A proposed new city hall in Key Colony Beach now has an official price tag, according to two bids opened by City Administrator David Turner in front of an agitated crowd outside KCB’s temporary city hall trailers on the afternoon of June 5.
Of 26 interested parties who retrieved drawings for the currently-proposed iteration of the building, as prepared by architectural firm LIVS Associates, the city received just two bids for the project: one for $8,375,000 from Miami-based Hands On Builders LLC, and the other for $12,487,948.70 from Mobile, Alabama-based Persons Services Corporation.
Set to include individual offices for city staff, a headquarters for the Key Colony Beach Police Department and a space for city commission meetings and other events while preserving a U.S. Post Office location within the city limits, the proposed development is a years-long bone of contention among city officials and some residents.
With some claiming the original ground-level building, constructed in 1959 and rendered unusable for six years following Hurricane Irma, is salvageable, several have amplified their efforts in recent months to demand greater transparency in Key Colony’s decision-making process or continue advocating for the renovation of the existing building.
Speaking to the Weekly following the bid opening, 25-year KCB resident Donald Steamer said it was difficult for some to have a full understanding of the proposed project while poring through pages of plans foreign to those outside of the construction industry.
“These are complex drawings, and many people just don’t have the ability to understand, nor should you expect them to,” he said. “If it’s going to be for public use for a number of years – why isn’t it easy for the public who lives here to understand? … The function of municipal government should at least be to keep the people informed.”
When asked what form of communication would prove adequate for the citizens of KCB, Steamer recommended a summary report or scale model of the hall, some of which would likely be funded by taxes from residents. He said greater communication would likely go a long way to ease the concerns of residents who oppose the new hall simply because they can’t understand its full scope.
“For the next 50 years, we should have something that the people understand what they’re buying into,” he said.
Other residents expressed concern with the new design’s elevated structure and increased footprint over what is currently green space in front of the existing hall, telling the Weekly the new plans “go away from having a nice park-like city hall to having a built-up shopping center” that fails to fit existing architecture in KCB.
Former construction manager and Key Colony resident Dan Schott said the price difference of more than 40% between bids is a significant cause for concern, telling the Weekly he hoped the city would hire an experienced construction lawyer to avoid being “stuck” with added costs after accepting an unrealistic initial bid.
“The process here has gone awry,” he said. “You need a good lawyer in the construction business that knows what I’m talking about because he’s sued everybody on the other side of the table.”
Debate over the existing hall’s ability to be repaired revolves largely around FEMA’s “50% rule,” which requires substantially damaged buildings in flood hazard areas to be elevated if the cost to repair the building to its exact “before-damage condition” exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure. Monroe County Property Appraiser’s records list the existing building’s value in 2017 and 2018, when it was previously evaluated, at $1,052,907.
Provided to the Weekly by city officials, a FEMA report prepared by site inspectors Benjamin Suriel and Howard Whittington from Dec. 13, 2017 cited “severe damage” to “an estimated 40% to 50%” of the existing hall’s foundation, with “offices inside exhibit(ing) significant sagging and tilting from deformation of the foundation.” Exploratory drilling into the concrete slab under the building’s administrative section revealed a cavity of at least two feet between the slab and earth below.
A March 2018 report submitted by professional engineer Roberto León of project delivery firm CSA Group recommended “a full reconstruction of the city hall complex,” calling the building “unfeasible as a renovation/elevation.”
A December 2017 report prepared by the Institute for Building Technology and Safety estimated repair costs at $2.82 million, adding that “IBTS (recommends) the demolition of the City Hall building. With the destruction of Hurricane Irma, this building is not fit to be occupied.” An additional report prepared by Dennis Peters and H. Alan Mooney of Pennsylvania-based Peters Engineers in March 2019 listed an estimated repair cost of $1,255,509.30.
The reports’ claims have been challenged by former KCB Building Official Ed Borysiewicz. Refuting claims in the 2019 Peters Engineers report that stated the concrete slab of greatest concern in the building sank significantly as a direct result of Irma, Borysiewicz wrote in an April 2023 email that the process had begun since he was employed in 1987, and that “it is (his) personal, professional opinion that City Hall Complex is not substantially damaged and can be repaired.” Local contractor Ed Sims echoed Borysiewicz’s opinion, stating in an April 2023 letter that he told city commissioners in 2017 and 2018 that the building could be repaired at a cost of $300,000 within a three-month time frame.
Speaking with the Weekly on June 6, Turner said the 50% debate was only one piece of the puzzle, adding that the current 64-year-old city hall was not ADA-compliant, large enough for the city’s current staff, or nearly storm-hardened enough to serve as an emergency shelter during another storm. With its inclusion of the KCB Police Department, the city hall is classified by the Florida Building Code as an “Essential Facility,” intended to be storm-hardened and “remain operational in the event of extreme environmental loading.” Similar concerns were echoed in the conclusion of CSA Group’s report.
Turner also cited a desire to avoid a repeat disaster if another storm should strike and added that if the city decides to refurbish the existing hall, it will lose money from an already-obtained $2.3 million hardening grant and $1 million for city hall reconstruction currently included in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed 2023-2024 state budget.
“How far down the road do you want to keep pushing this?” he asked. “With the next major storm, it’s like groundhog day, and we’re back to square one. If we leave it on the ground, and we have another storm, they’re going to just drive right by Sadowski Causeway.”
While Monday’s meeting served only to open the two bids, Turner said the proposed construction is anticipated to headline the city commission’s meeting Thursday, June 15, set for 9:30 a.m. In the meantime, he expected a review committee composed of the building’s architects and city attorneys to review the existing bids. Following the committee’s review, if completed in time, the commission will have the option to accept or reject existing bids, or modify the new hall’s plans.
