The effort to get Pearl City on the National Register of Historic Places is stalled because that designation could delay or halt renovation of the Dixie Manor public housing. Photo provided
By Mary Hladky
Marie Hester has worked for years to get Pearl City listed on the National Register of Historic Places and, at long last, her efforts were bearing fruit.
The state’s National Register Review Board was to decide on Aug. 3 whether Pearl City meets the criteria for the listing. If so, Pearl City’s application would go to the National Park Service for a final decision.
The Boca Raton Housing Authority board passed a resolution in support of the listing in June and the City Council was expected to do the same on July 25.
But an unexpected problem cropped up. The listing might endanger the Housing Authority’s effort to rebuild the dilapidated Dixie Manor public housing complex in Pearl City.
The Housing Authority board suspended its vote of support. The City Council pulled its resolution from the agenda.
If Pearl City received a historic designation, it might delay or halt the Dixie Manor project, said Housing Authority Executive Director John Scannell. He learned about that possibility in a letter he received from the state.
He isn’t certain that would happen, but Scannell said he won’t know for sure until the Housing Authority moves ahead with removing Dixie Manor from the federal public housing program so it has access to debt and equity that otherwise would not be available to help finance Dixie Manor rebuilding.
The designation “will definitely affect it, but you don’t know how until you are in the process,” he said.
That comes at a critical time because the Housing Authority recently learned it has received a tax credit award from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. that gives it the ability to start the project.
The Housing Authority will research the matter further and could support the historic designation later if is safe to do so, he said.
Hester, the president of D.I.S.C., or Developing Interracial Social Change, has worked for more than two years to gather information needed to apply for the designation.
The project included surveying and describing every home in the community and interviewing residents to gather their recollections of its history, she said. Hester’s grandparents, Will and Bell Demery, were among Pearl City’s first residents.
Pearl City was founded in 1915, 10 years before Boca Raton was incorporated.
The designation would enhance the ability of Pearl City to get grants and tax credits to maintain the community’s buildings and preserve their historic character.
But the loss of support, at least for now, from the Housing Authority and City Council is fraught.
Pearl City encompasses many more properties than Dixie Manor. Those property owners stand to lose out if the historic designation falls through.
Meanwhile, the Housing Authority is going through a transition. Scannell has resigned as executive director as of Sept. 30 to work for the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, where he will head up building a property for disabled adults in west Lake Worth and affordable housing for farm workers in Immokalee.
Housing Authority Deputy Director Ashley Whidby will be interim executive director for six months while the board decides how it wants to fill the position permanently.
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