City Manager John Regan, negotiating memorandums of understanding with the University of Florida and the National Park Service, told city commissioners Monday night “by August 13 we will know our fate” on state lands necessary for a Castillo Visitor Information Center in the Colonial Spanish Quarter.
That’s when the state Acquisition and Restoration Council meets to prepare a recommendation to the Internal Improvement Trust Fund on transferring a portion of land in the Quarter which, together with city-owned land, can provide a site for the Castillo Center.
“There are many moving parts,” Regan admitted. “The city wants the land donated, but the Department of Environmental Protection wants the city to be obligated to replace the land, either with other land or its $588,000 value.”
Mayor Joe Boles said completing a site to be donated to the National Park Service for the center is critical. “Our goal has always been to tap into the 750,000 Castillo visitors with joint ticket sales for the Quarter and Castillo. The center in the Quarter can make that happen.”
Regan noted a second deadline – October 31 – to get funds in the federal budget for the center.
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