Friday June 13th, 2008 - 8:23PM

Representatives from Land Capital Group and Trinity Capital Advisors made their oral presentations to the non-profit Community Maritime Park Associates (non-profit CMPA) Board of Trustees during their June 13, 2008 meeting at the Pensacola City Hall.

There were highly significant contrasts between the two proposals over the priority given to public amenities, the Contractors Academy, and the "Green" thinking proposed by Trinity Capital that was unmatched by anything Land had to say.

"Trinity Capital will take on all environmental liability, for as long as we manage the property," Ken Kearns of Trinity Capital told the Board. That is a critical pledge boosting Trinity Capital's front-runner status, considering the amount of environmental remediation and risk it will take on by making that pledge. It was also the only candidate to outline extensive "Green" thinking to reduce costs, pollution, energy use, and protect the surrounding land and water from contamination by toxins and other environmental hazards.

The audience was packed tight in the conference room and dead silent, hanging on every word. Both organizations trotted out their supporting players to air their areas of expertise. Land Capital went first, telling the Board about three of its local projects: a Walgreen's on the corner of Langley and Ninth, a Starbuck's outlet, and an Office Depot store.

Land Capital told the Board it would pay an annual rent of 6% of the appraised value of the Community Maritime Park (CMP) land, as valued on June 30, 2008. It did not say what is the most current evaluation of the property's worth. As presented to the Board, the rent will not change even through the property's value will climb tremendously from construction of the parklands, public amenities, multi-use stadium, and commercial spaces.

It also said it would pay all net proceeds after deducting operating costs for the public areas of the park to the CMPA. Land didn't mention either an annual minimum or other floor on the payments, or what accounting and oversight safeguards will be in place to assure the public that operating costs will be kept in line so they don't drain the net proceeds dry so that little, or nothing, reaches the CMPA.

Left unclear in their schedule was the timeline for obtaining permits. Generally speaking, certain permits must be obtained before the City Council will execute the lease to the Board allowing them to take over the property. As printed in Land's proposal, that item will does not conclude until the end of June, 2009, although the item entitled "Construction of Site Improvements" begins April 2009.

Another item left unclear by Land is how the Contractors Academy will be funded. The purpose of the Academy is to provide an educational institution set up as a non-profit corporation to train minority contractors in the skills necessary to complete for contracts from the CMP project. All this is mandated by the Covenant with the Community endorsed by proponents of the park to earn support for the project from minority voters casting ballots in the September, 2006, referendum approving the project.

In stark contrast, the other Master Developer candidate, Trinity Capital Advisors, told the Board that while they also don't know where the money will come from to fund the Academy, their partner, Weston Solutions, already has the necessary educational structures in place to immediately take on the task mandated by the Covenant.

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel," Ken Kearns, lead presenter from Trinity told the Board. "Weston has programs set-up across the country that will fulfill the community's expectation that minority contractors receive the training they need to meet the Convent's requirements."

Weston's own presenters told the Board that their programs are, "award-winning mentoring programs. Our 1,800 employees work across the country doing this on our projects, so we already have the resources you want ready for you to implement on this project."

The point Trinity Capital conveyed was that the Board will have its Contractors Academy, albeit at first in the form of Weston's own in-place educational programs. Weston's presenters said that through its already up and running programs, the Board will be able to keep its Covenant with the Community.

Another stark contrast existed between the developer candidates over the willingness to commit to fulfilling the public's demand that its amenities be placed at the top of the agenda.

Scott Davison, CEO of Land, told the Board that it felt it could deliver on 80% of the amenities, defined in the public's mind as the West Promenade, wharfs and piers, the lighthouse, formal gardens, the Great Lawn, streetscapes and landscaping, and dredging the west marina. Those items were specifically noted as excluded from Land's $54-million cost estimate for "public amenities."

"Perhaps we'll need to limit ourselves to The Great Lawn" he added, until other revenue sources are plugged into the funding. There was no talk of dropping those items from the park's construction permanently, but rather until funding can be arranged at some point in the future.

Trinity Capital, on the other hand, was emphatic that the public amenities excluded in the Land proposal will be the first things built on the park land. It told the Board it is committed to the amenities as Phase I of the project.

Mr. Kearns said, "We are stewards of the public's money, and the public expects to get the amenities built first. Those public amenities are what drives the excitement of the park. Our proposal is to work from the south park bulkhead back towards the commercial spaces. That means the public amenities will be built first, because the commercial spaces can't succeed without them."

As noted in the beginning of this report, it was the "Green" thinking of the Trinity Capital proposal that it, and only it, brought to the table. Land's proposal was completely silent on the topic.

Among the exciting items Trinity Capital shared with the Board is the use of solar-powered generators during the construction phase. In response to one Board member's question, Weston told the Board they already do this on their other sites, and will do it on this project as well.

In addition to that good "Green" news, Trinity Capital also went through an arm's-length list of other "Green" technologies they will employ during construction such as recycling dredge water for construction dust control, permeable parking surfaces with underlying capture mechanisms to keep the water out of the storm sewer system and holding ponds and instead use it to water the grass and plant landscaping.

Mr. Kearns reiterated that, "sustainable integration" is the focus for their projects' construction technologies.

Friends will publish its analysis of the developers proposals for your consideration. It will also set up a web-based interface for you to cast your vote for the developer candidate of your choice, and have those votes and comments forwarded to all members of the CMPA Board.