County officials to visit JFK bunker

As the county mulls a takeover, possible grant money emerges.

Port of Palm Beach and Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation officials expect to visit the John F. Kennedy bunker on Peanut Island within the next few weeks to assess its condition for what could be the first step in a possible county takeover.

There could even be grant money in the historic property’s future.

The bulk of 80-acre Peanut Island, just inside the Lake Worth Inlet, also known as the Palm Beach Inlet, already is a county park.

The port owns half of the island, including the 6 acres that are home to the bunker that was built in 1961 as a top-secret nuclear bomb shelter for President Kennedy. Also on the property: A 1936 former Coast Guard station, boathouse and dock. The facilities need millions of dollars in repairs to be put in proper condition, port attorney Greg Picken said at Thursday’s port commission meeting.

At a June 15 meeting, the port’s executive director, Manuel Almira, said he has invited Eric Call, the county’s parks and recreation director, and Mark Crosley, executive director of the Jupiter-based Florida Inland Navigation District, to visit the property.

Recently, Crosley said that FIND, a small state agency that focuses on the management and maintenance of the Intracoastal Waterway, might be able to provide grant money for the bunker and other buildings.

FIND’s role doesn’t include owning or operating parks. However, Crosley said, each year FIND opens the grant process to local communities to do waterway improvements. It’s possible the property could be treated as an amenity and receive money, but that would have to be looked at specifically, he said.

FIND owns 40 acres on the north end of Peanut Island and

operates a dredge materials and management site in the interior.

The property’s 25-year lease to the Palm Beach Maritime Museum expires Oct. 31. During the past three years there has been discord between the port and the museum over code violations and condition issues at the property.

The lease calls for the museum to pay the port $100 a year and 4 percent of its gross receipts for admissions to the popular tourist attraction.

In May the port commission directed Almira and other port staff to begin negotiations with Palm Beach County government for a possible long-term contract.

Anthony Miller, whose Maritime Business company oversees the property, said at the May meeting that he would be happy to work with whoever comes in to operate it.

“We have a program right now with the Breakers Hotel that supplies volunteers for us. We have 20 of them every week come over there, and we’re really fixing the place up nice so we can have a nice turnover,” Miller said.

Through the years, Miller has said the county has thwarted the museum’s income from the property because it has not allowed it to hold charity events or run a restaurant.

In February 2015 an engineering firm gave port commissioners a report based on an April 2014 inspection that found possible electrical, structural and fire safety problems on the property as well as dry rot, mold and termites.

The port had not inspected the property since 2005.