FWC kills Pensacola fish hatchery on Bruce Beach, will begin seeking alternative locations

Jim Little jwlittle@pnj.com

Published 10:13 p.m. UTC Jun 5, 2018

There will be no fish hatchery at Bruce Beach in downtown Pensacola.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission notified Pensacola that it wanted to terminate the lease for the Bruce Beach property and begin seeking alternative sites for the project, the city announced in a press release Tuesday.

"This decision is based on our assessment that community support for the location of the project on the Bruce Beach site is insufficient to ensure the long-term success of the project," reads a statement attributed to FWC in the city's press release. "While court rulings thus far have been favorable to the project, ongoing legal action taken by members of the community have resulted in delays which have had a significant financial impact."

More: Poll says majority of Pensacola voters against fish hatchery at Bruce Beach

The Gulf Coast Marine Fisheries Hatchery & Enhancement Center, the project's official name, was being funded by an $18.7 million grant from the BP oil spill to construct and operate the hatchery for five years.

Approximately $1.7 million had been spent on the project as of Dec. 31, 2017, according to federal website that hosts public information on it and other BP oil spill grants.

The hatchery project has been steeped in controversy for several years, with some community members arguing that an experimental hatchery was the wrong project for prime beachfront real estate that has gained value as the downtown area has developed since the contract for the project was originally inked about four years ago.

Brantley & Associates Real Estate Appraisal Corp. in November assessed Bruce Beach's fair market value at $7.7 million. The figure represents the most probable price the firm concluded the 44.6-acre property would generate from a private developer in a competitive market, accounting for the majority of the property being under water.

The estimate stands in stark contrast to the amount the city would annually accrue through the lease agreement with the FWC. Based on the 2014 agreement, the city would lease about 44.5 acres at Bruce Beach to the state at an annual cost of $50.

The News Journal reported in October 2017 that the city's lease with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may no longer be valid because the three-year deadline in May 2017 to begin construction on the project was not met.

City and state officials maintained the lease was still valid and said construction started on the project in February 2017, despite no official notice of commencement being filed with the county and no construction company being hired for the project.

Two downtown Pensacola property owners, Dan Lindemann and Jerry Holzworth, filed a lawsuit against the city, the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency and FWC in November asking that the lease between the city and FWC be declared void after they discovered language in the lease saying it would be void if construction of the hatchery did not begin by May 2017.

The court initially ruled in April that Lindermann and Holzworth didn't have legal standing to sue, but then granted a motion allow them to amend their original complaint to argue why they had standing.

The case was still pending in court when FWC made the announcement Tuesday.

In the statement, Mayor Ashton Hayward said the city would continue to work with FWC on other opportunities that will bring value to the region.

"Our goal has always been to activate the waterfront," Hayward said in the statement. "I know that our community has other visionary ideas for the Bruce Beach site and I am confident that we can achieve our goal in a way that will turn out to be a win for our community.”

Lindemann and Holzworth both told the News Journal they were happy with FWC's decision to end the lease.

"We were told by so many people that the project was too far along to be stopped, but it looks like persistence, a good deal of research and good old commonsense finally prevailed for a change," Holzworth said.

Lindemann said he felt FWC's cited reason that the project didn't have enough support for long-term success was misleading because the funding for the operation of the hatchery was only planned for five years.

"To me, their rational was an insult to everybody in Pensacola," Lindemann said.

The News Journal asked FWC what alternative sites were being considered, but had not received an answer by deadline.

"The only reason we fought it in the first place is we thought the location was stupid," Lindemann said.

Lindemann said he would hope the money could be appropriated to stay in Pensacola and be used for something like cleaning Bayou Texar.

Holzworth said before this lawsuit people he talked with were unaware of where Bruce Beach was because of how neglected the property had become, and he would like to see something done to it similar to the 2010 Community Redevelopment Agency plan that called for a public park on the site.

"We need to do something to preserve and highlight its history," Holzworth said. "And most importantly I think it's one of the key pieces for the redevelopment of the west side of Pensacola."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com or 850-208-9827.

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