Blount Property a Blank Slate

By Duwayne Escobedo

One of the big questions that popped up about city plans to develop 15 to 20 workforce homes on the 2.65 acre site of the old Blount school property on C and Gregory streets is whether any restrictions exist on the types of development.

That’s because the city used federal Community Block Development Grants to demolish the dilapidated school in 2012. The Escambia Board of County Commissioners also contributed to the demolition.

However, then-city planning department staffers Cynthia Williams and Sherry Morris in a July 28, 2011 email said after discussions with former housing director Pat Hubbard: “The CDBG funds will not limit redevelopment on the site beyond the uses currently allowed by zoning. The option is also there for the City to buy back the property at a reduced value and not have to adhere to any CDBG requirements.”

Hubbard contacted at home by the Inweekly confirmed no restrictions exist from the use of the federal grant. “The mayor’s RFP would set what the requirements are,” Hubbard said.

In addition, the property is zoned by the city for commercial uses, which means the city can develop anything it wants there, including a mixed-use project.

The Blount Middle School had long been considered a symbol of the ineffectiveness of Pensacola city government. In August 2011, Mayor Hayward announced that the city would buy the property and demolish the buildings. The city purchased the site on Sept. 20, 2011 for $225,000 from Blount Redevelopment, a company held by John M. O’Neill III, Donald Moore, and Dr. Sunil Gupta. (See Blount Redevelopment)

The City held a neighborhood meeting in the summer of 2013 on possible uses for the property, but no decision was made. The mayor’s office has not held another meeting on the topic with the residents since them.

In November, City Administrator Eric Olson told the Pensacola City Council that the mayor had plans for workforce housing on the property that he would present to the council this month. However, the property was not included on the December council agenda.