Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
County in battle over JFK bunker
Group fights to keep control of historic tourist attraction
President John F. Kennedy had a plan if the Doomsday Clock struck midnight while he vacationed in Florida and nuclear warheads rained down on the free world.
He would have been ferried from his oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach to a bunker nestled in a man-made island in the Intracoastal Waterway. That bunker still stands on Peanut Island, a testament to Cold War tensions that peaked during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Now, Palm Beach County is exploring taking control of the once top-secret fallout shelter and a nearby former Coast Guard station and boathouse that is being run by the nonprofit Palm Beach Maritime Museum.
Commissioner Hal Valeche said he doesn’t think the bunker has been main-
tained as well as it should be, and the county could do a better job of improving it and attracting visitors. Earlier this year, the county cited the bunker for code violations, including fire safety issues.
“It has been problematic,” Valeche said. “They just seem to ignore the county. It’s just always been an issue since I’ve been a commissioner.”
Much of the 80-acre island is already a boaterfriendly county park, and includes a beach, campsites and a fishing pier.
Anthony Miller, who manages the bunker for the nonprofit, says the county for years has been trying to seize control of the historic attraction, located on 6 acres of the island. His group leases the bunker, Coast Guard station and boathouse from the Port of Palm Beach, which owns the property.
Miller said safety is a top priority, and it’s the county that has made it difficult for the attraction to succeed financially. It attracts about 200 visitors a week, who arrive by ferry, Miller said.
The lease dates to 1992 and expires in Oct ober 2017. It includes options to renew for another 20 years. It’s been a controversial arrangement mired in lawsuits and disputes over which board controls the museum.
Miller said he will decide with his lawyers whether to exercise the renewal option.
“They are using taxpayer money looking into something that is not even available,” Miller said.
Cold War Camelot
Peanut Island, where the bunker is located, was created in 1918 with piled-up discards leftover from dredging the Lake Worth Inlet. Its interior remains a site for depositing sand and other sediment periodically removed from nearby waterways to ease navigation.
It’s believed a failed attempt to establish a peanut oil shipping operation on the island led to its name. A Coast Guard station operated on the island from 1936 until 1995. It was closed to consolidate operations on the mainland about a mile away in Riviera Beach.
Using the code name “hotel,” it took about 10 days in 1961 to build the 1,600-square-foot bunker, which was a 10-minute journey by boat from the president’s winter White House. The shelter wasn’t built to withstand a direct strike from a nuclear bomb but was instead intended to shield the president and his key staff from radioactive fallout.
A 40-foot tunnel leads to a room with a desk flanked by U.S. and presidential flags, two of the 15 bunk beds where Kennedy’s staff would have slept, and barrels that would have served as toilets.
A large presidential seal is painted on the concrete floor, and a radio in the corner of the room would have allowed the president to communicate with military commanders. The bunker includes Kennedy artifacts and memorabilia, such as photographs and copies of newspapers, which were added later by the museum.
A Geiger counter on display would have been used to check those entering the bunker for radiation. A shower was available for decontamination.
Under the 12-foot ceiling, Kennedy could have carried out the duties of commander-in-chief for 30 days until a ship or submarine could pick him up. About 18 inches of concrete and 12 feet of earth above the ceiling protect the bunker.
The U.S. government didn’t acknowledge its existence until 1974. It fell into disrepair and wasn’t opened to the public until 1999.
Another shelter was built near the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. It is not open for tours.
Tensions still high
Cold War tensions have eased, yet the JFK bunker continues to serve as a source of conflict.
Port commissioners expressed concern about the bunker’s condition in 2015, when an engineering firm found termite infestation, inadequate lighting, loose railings, mold and other issues. In March, commissioners notified the museum it would be in default of its lease if operators didn’t fix code violations issued by the county.
Code enforcement officials did not return a phone message seeking details on the violations.
Miller said he repaired the issues identified in the engineering firm’s report. He said the county has made it difficult for the museum to succeed financially by limiting the number of weddings on the island to three annually and barring a restaurant from opening.
Commissioners turned down further commercial development on the island because of objections from nearby Palm Beach and Riviera Beach about crowds, noise and other intrusions on waterfront communities.
It costs about $200,000 a year to operate the bunker, and it’s been running at a loss, Miller said.
“They’ve tried to starve us out and take us over,” he said.
But Miller says he has fought to keep control because he fears the bunker could be shuttered if his group loses it.
Outgoing County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor, who lost a re-election bid in August, asked for the county staff to investigate taking control of the bunker.
Muddying the waters is an ongoing legal dispute between the Palm Beach Maritime Museum and the Palm Beach Maritime Foundation over which board members have rightful control of the attraction.
John Grant, founder of the Maritime Foundation, said a recently reached settlement between his foundation and the Maritime Museum proposes transferring the lease to the foundation, and he is open to working with the county to create a park.
Port Commissioner Peyton McArthur said he’s not aware of a legal agreement that changes operations at the bunker. But he said he could see the benefit of the bunker becoming a public asset controlled by the county.
“The port could lease it to the county for a nominal amount,” he said. “The county in the long run would be in a much better position than the port to maintain the facility in order to maximize the benefit to the public."
But Miller said his group has done its share to make sure the shelter isn’t forgotten.
“We are the ones who have kept that bunker alive,” he said.
Guided tours of the JFK bunker are available 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. Cost is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for children ages 5-17. Children under 5 are free. The island can be reached by a ferry at the Riviera Beach City Marina, 200 E. 13th St. More information is available at pbmm.info.