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PRESERVATION
a neighborhood meeting to discuss the idea with the community
and over 100 people showed up.
“They loved it. The cultural council took on the project because
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it needed a home and I became the spokesperson and
chair,” Hoffman continued. “We built a volunteer leadership
team and we met every month for six years while trying to
get the concept into the city’s comprehensive plan.”
HAD TO AMEND PLAN
Hoffman said the most difficult issue was while the city
council adopted the concept, it wasn’t doable because it
wasn’t in the existing comprehensive plan which was written
in 1992.
“We literally had to put everything on hold during the
lengthy two-year process to change the city’s land development
code and zoning regulations,” Hoffman explained.
“Our entire focus was shifted to support the legislation
required to create the village in the confines of the comprehensive
plan.”
All that hard work and patience paid off just a few months
ago when the zoning was finally approved. A new board has
taken over leadership on the development of the village after
Hoffman relinquished her chair the very day the zoning was
approved, but she still serves as a senior adviser. Power leads
the effort now and has made a bold personal move to show
his commitment by selling his beachside home and moving
into a big brick house in the center of the district.
“I will be placing a massive, 11-piece sculpture in my front
yard creating a stainless steel forest of totems ranging in
height from 6 to 10 ½ feet tall. It will serve as the centerpiece
>> Beautiful artwork appears in unexpected places in the art village.
Artist Dawn Miller teaches a group of students in her art village studio near downtown Vero Beach.