Destin City Council “dances” with parking-lot decision

Is it possible to predict what Destin traffic, parking and property values will be like in 2059?

“Fifty years from now we may not need a parking garage or the type of parking garage we’re thinking of today,”

Councilor Tom Weidenhamer said at last week’s council meeting, as the council debated between leasing or buying a parking lot north of Harbor Boulevard. “With a purchase, we’re thinking of paying twice as much per year as with a rental or lease.”

“Spending money on something you don’t own” is a bad deal for the city, Councilor Sam Seevers replied. “At the end of 50 years you own nothing — nothing ... People aren’t going to have an investment for the future.”

After an hour of debate, the council voted unanimously to postpone a decision until a financial analyst compares the merits of buying 2.12 acres owned by the Clancy Company with leasing a .86 acre parking lot from St. Andrews By The Sea Episcopal Church.

In the belief harbor redevelopment will draw more tourists to east Destin, the city plans to build three parking garages on the north side of U.S. 98. The Clancy Company agreed to sell its lots at 222 Mountain Drive and 285 Harbor Boulevard for $3.1 million, earlier this year, but the company’s representatives never closed on the contract.

City Attorney Jerry Miller told the council Monday that the company now says it’s ready to deal, and resolve questions Miller has raised about the deal. Miller said that with the mortgage holder about to begin foreclosing, the Clancys have incentive to sell.

“Unlike my previous report when I thought there were an awful lot of issues,” Miller said, “many of those black clouds are now gone. We can probably deal with establishing a closing date.”

St. Andrews, meanwhile, has proposed leasing its 103 space parking on Mountain Drive to the city for $52,500 a year, with a 0 to 4 percent inflation adjustment; within three to seven years, the city would lease more church land to build a garage and the lease would rise to $100,000 a year unless it was appraised for more.

Kisela said the Clancy land would accommodate a pedestrian overpass better, and sits right across the street from Royal Melvin Heritage Park. On the other hand, he said, “we’ve been to the dance with these folks before” without success, and leasing would save money.

Councilor Jim Bagby said he couldn’t support the Clancy purchase without a reappraisal, because prices have dropped since it was appraised earlier this year. He estimated that by the time the parking lot was built, it would cost the city around $3.6 million total, and that was too much.

Councilor Sandy Trammell said that in Destin, buying land always made more sense: “If you can buy it, you’d better buy it, because it’s only going to accrue value down the road.”

She added that the church parking lot was farther than people would willingly walk from their cars to reach the waterfront.

Councilor Kelly Windes said the Clancy land was a better investment, and the city shouldn’t break its contract with the Clancys.

“We’ve danced with those folks ... longer than six months,” Bagby said. “We’re still dancing and I’m tired of dancing ... We’ll be dancing here six months from now and paying for a property that might be worth $2.6 million then.”

The council voted unanimously to hire a financial analyst to compare the alternative offers. Councilors Dewey Destin and Kelly Windes abstained, since they have property interests to either side of Royal Melvin Heritage Park.