Northwest residents urge city to preserve EPAT Larkins Center; developers propose legacy, job and training elements

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Dozens of residents who spoke at the Pompano Beach City Commission and CRA joint special meeting on May 7 urged commissioners and staff not to demolish the EPAT Larkins community center and asked that any new facilities retain or prominently honor the center’s legacy.

“...the community does not want the EPAT Larkins building demolished,” Commissioner Beverly Perkins told city staff during the meeting, reflecting concerns she said she has repeatedly raised with the developer and staff. Multiple public speakers echoed that position and asked for guarantees that the center’s history and community functions will be preserved.

RocaPoint Partners and its consultants presented several ways the redevelopment could incorporate cultural preservation and new community programming. Phil Mays and Danielle Handy described options for a replacement or expanded facility on MLK Boulevard, including a larger, state-of-the-art EPAT Larkins that could house a sports hall of fame, a legacy wall and expanded multimedia and ballroom space. Handy said such additions would be “an important part of any successful redevelopment project.” Phil Mays described a conceptual replacement sized to allow a ballroom for 500 to 700 people and expanded meeting and multimedia space.

Staff also outlined program elements aimed at connecting the project to local residents and small businesses: a vocational-technical culinary and hospitality program, a college resource center for high-school students, an incubator in roughly 3,000 square feet now leased by the CRA, a job-placement consultant to link residents to construction and permanent jobs, and an incentive structure to encourage local contractor participation. Sibyl said the vocational-tech and college resource additions would increase costs by an estimated $6,000,000.

Community members at the meeting raised several overlapping concerns: displacement and rising taxes, the adequacy of outreach, homelessness and social services, school conditions in the Northwest, and whether workforce housing targets are sufficient to prevent resident displacement. Speaker Patricia Kind told the commission, “we have people living in their cars,” a point echoed by other social-service providers who said demand for food, clothing and shelter has increased. Stephen Martin, a resident and father, warned that past projects had resulted in longtime neighbors being priced out: “We watched it grow … and we watched other people come into our community and we lost our community,” he said.

RocaPoint offered a $500,000 community-benefits fund to be released on development milestones and proposed an across-the-board 1% construction incentive (capped at $2,000,000) to encourage participation by local contractors and small businesses. Staff said the CRA and city would pursue developer obligations in a first amendment to the master development agreement if the commission approves additional project elements.

The meeting produced no formal decision on EPAT Larkins. Commissioners and staff said they would bring draft legal documents describing any added obligations back to the commission for review before a final vote. Perkins urged staff and the developer to honor the Northwest community’s preference to retain and renovate the existing center where possible and to ensure that any new facility occupies a prominent location in the redevelopment.

Ending: The city scheduled additional public workshops and a May 14 date when commissioners could be asked to approve MDA amendments and financing documents that would include or exclude the additional project elements discussed May 7.