The
county purchased the 1100 foot building and about 4 acres of land around it
earlier this year and have been discussing how best to use it.
Commissioner
Pinki Jackel said the building does need some work, but overall it’s a good
location.
The
decision to use it as a visitor center was far from unanimous, the board was
split 3 to 2 on that decision.
Commissioner
Noah Lockley voiced a number of concerns about the project, including that the
county was spreading itself thin with the number of renovation projects it has
going on right now.
The
county is also in a multi-year project to renovate the Armory in Apalachicola , but commissioner
Jackel, who also heads the TDC, said visitor center project would have no
impact on funding for the work at the Armory.
Commissioner
Lockley also raised concerns about using a county-owned building for a private
group to operate, but the county has done that in the past including at the
existing visitor center on St. George Island
Commission
chairman Cheryl Sanders was the deciding vote to move forward with the project
– she said she does not want to see the project go over 100 thousand dollars,
and would really like to see it cost much less.
The
county also agreed to step up the pace of the work at the Armory.
After
the split vote on the Highway patrol issue, unanimously approved a motion to
complete work at the Armory by the end of 2014 – a project that was supposed to
be completed over the next three years.
The
108 year old armory requires a lot of work including an air-conditioning
system, making the building handicapped accessible and completely renovating
the armory’s kitchen.
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