The City Commission Chamber was filled almost to capacity on Monday as residents showed up to hear a presentation by City Manager Bill McDaniel about the status of the city-owned 1914 Plant City High School Community Center and voice their support for restoring the historic structure to its former glory.
McDaniel, who made it clear that demolition isn’t an option, laid out four proposals for the property’s future, including: 1) continuing a minimum maintenance approach, 2) conveying building ownership, with or without a reverter clause, to the East Hillsborough Historical Society, 3) developing and releasing an RFP (request for proposal), a process that opens up competition and encourages a variety of alternative proposals from interested parties and 4) allowing the City to actively manage and maintain the property, allowing it to be used as a revenue-generating public event space. In this scenario, the City would have to allocate funds from its budget to staff, restore and maintain the building.
Representatives from Universal Engineering Sciences (UES), the engineering firm that assessed the building’s condition in 2021 and revisited the property since, reported their findings to commissioners and offered an updated estimated cost of $30.9 million to make the necessary repairs, a $23.2 million increase from the 2021 report figure.
When Mayor Nate Kilton questioned the sharp increase in cost, UES Project Manager Meagen Gonzalez said, while inflation drove up costs, the original estimate would restore the building to “fair” condition while the new estimate was more comprehensive and would bring the building back to its original condition. “One of the other areas we looked at was mold remediation, taking those items to be restored,” said Gonzalez, who noted that during a visual inspection of the building, mold was seen on museum display items as well as building materials.
“As we go into the rainy season I suspect we’ll continue to see mold growth,” she said. “Water intrusion is going to be a continuing problem in the coming months.”
After UES’s presentation, East Hillsborough Historical Society (EHHS) President Shelby Bender spoke about the funds that have been raised through grants, strawberry shortcake sales at its booth at the Florida Strawberry Festival and the building’s historical significance to the community. She asked the Commission to deed the building to the EHHS.
“I’ve got a gold shovel in the city museum and we’re ready to start the work and take action,” she said. “We’re at a critical juncture and need to come to a decision.”
When members of the pubic were allowed to speak, eighteen concerned citizens shared their thoughts about what should be done with the historic structure. HB Plant Historical Society member Bob Hoeksema is concerned for the train displays in three of the building’s rooms.
Jay Hollenkamp made a plea to commissioners to make the best decision for the future of the building. “The issue before you is a matter of entrustment,” he said. “This will be your legacy, we want our future generations to enjoy this building and it’s vital the person or group entrusted with the task is best equipped to do so.”
After members of the public shared their comments, Mayor Nate Kilton thanked audience members for showing up and sharing their passion about the issue. “We can’t change what’s happened but we need to look forward how we’re going to fix the problem,” he said.
While his preference would be for the city to continue to own the building, he doesn’t believe it’s a fiscally responsible option. “Anyone who’s owned an old building home knows you don’t do it because it makes financial sense, it’s a labor of love,” he said. “I can’t justify this at the taxpayer’s expense, we have to think of all the taxpayers in Plant City.”
After each commissioner shared their thoughts, Commissioner Bill Dodson made a motion to develop the RFP process. Commissioner Mary Mathis seconded the motion. The motion passed by a vote of four to one, with Commissioner Michael Sparkman the lone dissenting vote.
“I disagree, going through this process is just another delay,” he said. “I made a pledge to Paul Buchman that I would support the EHHS and the 1914 building as long as I was up here.”
“We do intend on making some progress with this,” said Kilton. “We’re headed in the right direction.”
McDaniel estimated that the RFP process will take 14 weeks to complete.
“Once we receive the proposals the commission will consider them and they can choose one or reject them all,” he said.
More information will soon be released about the RFP process and can be found at www.plantcitygov.com.