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Divided Brooksville council grants Blueberry Festival long-term Quarry lease

 
Published Feb. 8, 2017

BROOKSVILLE — Touting long-term economic benefits and putting Brooksville on the map, a divided City Council this week approved a 40-year lease of a portion of the former Quarry Golf Course property to the Florida Blueberry Festival.

The lease, which potentially would allow those who run the festival to develop a year-round venue that could include a convention center, an arena, a concert hall, a visitor center or other facilities, was strongly supported by several city business leaders. But some residents and businesses blasted the council, saying the lease would pull the festival out of downtown Brooksville and amounted to a giveaway of city property with its $1-per-year rent provision.

The council has talked about the lease for several months, spending hours crafting specific language. But even as it came to a vote Monday night, council members and residents who opposed the idea questioned why use of the land was never offered in a general bid, allowing other entities to make proposals.

Some also questioned how much the public knew about the lease proposal, how much the council listened to community concerns, and the length of the lease — 40 years with an option for a 20-year extension.

There also were questions about the city's contributions to the festival in the past and for this year, which will likely be the last time it is held downtown. And there was a debate about whether some City Council members had set up communications via social media that had the potential for violating the Sunshine Law.

Council members did approve the $20,000 they already had allocated in the city budget for promoting the festival. But lingering questions about another $21,000 delayed a decision on that issue.

The Sunshine Law question resulted from an email about the festival received by council member Joe Bernardini, which he responded to and distributed to other council members, and a Facebook posting by council member Betty Erhard. Bernardini and Erhard voted to oppose the lease.

City attorneys said they raised concerns about those communications with the Florida attorney general and the state Ethics Commission and were told that a full public discussion by the council would cure any potential legal challenges. But Mayor Robert Battista, who has been a government attorney for years, stressed that since there was no online dialogue back and forth between council members, there was no violation of the law.

During public comment, some residents questioned how the lease would affect the surrounding neighborhood if large events were to take place in the future. Others wondered about the city's liability. Still others wanted to know why the festival spent so much on advertising when festivals in other places were extremely successful without having that expense.

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"The future of the city is in your hands,'' said Shirley Miketinac, who told council members they were in denial about the level of public disapproval the lease had created.

The $1-a-year lease, "that's just a bad deal,'' Rosemarie Grubba said.

Losing part of a public park and taking away the business created by a downtown festival were problems, Judith Simpson said.

"Don't think this is a good thing moving this out of downtown,'' Simpson said.

But others saw the lease as the shot in the arm that Brooksville needs.

"They are going to be investing millions of dollars over the life of the lease,'' said Richard Linkul, a board member of the Brooksville Kiwanis Club, which has been actively involved with the festival. "This activity will bring (the property) to its highest and best use.''

Linkul noted that the city gets plenty in return. People visit the area. They spend money at local businesses. They stay in the local hotels and eat at the restaurants.

"This,'' he said, "will help increase the tax base."

"This is something that really needs to happen,'' said Dennis Wilfong, who served as the city's economic development ambassador for several years.

Sonny Vergara, who serves on the Brooksville Vision Foundation, which works with the Blueberry Festival, said any fear that moving the festival will hurt downtown is shortsighted. The lease will provide a venue for new events, will allow smaller events to take place downtown and will help local businesses, he said.

Attorney Darryl Johnston, representing the Blueberry Festival, said future events will be able to run for more than just two days. Also, he said, trolleys could transport visitors to various venues in the Brooksville area. Traffic issues will be addressed during the planning for the land improvements, he said.

"I think the community is going to benefit (from the lease),'' Johnston said.

Council member Bill Kemerer said he was willing to give festival leaders three to five years to show what they can do.

The lease includes deadlines for approval of a master plan and construction of new facilities. He argued that the city had worked hard to put safeguards into the lease and "if it can't work, they're not going to pursue it.''

Contact Barbara Behrendt at bbehrendt@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1434.