by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
A meeting between the mayor and the Florida Department of Transportation helped keep the I.M. Sulzbacher Center’s new children’s building on schedule, the center’s chairman of the board said Wednesday.
Michael Munz said he received a go-ahead to build the center from the FDOT following a meeting between Mayor John Peyton and FDOT secretary Aage Schroeder. Munz asked Chief of Staff Scott Teagle for Peyton’s help after the center became concerned that plans for the new children’s building would violate FDOT guidelines.
The FDOT had already notified the center that its planned medical center could not be built under the Hart Bridge because it would interfere with bridge maintenance. The medical center was relocated, however a similar ruling on the children’s center — it is also planned for space underneath the bridge’s overpass — would have effectively killed the project. There is no more space available on the center’s East Adams Street campus.
“There’s simply no other room on our campus,” said Munz. “We would have had to scrap the project.”
Munz said the 1,700 square-foot, $250,000 center will house a computer lab, classroom, kitchen and patio. The center is designed to provide a safe place for homeless children to study, do homework and play. With the funding already in place, Munz said City Hall’s quick response would allow the building to be built as planned and on schedule. Construction is scheduled to start in October.
“The mayor’s office stepped in right away,” said Munz. “He brought everybody together and got them all on the same page. Because he stepped up quickly the delay won’t cost us anything.”