Title
Eastside Gateway Feature (B)
Explanation
The CRA has previously acquired the Tackle Box property, located at 1430 Southeast Hawthorne Road. The CRA acquired the approximately one-third acre parcel in order to create a new gateway for the Eastside. The former Tackle Box building was demolished on April 28, 2006. The Tackle Box property had been a vacant commercial site and was in deteriorating condition.
The next steps in converting the former Tackle Box property to a Gateway include remediation of the site and the selection of a conceptual design for the gateway in order to begin developing construction documents and cost estimates for transforming the site. The former Tackle Box site is contaminated with petroleum and has been listed with the State Petroleum Clean up program, administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). At one time, the site cleanup score made it eligible for priority funding. In April 2006, Water and Air Research, the CRA's consultant working on the site, informed CRA staff that the FDEP changed the scoring process which resulted in the site receiving lowered funding priority. Water and Air Research proceeded to develop technical information that would raise the funding score; however, the information gathered did not yield data that would typically merit a scoring increase. As a result, a timeframe for when the remediation will take place is unknown. The State does offer a Pre-approved Advanced Cleanup Program (PAC), which would require the CRA to pay for 100% of the costs for a limited contaminated assessment report to determine the extent of the cleanup and a ballpark cost estimate. Once the assessment is accepted by the state, plans for cleanup can proceed with the costs being shared 25% by the owner and 75% by the state. Entering the PAC raises the site score so funding is available sooner than remaining in the standard program. However, the PAC program admittance tim...
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