NEWS RELEASE
The City of Vero Beach Recreation Commission and Marine Commission invites the public to attend their next workshop on Monday, November 30, 2015 at 6:00 p.m., City Hall, Council Chambers for a discussion on the 17-acre piece of land where the Power Plant is located as well as the former Postal Office Annex Property located on 17th Street. The event is a second in a series of workshops that will be held to solicit input and engage citizens and local officials interested in their City’s public land.
Some of the suggested uses for this piece of property have included: Expanding the Municipal Marina and having a Restaurant, a Water Park, an Amphitheater, a Riverwalk that includes a Community Center, a Fairground facility similar to Riverside Park, an Environmental Learning Center, Nautical Rental Concession for kayaks and paddle boats, and an Excursion Business that does sightseeing, charter boats, and fishing trips.
This workshop will provide a unique opportunity for the public to come up with a creative uses for this piece of property. For more information, please call the City Clerk’s office at 772-978-4700.
WHAT: City of Vero Beach Recreation Commission and Marine Commission Workshop
WHEN: Monday, November 30, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: City Hall, Council Chambers, Vero Beach, Florida 1053 20th Place, Vero Beach, FL
Indian River Guardian 
Keep the smart money developers off theses lands, please
Brad Marshall
I have heard that the 2 Tea Party members of the City Council have a plan, supported by contractors, realtors, and many businesses that want more well healed customers. Strangely the 32963 voters seem to be sympathetic to this plan. Hi rise condos could accomodate a lot of units.
If we also include the water plant property adjacent to Big Blue, wow!!
Because Pilar Turner and Harry Howle opposed the OUC contract and the saving of $4,000,000 per year, and its de-commissioning ,they should have nothing to say about how the land will be used in the future. But, you can count on both of them wanting lots of development When the final campaign contributions are reported, I think we will see thousands of dollars from builders.
That area could become a traffic nightmare. I’m sure developers are already salivating in anticipation of some unVero-like structures and business opportunities. Hopefully the manatees and other lagoon creatures will survive any transition. Of course, that’s assuming there are any left to view.
It is part of the Tea Party plan, nothing to do with voters desires or “Keep Vero, Vero”, lets make it another Ft.Lauderdale, or Miami.
Brad, Given that just 21 percent of registered voters participated in Vero Beach’s most recent election, I have decided to be more precise in my use of the word “voters.” By definition, voters vote. The word “vote,” after all, is a verb. Voters do not simply wish, or think, or hope, or contemplate, or complain. Through the act of casting a ballot, voters exercise their right to participate in the political process.
If what you mean to say is that the majority of Vero Beach’s residents do not wish to see their community becomes a mini Fort Lauderdale, with its high-rises, congestions and crime, then you are probably right. I certainly hope so. But if what you are suggesting is that the majority of those who voted last Tuesday care about Vero Beach remaining a community with thoughtfully and responsibly regulated development, excellent municipal services, many fine parks, and public employees who are treated fairly and with respect, then I’m afraid you may not be correct is that assertion.
There are at lest two elements to the local Tea Party, which, to be sure, should not be confused with the broader national movement. Within the local Tea Party there are builder and developer interests. They worship at the alter of private property rights, which they consider to be more important than the collective good. There are also those within the local Tea Party whose religion is radical Libertarian fundamentalism. They see government as evil, and so they want less of it – less parks, less lifeguards, less regulation of development, less of all the fine municipal services that contribute to making Vero Beach such a special community. (Ironically, one of these Libertarians, Pilar Turner, is happy to let the taxpayers of Vero Beach pick up the cost of her health insurance, though that same benefit is not offered to any of the City’s other part-time employees.)
Harry Howle was wrong in claiming the proper funding for those services is an affront to Vero Beach’s heritage, a heritage about which I suspect he knows little or nothing. In truth, it is Howle, along with Pilar Turner and the Libertarian supporters, who constitute nothing short of an immediate and present danger to a positive future for Vero Beach.
Between now and next November, it is clear what must be done to save Vero Beach from these Libertarian fanatics. Assuming the majority of Vero Beach residents do indeed want to preserve the character of their community, they most be informed and mobilized. Attempting to reach and persuade those who have chosen to allow themselves to be brainwashed by the island weekly, Vero Beach 32963, would be a futile effort. As they say, a mind changed against its will is of the same opinion still. Those who truly care about the future of Vero Beach must take a lesson from Harry Howle’s 50-vote win over Amelia Graves. When good people fail to translate their caring into action, in this case the act of voting, then demagogues like Howle come to power. This simply must not be allowed to happen in 2016.