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Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Hotelier Wayne Heller drew a crowd of supporters in April in his quest to bring the Delta Queen to New Smyrna Beach, but city officials were less than enthusiastic.NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Wayne Heller, owner of the Riverview Hotel pleaded with city officials to allow him to relocate the historic Delta Queen here from Chattanooga, Tenn. "as soon as possible."
"She's a real amazing vessel," Heller said of the 88-room converted water hotel during the citizens' comment portion of tonight's City Commission meeting. "We urge you to ask your staff to put together a short-term lease as soon as possible."
"She's a real amazing vessel," Heller said of the 88-room converted water hotel during the citizens' comment portion of tonight's City Commission meeting. "We urge you to ask your staff to put together a short-term lease as soon as possible."
The Delta Queen comes in at No. 55 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2012.
Heller said he was particularly concerned about getting the steamship here before the start of hurricane season in late summer, but his plea, the second in consecutive meetings, fell on deaf ears.
Drawings for the Delta Queen were displayed at public meetings in New Smyrna Beach.A second meeting in October resulted in the commission voting 3-2 to give Heller a 10-year lease to re-locate the boat in the North Causeway waters. But Heller wanted a 30-year lease and in early December, called it quits, saying his wife, Judy, made sense in convincing him it was time o move on.
Supporting the shorter lease were Mayor Adam Barringer and Commissioners Jack Grasty and Jim Hathaway. Opposed to any kind of lease were Commissioners Judy Reiker and Lynne Plaskett.
Reiker was carrying the mantle of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the boat, despite strong support from the local merchants on Flagler Avenue and Canal Street, who saw it as a means to boost economic development.
The mayor ironically opted for a shorter lease while the Anglers Club, of which he is a member, pays $25 a year in a 99-year lease for exclusive rights to public waterfront property just west of where the Delta Queen would have gone.
Heller's enthusiasm in April and again in October was not shared by the City Commission, even with a packed room of community supporters led by former Mayor Sally Mackay, who stressed, "This has my full endorsement."
But commissioners took a hard line, noting the 5-acre site on the North Causeway has the potential for a hotel/convention center and they supported sending out new "requests for proposals" -- bids -- for longterm use of the site that housed the former Administrative Office Building that would likely be razed for such a large-scale project.
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Former New Smyrna Beach Mayor Sally Mackay favored the Delta Queen being here while Jason McGuirk, who got succeeded Jim Hathaway on the commission in November after nobody else sought it, was silent on the issue.
Reiker and Commissioners Lynne Plaskett and Jack Grasty said they need to give the bidding process a chance to work in hopes of generating a waterfront complex before committing to something short term.
Reiker asked bluntly: "If we allow one opportunity to be favored over another, isn't that what bad politics is all about?"
Commissioner Jim Hathaway, running for a seat on the Volusia County Council and a longtime critic of the $16 million Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue that is finally under construction, said he was willing to give Heller a chance.
Wayne and Judy Heller eventually withdrew their proposal to re-locate the Delta Queen here with a lack of enthusiasm from the city despite strong support from local merchants.Barringer said nothing while voting with the others to throw their support behind city staff putting out RFPs for the AOB site.
The city put out an RFP on the same locale a year ago, but only got one bid, a merchant who wanted to open a bed and breakfast. That proposal was rejected.
Heller's attorney, Mark Watts, of Cobb Cole in DeLand, said prior concerns about shallowness of water in the Intracoastal Waterway just west of the South Causeway Bridge had been addressed.
"It's 13 to 15 feet deep at low tide" so it wouldn't run aground, Watts said.
Despite the heavy lobbying from community supporters, Heller said he felt an opportunity here was lost.
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