[Photo courtesy of Culver's]

OKEECHOBEE — Yes Okeechobee. Culver’s is still coming… eventually.

According to Okeechobee City Administrator Gary Ritter, the holdup involves a water and sewer connection for both Culver’s and the Zoom Express car wash. It’s neither the city nor Okeechobee Utility Authority (OUA) who is holding things up. “We have actually bent over backwards to get this project through,” he said.

The developers for the project are the Park Street Commerce Center. They bought the 16+ acre tract from Mr. Goolsby, who had the land separated into parcels. However, Park Street Commerce Center did not like that layout and had to do a complete replat of the property so they could get the configuration they needed. They went through this replatting while purchasing the land. They already had Culver’s and the car wash secured to come in and purchase parcels as soon as everything was completed.

As part of the process, Park Street Commerce had to go through the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) for storm water permitting. They had to go through the Department of Transportation (DOT), and they had to go through the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). They ran into a road block with wetland credits. (More information on wetland credits can be found here wetland mitigation)

Mr. Goolsby, the previous owner, had already purchased wetland credits many years ago, but by the time the sale went through, that permit had already expired. This meant Park Street Commerce Center had to go in and renew the wetland credit application which cost them about $70,000, explained Ritter. They must get this permit, develop a storm water system and then develop a master site plan.

Park Street Commerce Center tasked their engineer with developing this plan. This would include building one road and extension of another. In addition, it would include how they plan to hook up water and sewer.

“The sewer now is part of the hold up, and it’s not on OUA,” said Ritter. “It’s finding a location to hookup sewer.” They had three options for this:

• They could bore under State Road 70 and connect through the Applebee’s connection. “It is kind of an expensive option,” said Ritter.
• They could connect to the lift station used by River Run. “This is the lift station RaceTrac connected to.”
• A third option would be to build their own lift station. “This option would be extremely expensive.”

When a commercial development comes in and wants to hook up to sewer, they must pay for all the infrastructure involved. Once that is accomplished, OUA takes over from there. The most logical choice would be to go straight across to RaceTrac and put a lift station where it would be accessible to all of the lots, making future development a smoother process.

RaceTrac owns the property that Park Street Commerce Center would have to pipe through. Park Street Commerce Center was trying to negotiate with Race Trac a purchase of that property, but that fell through, said Ritter. “In my understanding, RaceTrac is trying to put other commercial businesses on that property.”

Park Street Commerce Center went back asking for a utility easement through RaceTrac property. In exchange for this, Park Street Commerce Center would pay for all the infrastructure which would benefit RaceTrac as well as Park Street Commerce Center. Unfortunately, they have not been able to reach an agreement with RaceTrac, explained Ritter. The problem is that Park Street Commerce Center plans to put in a Culver’s, a car wash and a nice hotel. When RaceTrac heard hotel, they said Park Street Commerce would have to pay for a utility easement.

“Park Street Commerce Center said, ‘OK, how much do you want for the easement?’ and RaceTrac said, ‘$500,000.’”

Ritter went on to explain that RaceTrac was considering putting in a hotel and did not want to help the competition bring in a hotel.

The city and OUA have tried to help them come to some type of agreement, and RaceTrac came down to $250,000.

In order for any business to come in there, they have to have a sewer connection.

“It’s not the city or OUA,” said Ritter. “It’s the two companies trying to come up with a reasonable compromise.”

Ritter also clarified that management of the RaceTrac in Okeechobee has absolutely nothing to do with the business decisions.

To make a long story short, Culver’s is still coming, but no one knows when this will happen.