How Hurricane Ivan was a catalyst for reshaping Pensacola

Twenty years ago this week, Hurricane Ivan made landfall near Gulf Shores, just west of the Florida-Alabama state line. The Category 3 hurricane was one of the most destructive ever for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in the western Panhandle.

Ironically, it was Ivan's damage to the old Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant in downtown Pensacola that finally put the facility's relocation on a fast track and sparked the reshaping of the city's waterfront.

The Main Street facility was built in 1937. The downtown site was chosen for its low elevation, a requirement for gravity-powered sewer systems of the era.

"This is where the plant was. It was a huge structure," said Lois Benson, chair of the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, which owned and operated the downtown sewage treatment plant.

As she reflected on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan, Benson stood on the now vacant, rain-soaked site of nearly 20 acres along Main Street overlooking Pensacola Bay.

"You can see the waterfront is south of us, you have development north of us. And that was fairly blighted because of this structure," Benson noted. The structure itself was a visual eyesore. Additionally, the wastewater treatment facility, dubbed "Old Stinky," smelled bad. And the plant was an environmental issue because effluent was being pumped into Pensacola Bay.

"It had many issues, and people talked about it, but mostly they talked about the smell," she said. "And there were many before me who encouraged us to move it."

Talk of relocating the plant had been ongoing on for years. Benson, a downtown resident who had also served on the Pensacola City Council and in the Florida Legislature, says it began to pick up some momentum when she ran for mayor in 2000, and made moving the plant the centerpiece of her campaign.

"I remember my tagline. 'There's a toilet in our living room,'" Benson recalled. "I did mail pieces. I went door to door talking about it, and people started thinking, well, maybe it could be done. But the city fathers always said it can't be done. And even if it could be done, we can't afford it. I lost the race, but I didn't stop."

A turning point

Benson led formation of a committee of community leaders that continued to look into the feasibility and costs of moving the plant.

Then four years later, in September 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck, marking a major turning point.

"I cannot emphasize enough the catastrophic damage in this county," declared then Escambia County Administrator George Touart right after the storm.

"The flooding downtown came up to Garden Street and extended in most directions," stated then Pensacola City Manager Tom Bonfield. "Main Street there in front of City Hall and along the Palafox area had pretty substantial flooding."

Several feet of storm surge from Ivan crippled the Main Street wastewater facility in a way that's hard to forget.

"There was sewage in the street," said ECUA Board member Dale Perkins, providing a visual. "The plant was covered."

Within a week after Ivan, the ECUA board had directed its staff to pursue FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) funding for relocation of the Main Street plant.

In the years prior to Ivan, the Pensacola City Council was making plans to develop the waterfront with a festival park and new auditorium across from the plant. But, voters forced a referendum and rejected the project.

A new vision

In the months to follow, residents highlighted public access to the downtown Pensacola waterfront among their long-term recovery priorities. The idea of a public-private development known as Community Maritime Park came into focus and plant relocation began to gain real traction.

"And, as soon as we get some direction on the waterfront, I think everybody that's got a vested interest in downtown and the waterfront is gonna make relocating that sewage treatment plant a priority," resident Bob Holmes suggested.

Estimated to cost $316 million, the relocation was the largest public project in Escambia County history up until that time, with all state and local governments contributing.

Then-Montana Senator Conrad Burns was invited to tour the nearly 70-year-old plant to help secure much-needed FEMA funding.

"It looks like with the history of this plant, it might have already outlived its usefulness," said Sen. Burns after the tour in November 2005.

According to Benson, who was appointed to the ECUA board two months after Ivan, when FEMA finally agreed to kick in over $130 million, it was "all systems go."

The ECUA voted to make it official in 2006. By 2010, the ribbon was cut on a new Central Water Reclamation Facility in Cantonment and demolition of the old downtown plant began in 2011. Construction of the Vince Whibbs Sr. Community Maritime Park would be completed in 2012.

"I think certainly, it's had a huge impact and the downtown wouldn't be what it is today, if the treatment plant was there, 100%," declared Quint Studer, a Pensacola businessman and community leader.

However, Studer maintains he was preparing to move forward with the development of the downtown waterfront regardless of the plant's status.

Studer was a principal supporter of the Maritime Park, and his Pensacola Blue Wahoos AA baseball team plays at the multi-use stadium there. Also, Studer owns other downtown businesses and properties, including the old ECUA plant site that he purchased for $5 million and now has slated for additional parking and two 8.5-acre housing developments.

"Altogether we'll have 600 residential units down there and they'll invest about $180 million, which is going to be wonderful," Studer said, noting that he feels great about the direction of the downtown waterfront.

And, as she stood in front of ECUA's fairly new downtown lift station near the old plant site, Benson was feeling good about it, too.

"We have Bruce Beach that just opened, which is just so beautiful. Baskerville Donovan is front and center," Benson said, also acknowledging the large park, stadium, and amphitheater across the way.

"So what you're seeing is a blossoming of this waterfront, and it couldn't have happened (without the plant's relocation). It was pretty dreary before this."