City officials not so enthusiastic opting instead to consider a hotel along the water
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Wayne Heller, owner of the Riverview Hotel pleaded with city officials to allow him to relocate the historic Delta Queen here from Chattanooga, Tenn. "as soon as possible."
"She's a real amazing vessel," Heller said of the 88-room converted water hotel during the citizens' comment portion of tonight's City Commission meeting. "We urge you to ask your staff to put together a short-term lease as soon as possible."
Heller said he was particularly concerned about getting the steamship here before the start of hurricane season in late summer, but his plea, the second in consecutive meetings, fell on deaf ears.
Heller's enthusiasm was not shared by the City Commission, even with a packed room of community supporters led by former Mayor Sally Mackay, who stressed, "This has my full endorsement."
But commissioners took a hard line, noting the 5-acre site on the North Causeway has the potential for a hotel/convention center and they supported sending out new "requests for proposals" -- bids -- for longterm use of the site that housed the former Administrative Office Building that would likely be razed for such a large-scale project.
Vice Mayor Judy Reiker and Commissioners Lynne Plaskett and Jack Grasty said they need to give the bidding process a chance to work in hopes of generating a waterfront complex before committing to something short term.
Reiker asked bluntly: "If we allow one opportunity to be favored over another, isn't that what bad politics is all about?"
Commissioner Jim Hathaway, running for a seat on the Volusia County Council and a longtime critic of the $16 million Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue that is finally under construction, said he was willing to give Heller a chance.
Mayor Adam Barringer said nothing while voting with the others to throw their support behind city staff putting out RFPs for the AOB site.
The city put out an RFP on the same locale a year ago, but only got one bid, a merchant who wanted to open a bed and breakfast. That proposal was rejected.
Heller's attorney, Mark Watts, of Cobb Cole in DeLand, said prior concerns about shallowness of water in the Intracoastal Waterway just west of the South Causeway Bridge had been addressed.
"It's 13 to 15 feet deep at low tide" so it wouldn't run aground, he said.
Despite the heavy lobbying from community supporters, Heller said he felt an opportunity here was lost.
Heller didn't want to be pinned down as to whether New Smyrna Beach's rejection gives him reason to pause in acquiring the historic vessel.
He said he has other locales in mind, though he declined to elaborate.
