BY MARK SCHUMANN

From before the signing of the purchase and sale agreement between the City and Florida Power & Light, some have questioned the wisdom of giving FPL 4.6 acres of vacant land located on the southwest corner of 17^th Street and Indian River Blvd. for a new substation.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, David Sahcroft, representing JHL Partners, put it more bluntly, “It is an anathema to logic,” he said.

Ashcroft told the Council he and his partners, John Huryn and Mark Justice, along with Louis Schlitt, who owns the 17^th Plaza, have a tentative plan for developing a nine-acre mixed use commercial project, one that would include professional offices, retail shops and restaurants.

Ashcroft said many of the businesses that would be attracted to the new project could serve as amenities for whatever is eventually built on the power plant and sewer treatment plant sites located north and south of the Alma Lee Loy bridge.  Developing the land as something other than a substation could create jobs and bring an additional $1 million in local tax revenues, he added.

JHL Partners is proposing to structure a land swap that would result if FPL being given an alternate seven-acre site just west of Indian River Blvd. between 17^th and 18^th Streets.

Because the alternate site is 45 percent larger than the former postal annex site, FPL would be able to do a better job of “hiding the substation behind a wall of foliage,” Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft explained that the deal would be structured so that the two properties would be traded “value for value,” meaning the city would receive the difference in value.  The former postal annex site has been valued at approximately $1.4 million, while the seven acres between 17^th and 18^th Streets is likely work less than $1 million.

Former Mayor Warren Winchester encouraged the Council to seek a professional assessment of the land values, noting that the City sold the property on the northwest corner of 17^th Street and Indian River Blvd. to Schlitt for $1 million more than 20 years ago.

Glenn Heran, President of the Taxpayers Association, cautioned the Council not to let the proposed land swap be used by opponents of the sale to delay or derail the sale of the electric system.  “The real mission is selling to FPL,” Heran said.

In discussions held during the past few weeks, FPL representatives reportedly said building on the alternate site would cost the company and additional $1.6 million.

Adding that cost to the development costs on JHL’s proposed project could make it financially unfeasible, though City Manager Jim O’Connor indicated FPL has sense moderated its estimates.

Councilman Jay Kramer said because the contract between the City and FPL has already been signed, “If FPL doesn’t want to do this, we have no leverage.”

Though the Council took no formal action on Ashcroft’s presentation, O’Connor was asked to work with FPL and JHL Partners to develop on a plan.