Tourism advisory board recommends $5 million county grant for Police Hall of Fame expansion

Dave Berman, Florida Today
·6 min read

The Brevard County Tourist Development Council has voted to boost the recommended capital facilities grant for an American Police Hall of Fame & Museum expansion project to $5 million, spread out over five years.

That's more than four times the earlier recommendation from a TDC subcommittee of a one-time $1.2 million grant for the Titusville museum's $55 million project.

The increase came at the recommendation of TDC Chair Rita Pritchett, who also is the Brevard County Commission chair, whose commission district includes the Police Hall of Fame.

This artist's rendering shows three major components of the proposed $55 million expansion of American Police Hall of Fame & Museum complex in Titusville. They include a 120-foot tall eternal flame monument; a welcome center, at top left; and a 20,000-square-foot convention center with a capacity of 1,000, at top right.
This artist's rendering shows three major components of the proposed $55 million expansion of American Police Hall of Fame & Museum complex in Titusville. They include a 120-foot tall eternal flame monument; a welcome center, at top left; and a 20,000-square-foot convention center with a capacity of 1,000, at top right.

The TDC's 6-0 recommendation next will go to the County Commission, which has the final say on capital grants. Those grants are funded by Brevard County's 5% tourist development tax on hotel rooms, vacation rentals and other short-term rentals.

Tourism subcommittee recommendations: Three tourism capital projects recommended for Brevard County grants totaling $1.71 million

The TDC also recommended two other capital facilities grants:

  • A grant of $349,213 for Valiant Air Command's Warbird Air Museum Event Center at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville. That was the same amount as what was recommended by the TDC's Capital Facilities Committee. The applicant sought a $471,000 grant. The $2.91 million project was award a $750,000 capital grant from the county a year ago, but came back to request more money this year because of increased construction and stormwater permitting costs. Valiant Air Command said that, in addition to its own events, the event center could host weddings and other social events; corporate gatherings; conventions; trade shows; festivals; fundraisers; local meetings; and regional- and local-level sports tournaments.

  • A grant of $250,000 for the city of Palm Bay for its Sacrifice Park project, the upgrading of a memorial area for first responders killed in the line of duty, located between Palm Bay City Hall and the Franklin T. DeGroodt Memorial Library. The TDC's Capital Facilities Committee recommended a grant of $162,083 after Palm Bay requested $250,000.

Tourism tax dollars are targeted to be spent on tourism-related items. The county for years has used the money to do everything from helping with the construction of the Brevard Zoo to supporting marketing efforts for air shows.

For the most part, such grants have been doled out with little controversy. But, this year, Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, took to social media to attack a planned grant to Space Coast Pride, an LGBTQ organization, to help pay for next year's Pridefest, an annual parade and festival that draws thousands of people to downtown Melbourne.

The group met all the requirements for such a grant.

In August, the County Commission, which has the final say on which groups gets grants, voted 5-0 to not fund any of the 25 arts and cultural events and organizations that met all the requirements for 2024 grants. Leaders in the arts and culture community say the move was aimed at eliminating money for Pridefest, something commissioners denied.

After county commissioners voted to end those grant programs, they asked the TDC for recommendations on establishing an overall marketing grant process for applicants that qualify that would combine three previous grant programs into one.

Debate over cultural grants: Brevard County will reconsider partial cultural grant funding next month

These are the proposed guidelines the TDC is recommending to the County Commission.

  • The program will have a total annual budget of $500,000. That's about half of $995,000 that had been allocated for the three separate grant programs ― $530,000 for cultural grants, $240,000 for sports grants and $225,000 for major events grants.

  • The grants in this program could be used for out-of-county advertising and marketing of the event, or to defray costs for rental of Brevard County facilities, such as a county park for a sports tournament.

  • To be eligible for a grant, applicants must attract a minimum of 10,001 attendees from outside Brevard County, as determined by cellular phone tracking data.

  • Applicants attracting 10,001 to 20,000 out-of-county attendees would be eligible for a $20,000 grant.

  • Applicants attracting 20,001 to 30,000 out-of-county attendees would be eligible for a $25,000 grant.

  • Applicants attracting 30,001 or more out-of-county attendees would be eligible for a $30,000 grant.

  • Applicants attracting 3,000 to 10,000 out-of-county attendees would receive an event listing on the event page of the Office of Tourism webpage.

  • The nine-member Tourist Development Council ― and not one of its subcommittees ― would oversee the grant program, with grants subject to County Commission approval.

  • The TDC's cultural and sports subcommittees would be disbanded.

Pritchett said she would support all the TDC's recommendations when they come before the County Commission on Oct. 10.

Pritchett said she wanted additional tourism grant money going to the northern and southern ends of the county, which she contended historically had not received as much as the Cocoa Beach and Viera areas.

That's partly why she pushed for a capital facilities grant of $1 million a year for five years for the Police Hall of Fame, rather than the one-time grant of $1.2 million proposed by the Capital Facilities Committee.

"I love this project," Pritchett said. "It's one of my favorites."

The multiphase project would include a 120-foot-tall eternal flame monument that would be located in a Walk of Heroes Park. Separately, there would be an "immersive law enforcement experience" at the site of the current 50,000-square-foot museum building, which will be repurposed. Exhibits from the current museum would be moved to a new welcome center.

There also would be other new facilities at the 10-acre complex, including a 20,000-square-foot convention center with a capacity for 1,000 people; a law enforcement training and education center; and a national memorial to honor the fallen officers impacted by suicide. The complex's current shooting center would remain on the site.

Police Hall of Fame officials said after the TDC meeting that the increased grant would help keep the project on track, and potential donors seeing the county's financial commitment would help in the Hall of Fame's private fundraising efforts.

The Police Hall of Fame was awarded a $714,583 tourism capital grant in 2020 toward the eternal flame project.

Palm Bay City Manager Suzanne Sherman lobbied the committee to support the Sacrifice Park project, with the backing of Mayor Rob Medina, who is a TDC member. Sherman said the memorial would attraction out-of-county visitors who are in Palm Bay for competitions and training at the city's nearby regional training grounds and gun range.

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: $5 million tourism grant proposed for Police Hall of Fame expansion