Rejecting applications from a former mayor and a longtime member of the planning and zoning and utilities committees, the Vero Beach City Council made good on its goal to appoint more young people to shape the reinvention of the city’s 37-acre riverfront utility site into a community focal point for future generations of Vero families.
It took three paper ballots to break a tie for the fifth seat, but the council eventually selected five new members to serve on the Three Corners Steering Committee from the 15 applicants.
Replacing the five council members who stepped down to pave the way for a more diverse committee will be Sydney O’Haire, Chloe Rose Schwartz, Ben Earman, Christine Pokorney-Sickterman and Jeff Stassi.
O’Haire, Schwartz and Earman are Vero Beach natives who returned to their hometown after college. Pokorney-Sickterman is a University of Florida design school graduate who urged the council to include local professionals with design experience. Stassi, 58, who retired early from a career in city management and nonprofit management, is the most senior of the new crop of Steering Committee members.
The five new appointees join Chairwoman Vicky Gould, Mark Tripson, Linda Moore, Mike Johannsen, former mayor Harry Howle and Dr. Richard Baker on the committee, with council candidate John Cotugno serving as an alternate. Tripson was appointed by Mayor Tony Young and Baker was appointed by Vice Mayor Laura Moss, so Young’s and Moss’ replacements on the council in November could choose new members. Moss, once she takes her seat on the Indian River Board of County Commissioners, will sit in on committee meetings as a non-voting member and liaison to the county since the project is important to the entire community.
The Three Corners Steering Committee is scheduled to meet on Oct. 22 to look at variations of the Master Concept Plan designed by architect Andres Duany.
The goal of the committee is to recommend the best plan, which would then be vetted through the planning process and the city council. The city has not yet determined if it will preserve the Big Blue power plant, or how much of the $21 million proceeds from the electric utility sale might be used to fund infrastructure or recreational amenities on the site.
