Before this year, the Sanders Beach Corrine Jones Community Center was the most expensive center built in the city of Pensacola, with a price tag of $5.1 million. The timeline for design and construction had plenty of opportunities for public input
SANDERS BEACH TIMELINE – Five years
Sept 2004: Hurricane Ivan destroyed the Sanders Beach Community Center
May 2005: Pensacola City City Council approved a budget of $5.5 million for a multi-use building to replace the destroyed Sanders Beach Community Center. Quina, Grundhoefer and Royal, a Pensacola-based architectural firm, was hired to design the project.
July 2005: Quina, Grundhoefer and Royal held the first of a series of public meetings in City Hall with an ll-member citizen advisory on the design of the new center.
November 2005: The Council’s Neighborhoods Services Committee voted to proceed with the development of construction documents and bid specifications for the center. Public input accepted.
December 2005: The full City Council approved the committee’s recommendation. Public input accepted.
Note: Delays over $6 million in insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency funds tied up the project for more than 18 months.
August 2007: Bid requests issued.
November 2007: Construction contract awarded. Public input accepted.
January 2008: Groundbreaking ceremony
September 2009: Facility opened.
Compare this with the $10.15 million Bayview Center and its limited public input:
BAYVIEW CENTER TIMELINE – 5 years, four months
April 2014: Floods damage Bayview Center
September 2015: Center demolished
February 2016: Pensacola City Council voted to borrow $6 million to build new Bayview Center.
Note: Mayor Hayward selected a five-member advisory committee that consisted of Kim Carmody, city Superintendent of Recreation; Steven Shelley, East Hill Building and Design General Contractor; Bill Healey, University of West Florida Director of Recreation and Sports Services; Juliette Moore, UWF Anthropology Department Office Manager; and Pablo Mirabal, an FMC Management Services Executive. The committee selected Caldwell Associates Architects.
May 2017: Caldwell Associates Architects presented design concepts at a meeting at Bayview Park. This was the only public input meeting held.
September 2017: At the last budget hearing, council was given final center plan and told to approve a $8.25 million budget. Public was not given notice of final plans or budget increase.
May 2018: Mayor Hayward held a groundbreaking ceremony without budget increase approval or award of bid. Council delayed the award of $10.15 million contract for construction. Public was not given notice of budget increase.
Possible Completion: September 2019.
Even with the FEMA delays, the Sanders Beach project was completed sooner than the estimate completion date for Bayview, and the public and council had much more input.
Wayward lives one block from Bayview. Do you really think he is going to do the right thing and actually follow a legal process to get what he wants? Please. Has anyone been paying attention the last 7/12 years?