NEWS

Play ball: Cocoa Expo can temporarily open for baseball

Dave Berman
FLORIDA TODAY
  • Cocoa Expo will be allowed to use facilities for baseball games for the next 45 days
  • The unanimous County Commission vote comes with restrictions
  • Limit to the number of players and spectators%3A 99
  • Owners hope to develop the site into a complex for many sports

It looks like it's finally time to play ball again at Cocoa Expo.

The Brevard County Commission voted unanimously to give the owners of the Cocoa Expo Sports Center special dispensation to have baseball games on the site for the next 45 days — albeit with a number of restrictions.

During that time frame, about 200 high school and college baseball teams will be using the complex, according to Jeffrey Unnerstall, chairman and chief executive officer of the Cocoa Expo Sports Center.

Teams will be playing every weekend, as well as some weekdays, bringing business to local hotels, restaurants and retailers.

Unnerstall and his staff have been working for three years to redevelop the site at State Road 520 and Friday Road, just west of Cocoa, into a youth and amateur sports complex for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, basketball and volleyball.

But county officials have not cleared the project to open because the complex has not yet passed final construction and other inspections.

As a compromise, county commissioners agreed this week to allow use of the main stadium and four nearby baseball fields, as well as use of the stadium seating area for spectators. The affected areas must pass inspection by county officials before they are used.

It was clear that county commissioners wanted to find a way for at least part of the site to open by this weekend, when Unnerstall has college teams scheduled to play spring training games.

County Manager Stockton Whitten said he hasn't seen the County Commission do anything like this in his two decades in Brevard County government.

As representatives of the Cocoa Expo and county staff worked out the details during an hourlong discussion on Tuesday, County Commissioner Andy Anderson said: "That was more difficult than the Iranian nuke talks."

Attorney Geoffrey Smith of the Smith & Associates law firm, which represented Cocoa Expo before the County Commission, said he looks at the commission's vote "as a really positive development. This project is going to move forward. This is really going to be a top-notch facility. I think there is a very positive story here. It's a great project."

When fully developed, Cocoa Expo will have dormitories, a gymnasium, an indoor training complex and batting cages, a dining hall and a recreation area. The 4,500-seat stadium has a 40-foot-by-50-foot Jumbotron-style scoreboard that will project players' names and statistics when they come up to bat.

Unnerstall has been frustrated at times through the three years he has worked on the project by what he saw as roadblocks put in the way of his opening.

Jason Steele of Indialantic, a political consultant hired by Cocoa Expo, told commissioners that it "has been volatile" at times between county staff and Cocoa Expo officials. Steele said the relationship between Unnerstall and Assistant County Manager Mel Scott is "pretty much like oil and water. They disagree about everything that you can imagine."

County staff maintains that they have been following the building codes and other rules, and have been doing everything they can to fast-track the project.

Unnerstall has faced a number of issues related to how the different facets of the work were done and how he handled wetlands areas near the stadium complex. In his most recent stumble, Unnerstall last month let two college baseball teams play a doubleheader in the complex's stadium — even after being denied a required special event permit from the county.

To help smooth things over and get the project approved, Steele has had private individual meetings in recent weeks with county commissioners and with several county officials involved in monitoring various elements of the project.

"We are attempting to move forward and complete Cocoa Expo Stadium in a professional manner," Steele told commissioners. "We are asking you today to simply help kids to play baseball."

Longtime Titusville general contractor Jim Garrison, who is a construciton consultant for the project, also made a presentation to the commission on Unnerstall's behalf.

Garrison talked construction details, as well as finances, saying: "There's been a great deal of money invested in this project. It's going to reap very good returns in tax dollars for the county."

Garrison said Unnerstall "wants to get the rest of the facilities open so he can fully utilize and start reaping a return on his investment. So there is incentive to get it done."

Commissioners found a creative way to allow games to be played this weekend, agreeing to suspend enforcement of a provision of a previously approved conditional-use permit that linked use of the baseball fields with Cocoa Expo getting a certificate of occupancy for the dormitories on the complex.

Moments before Tuesday's vote, County Commission Chairman Robin Fisher wanted to make a final comment about the sometimes-contentious relationship between the county and the developer.

"I'm going to tell you that this has been a difficult thing," said Fisher. "I've been a big supporter of this whole thing. But also a lot of this has been brought on by Mr. Unnerstall. And it's unfortunate."

The following day, Unnerstall said he wants to move past the friction he has had with some members of county staff, and move toward opening all the facilities at Cocoa Expo.

He said he believes the County Commission's unanimous vote sends a statement that commissioners support the project.

As he walked the complex Wednesday, checking on final details needed to have baseball there again, Unnerstall reflected on the delays and the costs of those delays on his business.

"It's almost bittersweet," Unnerstall said.

Then, thinking about the prospects of the first game under the new county agreement, he added: "But it's still sweet."

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 and dberman@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @ByDaveBerman and on Facebook at facebook.com/dave.berman.54.

Terms of the agreement

Under terms of the agreement, Cocoa Expo Sport Center would be allowed to have baseball games on the main stadium and four other large baseball fields on the northeast portion of the property for the next 45 days. Among the restrictions:

•Limit games to daylight hours.

•Block public access to other parts of the site.

•Provide portable bathroom facilities.

•Remove construction equipment from the area accessible to the public.

•Limit the number of players and spectators on the site to 99 at any one time.

•Have buses available to provide shelter for players if there is severe weather.

•Have a "fire watchman" on site.

•Allow inspections by county officials at any time.