Brevard County commissioners on Tuesday approved a $775,000 grant for the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation to build new facilities on the property. With the approved grant money, the foundation will add two lighthouse keeper’s cottages, including one that is intended to be an immersive historic cottage. With the new approvals, groundbreaking for the project is expected to begin within a year.
Funding for the lighthouse project grant will come from money generated by Brevard County’s 5 percent tourist tax on hotel rooms, vacation rentals and other short-term rentals. Brevard County commissioners approved the grant funding Tuesday in a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Rob Feltner and John Tobia voted against the measure, while Tom Goodson, Rita Pritchett and Jason Steele voted in favor.
Governor vetoes government subsidy
This is the second tourism capital grant the lighthouse project has received. An earlier phase of the project received a $500,000 county tourism grant, plus a $250,000 state grant in 2018.
In June, Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the $650,000 the Florida Legislature had approved for the second phase of the lighthouse project.
But Goodson, in whose district the lighthouse is located, said the governor’s veto should not be a sign that this is not a worthwhile project.
“He killed everything, not just this one,” Goodson said during the County Commission debate, discussing the governor’s vetoes of money for arts, culture and historical projects. “He went through it like Attila the Hun.”
The advisory Brevard County Tourist Development Council and its Capital Facilities Committee had both previously recommended approval of the $775,000 county tourism grant, though TDC support was narrowly supported by a 5-3 vote. The Capital Facilities Committee voted 5-2 in favor of the $775,000 grant, with some members moving to approve a lower amount.
Steele ― who, in addition to chairing the County Commission, also chairs the Tourist Development Council ― was among those who voted against the grant at the TDC meeting. He was concerned about the possibility that access to the lighthouse for public tours would be restricted by the military in the future. The lighthouse is located in an area that is restricted to the public without prior approval.
“Unfortunately, I will not be discussing this issue at the County Commission,” Steele said during the Aug. 28 TDC meeting.
But Steele was later reassured that access to the lighthouse for tours would not be a problem for the military, nor would it raise the security concerns he had raised at the TDC meeting. So Steele voted in favor of the grant at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, citing the lighthouse’s historical significance.
“I was a firm no” to the Tourist Development Council, Steele told his fellow county commissioners. “I eat my words.”
Steele’s change of heart allowed the lighthouse funding to pass by a 3-2 vote. Without that change, the vote would have been different.
Hotel owner and Tourist Development Council Vice-Chair Tom Hermansen was among the other no votes at the TDC meeting. In addition to raising concerns about future public access to the lighthouse, Hermansen cited the trend of applicants for tourism capital grants coming back multiple times for more money, as well as inconsistencies in the awarding of tourism grants relative to how much tourism the projects would potentially generate.
“It’s a problem I’ve always had,” Hermansen said, referring to the correlation of tourism impacts. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it.”
The lighthouse project was one of three applicants for a tourism capital grant in the latest round of funding.
The other two applicants were rejected by the Capital Facilities Committee after falling well short of the committee’s score threshold normally required to receive a tourism capital grant. The other applicants were the Titusville Playhouse, which requested $7.5 million for a proposed expansion of its theater complex in downtown Titusville; and the Swim Melbourne Foundation, which requested $3 million for a proposed Palm Shores Aquatic Center on U.S. 1 in Palm Shores.
Jamie Draper, president of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, said the ironwork lighthouse “connects visitors to three centuries of American history.” “The historical significance of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse is unparalleled. It is part of the DNA of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,” Draper said. “The lighthouse has witnessed more than 8,000 launches from the Space Coast.” Draper even mentioned that Wernher von Braun, the former Nazi scientist who designed the V-2 rocket during World War II before later leaving Germany to work for NASA, would watch launches from the lighthouse.
Goodson said there were important cultural reasons for ensuring the lighthouse was adequately funded.
“We have a certain obligation to preserve our history,” Goodson said. “And that means we have to preserve this lighthouse.”
In addition to the county grant, the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation is investing more than $203,000 in the project.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard and Brevard County Supervisor of Government for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com
Dave Berman is a business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, at X on @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Receives $775,000 Tourism Grant for New Cabins
