Concerns about parking dominated discussion at last month’s Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency (FPPA) meeting as conceptual plans for Marina Park were unveiled.
The 6 acres of publicly owned property located between Avenue A (Marina Way) and Orange Avenue is home to the popular Downtown Farmers Market and contains 175 parking spots.
The project is part of the November 2022 Downtown Master Plan with phase 1 of the plan to transform Marina Square into Marina Park.
Proposals for the site include a market plaza, a playground with a splashpad, an events lawn, dog park, waterfront promenade and the controversial loss of parking spaces.
“One of the major initiatives came to design a well-designed place that would meet the needs of the people of Fort Pierce,” said Viviana Castro, PLA, of Inspire Placemaking Collective, the city project consultants. “We realized that the market is a cornerstone. It’s like the front porch to the water where you have a market plaza, a stage, play spaces, different shaded opportunities for you to walk around the area in a compatible manner.”
Residents were able to offer input on the project through workshops and a survey in the spring, and additional input will be sought.
A lack of parking remains a major downtown issue, and reducing the number of spots will not only leave Marina Park visitors and local restaurant patrons scrambling for parking, but will also take away spots from the profit-making Fort Pierce Marina. “The name is Marina Square, however the marina is an afterthought,” said City Commissioner Michael Broderick, who is deeply concerned about the parking issue and the effect it will have on the growing marina.
“You can only have so many priorities you can address in your scheme, and I understand that. Ultimately, it is this party’s decision to say what is the priority and it is named Marina Square. In my opinion we need to keep the marina squarely in our thoughts as to what we are doing moving forward,” Broderick said.
Castro pointed out that 100 spaces were left in the plan, and that there are two tram stops that can take people to the supporting parking. There is also an area for loading and unloading for marina users.
“I can’t wait to see the final project and the playground,” said City Commissioner Arnold Gaines. “I know when it first came up I always said that when we are planning stuff, we have to start including the next generation because unfortunately all of us are not going to be here, and if we build it for ourselves all they are going to do is tear it down for what they want.”
While concerned about the parking issue and agreeing that more parking was needed, Gaines said, “What I will put on the record tonight is, turn all of this green area downtown into a parking lot — I’m not going to vote on that ever, that is not what our community asked for.
“So, I guess we have to go back to the drawing board and look at a parking garage and look at something else,”
“The more green area, the better. Clearly, we just have to accommodate all these other needs,” said Broderick. “I think there are a lot of possibilities.”
FPRA Community and Economic Development Director Shyanne Harnage suggested looking at the current scope of the project and possibly adding to it. “We can discuss that with them as our consultants to identify parking and expanding that boundary area or we can look at that project separated from this and scope that out with a separate consultant,” Harnage said.
Discussions about parking and the possibility of building a garage prompted talk about costs, as well as the possibility of using other public use property in the equation.
“I think this whole project needs to be looked at as a whole. Be very cognizant of the chess pieces that you’re moving,” said Marina Manager Dean Kubitschek.
Quantifying how many vehicles come in and out of the marina area on a daily basis will be part of the process. “Right now, when there’s not enough parking … the customers are not coming to downtown. That’s just the reality of it,” said Kubitschek, adding that a code enforcement officer was being hired for the marina who could be designated to do a vehicle count for the marina to look at the numbers.
“This is the first phase in the process. We have to drill down into detail to be able to get valuable feedback, so what you are seeing today is not a final design, it is an advancement of the process, and I think we are moving in the right direction,” said George Kramer, president of Inspire Placemaking Collective.
“I do think there is the opportunity to work with this design and come up with a solution that benefits the marina, and that would be my commitment to you,” said Kramer.
Community members who spoke before the presentation expressed concerns about a range of issues including parking and not having enough room for the markets at the site.
“To me, why can’t we just fix what we have and make it a little nicer and make the gazebo bigger, have a bandstand, or just fix it?” said Laurie Metcalf, a member of the Fort Pierce Jazz and Blues Society.
“I love the quaintness of it. I understand that there’s progress and things need to move on, but I think Fort Pierce and Downtown Fort Pierce has such a quaintness.”
After about an hour and a half of discussions commissioners decided that more work needed to be done and to move on.
“I think we all agree, we are willing to look at creative solutions,” said City Commissioner Curtis Johnson. “I have seen these creative designs in other communities where we have wraparound parking and retail. I think we need to look to these other communities,” mentioning Delray as an example.
“Ultimately it is going to be for the public’s use. We want to show we are addressing their needs as well as looking at the future needs of the city from a business perspective,” said City Manager Richard Chess, who intended to meet with the planning and engineering departments to discuss the project needs. He also confirmed that there would be many more opportunities for public feedback.