Witham Air Field, Stuart, honoring Homer Witham first aviator from Martin County to be killed in WWII.
MARTIN COUNTY — County government should move its offices from its main building on Monterey Road, as well as some services currently in leased space, to Witham Field airport, County Commissioner Ed Fielding said.
The county should sell the current administration building so it goes back on the tax roll, and it should move into a new 100,000-square-foot building on now-vacant airport land as a way to consolidate services and save money on leases, said Fielding.
"This would give us a central location where we could bring various agencies and offices together," he said.
The rest of the commission, however, is divided: Commissioner Sarah Heard is supportive of exploring this idea; commissioners Anne Scott and John Haddox said they want to wait for a consultant's report on some county-owned property before deciding even whether the county should look into this.
Commissioner Doug Smith raised some issues.
"There are certain governing protocols on how an airport should expand. When you start tinkering with them, it opens up the opportunity for others to say, 'Well, the primary purpose for an airport is to be an airport, not government headquarters, because that's not aviation related," Smith said. "Generally speaking, for an airport, the use is to be aviation-related."
Fielding first brought up the proposal at the Oct. 6 County Commission meeting, seeking support for a consultant to evaluate the idea, but there was no consensus.
Only the offices in the main administration building and some offices in leased space should be moved to the airport, Fielding said.
"We are not going to do things that would be inconvenient to the citizens and to those who are providing the service," he said.
The main administration building, 2401 S.E. Monterey Road, houses several departments, including the administrator, county attorneys, engineering, parks, growth management and a data center.
The county bought the building in the late 1980s, according to the Property Appraiser's Office.
The county owns other buildings, including some housing constitutional officers. It leases space for the property appraiser's office in The Tower building on Federal Highway; the utilities offices in the Ocean East Mall; and satellite offices for the tax collector, clerk of the court and the property appraiser.
Witham Field has four leasable parcels, including about 15 acres on the northwest corner of the airport. That's where the county could put up a new building and relocate some of its offices, Fielding said.
"It's ideal," he said.
"It's an idea that we need to explore," Heard said, adding it would be a central location.
A lot also depends on the life span of the existing administration building, she said.
Scott agreed.
"I don't know what the useful life of our building is, but we must start planning, " she said. "I know I have come to work some days and I know there are buckets catching water from the ceiling."
But, Scott said, she doesn't know if the airport would be an appropriate location. An expert should look into that, she said.
About 31 acres at the airport off Monterey Road across the street from the YMCA and a separate 15 acres at the airport are also leasable but there's no timetable to find a tenant.
The Federal Aviation Administration, Florida Department of Transportation regulate how Witham Field land can be developed.
Source: http://www.tcpalm.com
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