a letter to then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, urging him to bring the 166 units back on-line “without further delay.” The letter was signed by Curbelo (FL-26), Frederica Wilson (FL-24), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27) and Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25).

“The City of Key West faces a severely limited availability of affordable housing due to a multitude of reasons limiting new construction including the need for safe evacuation routes in the event of a natural disaster and mitigating environmental concerns,” the letter read. “Given the acute shortage of housing in Key West which affects the Navy and the city alike, we urge you to expedite returning the housing units at Sigsbee Park to active use.”

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