The Canaveral Port Authority Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reject an unsolicited offer to develop a liquefied natural gas plant on land currently owned by the port on Merritt Island.
In moving to toss out the proposal, Commissioner Micah Loyd made good on his promise from the previous night’s public workshop, held to discuss the proposed LNG plant. About a hundred people turned up to that workshop Tuesday night, most of them in opposition to the proposal.
RELATED: Port commissioner says he’ll move to toss out LNG plant proposal
“Today, you made the right decision,” Merritt Island resident Philip Stasik told commissioners, following Wednesday’s vote. “And I hope that that decision holds. We're counting on you to make the right decision in the future.”
Stasik, a retired airline captain, said while he appreciates the value of LNG as a fuel source, the site targeted for the plant — near homes and an elementary school — was all wrong.
“This location is directly next to the Beachline Expressway,” Stasik said in an interview ahead of Tuesday’s workshop. “If there were any kind of an issue … A leak, a fire, a release of toxic gas, or, God forbid, an explosion — the first people to arrive at the scene of the accident will be children playing in their front yard, just 350 feet away. That's completely unacceptable.”
Companies Chesapeake Utilities Corp. and BHE GT&S, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, hoped to buy or lease land the port owns in Merritt Island, along the barge canal that connects the Banana and Indian Rivers.
The port owns 17 parcels along the barge canal. All but five are currently leased to third parties. The 125-acre, largely vacant parcel eyeballed by the companies for an LNG plant contains about 56 acres of usable area. But staff call it the “50-acre parcel” because right now, it lacks an accurate land survey, according to the port authority’s vice president of general counsel Craig Langley.
“In order to proceed, we would obviously have to get a (new) survey,” Langley said at Tuesday’s workshop.
Real Estate Director Mark Milisits said because it is so unique, the 50-acre parcel is a difficult property to appraise. It includes more than 2,000 linear feet of waterfront land, plus 23 acres of wetlands, which would need to be mitigated if developed.
“It’s very valuable property, ” Milisits said.
The port authority recently had the land appraised. It was valued at $11.4 million, or $238,000 per acre — up from the $30,000 per acre the land was worth back in 1991, when the port first acquired it.
Loyd’s Wednesday motion, seconded by Vice Chair Fritz VanVolkenburgh, directs staff to reject the companies’ offer, and declares the 50-acre parcel to be “a strategic port property” that should not be sold.
VanVolkenburgh said some might argue that, in rejecting the proposed sale, the port authority is foregoing more than $11 million of potential revenue. But over time, he said, the property’s monetary value will only grow.
Resident concerns were another factor driving VanVolkenburgh’s choice to support tossing out the proposal. “There would be stressors that could impact the local community, whether these stressors were psychological, health-related or environmental. And property values could be negatively impacted as well.”
VanVolkenburgh said he believes Chesapeake and Berkshire Hathaway to be “solid outfits,” based on his prior experience working in the electric and natural gas industry. Still, he said, the choice for him at this time is clear.
“The bottom line is that, given the considerable size and location of the property, I'm not ready to sell it,” VanVolkenburgh said. “Not this year — in any way, whether it's (for) LNG or any other purpose.”
The port authority’s next meeting will be on April 29.
