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.
