Council reviews Bay Bluffs Park revitalization grant; staff outlines timeline, budget and potential demolition

Pensacola City Council members discussed Resolution 2024-103, supporting an application for Florida state funding administered through Conservation Florida to revitalize Bay Bluffs Park, and asked staff about ownership, timeline and budget constraints.

Council Member Breyer asked whether the city would retain ownership of the park if the city contracts with a conservancy. Ben Heisten, a staff member, answered: "We would maintain ownership of the property. The agreement with the city in Conservation Florida is only in regards to the administration of grant funds. They'll be acting on our behalf, to administer the funds, between us and the state." He added, "there's no changes in the deed or ownership whatsoever." The staff explanation also noted the grant agreement itself is silent on any ownership change and relates only to the improvement project.

Council Member Jones asked about public input. Heisten said the city submitted a rough timeline to the state and planned "a planning and design phase with robust community engagement this year, throughout spring, summer, and fall," with bidding and construction activities expected to begin in 2026, noting that the timeline could shift depending on how quickly the grant agreements are executed.

Council Member Baer pressed whether demolition would occur before construction. Heisten said demolition scope would be determined in design: "if we're going to be replacing sections of the boardwalk, which I do anticipate, there'll be some demolition" and that engineers will evaluate whether some segments can be reused. He also explained the need to "value engineer" the project to match the available budget.

Councilwoman Ben asked whether the $2,200,000 budget would be enough. Heisten said the budget is sufficient to repair and improve the boardwalk to reopen the park but acknowledged the city may need to phase elements or prioritize amenities, explaining, "we have to keep our $2,200,000 budget in mind and not, you know, design a project that's 5,000,000 that we can't afford to construct." He compared a similar project in Gulf Breeze that cost about $1,000,000 to note scale differences.

No formal vote on Resolution 2024-103 is recorded in the provided transcript excerpt. The staff direction in the discussion was to proceed with grant administration steps, begin the design process contingent on the grant execution, and engage the public during design. The resolution was listed on the regular agenda; mover/second and roll-call tally were not included in the excerpt.

Clarifying details recorded in the discussion include a project budget figure of $2,200,000, an anticipated planning/design phase with public engagement in the year of the discussion, and a targeted construction start in 2026 subject to grant execution and design changes.