August 17 – When it comes to projects in Monroe County, the Project Management Department is always hopping.
Cary Knight, Director of Project Management for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM to talk about the various projects in the area.
A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Pine Channel Park on Big Pine will be held next week and the park will be available to the public.
Construction began about a year ago. Planning for it and submitting the FDOT grant was done in 2014.
Knight explained, “I came into the county in 2015 and it’s been something that’s been steadily worked on since then and it sounds like a really long, drawn out process, but these FDOT grants that we go after and this one in particular was $1 million to help fund the construction of this park and then a couple TDC grants and we couldn’t do those things without the TDC brick and mortar program as well.”
The county is very much looking forward to the completion of the project.
Pine Channel Park is known as the swimming hole by residents and offers a number of amenities, including a kayak and canoe hand-launch area as well as picnic spots.
Mike Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM said, “It is a beautiful spot there. Just a really nice, tranquil park with a lot of seating, picnic tables and access to the water. It’s a beautiful addition to the lower Keys. No doubt about it.”
Another big undertaking is the Emergency Operations Center.
Knight said, “This is our first EOC. We currently repurposed the BOCC Chamber in Marathon. So what we’re using right now is just a repurposed room.”
The new building will be designed to be the hub for the entire county.
Knight said, “We’re really excited about it. We’re going to be groundbreaking in October if this passes today and we move forward.”
The tentative date for the groundbreaking ceremony is October 4.
The EOC will be a huge boon for the area, especially during hurricane season.
Knight said, “It’s definitely needed. Even though it’s dedicated, we worked really hard to make sure that the features of the building could be used year round. So we’re not building a building that’s going to sit empty 99% of the time. We didn’t want to waste that money.”
The centralized location will allow the EOC to be used as a training hub as well.
A number of agencies from a federal, state and local level operate in the Keys and those will also be helped with the EOC.
Knight said, “It’s going to be an extremely busy fall with a number of projects finishing and then a number of brand new projects taking off. So we’re really excited about this next year, year and a half. There will be a lot of fun stuff going on.”
For more information on the various projects, click here: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/