NEWS ANALYSIS – Despite being told by their design consultant to decide quickly on a budget for the city’s massive riverfront redevelopment project, Vero Beach officials might still postpone that all-important money talk for two months or more.
The City of Vero Beach is now hoping to finalize its concept plan by February, after shelving a ballot question on the project indefinitely. But if the City Council sticks to the staff-recommended timeline, it likely won’t tackle the “economic feasibility” of the project until November or December.
This could repeat a big mistake the council made throughout the planning process by venturing far down the road on a design for the Big Blue power plant site and the sewer plant site without any analysis of the cost implications.
Planning Director Jason Jeffries gave the City Council a new proposed schedule last Thursday, laying out how the city could work with architectural and urban planning firm DPZ CoDesign to settle on a slate of recreational amenities and commercial ventures the city can afford and, hopefully, market to developers.
The timeline – which prioritizes design and public input on the concept over talk of dollars and cents – seems poised to duplicate the mistake that caused a rift with DPZ’s head designer, world-renowned urban planner Andres Duany.
Duany told the council last month that he absolutely needed to know how much the city is willing to spend on basic infrastructure at the site before he could develop a realistic plan.
After eight months of actively laying out the project elements to cater to the public wants, council whims and economic constraints, Duany and City Manager Monte Falls were at least $7 million apart in their notions of how much the project would cost city taxpayers.
Duany told the council he felt he’d been treated unprofessionally in that respect and urged members to be more decisive.
“For God’s sake, make the decision whether there’s zero dollars, $7 million, $10 million or $21 million. You absolutely owe me that piece of information,” Duany told the council on Aug. 18. “I cannot design without knowing that.”
Up to that point, Duany had believed the city had millions to invest in infrastructure, based on earlier conversations with city officials.
The first task Jeffries outlined for the council – a housekeeping matter the council was set to handle this past Tuesday – was to extend the life of the Three Corners Steering Committee.
Then on Oct. 1, the Steering Committee would pick up the task of reviewing the latest “post-pandemic” design options recommended by Duany. Duany would then revise the Master Concept Plan to present at a public workshop in early November.
Finally, in November and December, the council would undertake the “Economic Feasibility Analysis of Scenarios.”
Going by Jeffries’ schedule, it will be Jan. 5 before the Steering Committee is slated “to review the economic feasibility of the site scenarios and provide recommendation on the Master Concept Plan.”
If all that happens on time, the council could vote the plan up or down in mid-February and decide when to hold a special election on any changes that might be needed to the city charter.