For nearly two decades, Pensacola’s Westside plans have envisioned turning the former American Creosote Works property in Sanders Beach into a public park. For now, that vision remains on hold — not because of design disputes or local opposition, but because the land is still contaminated and the federal government has not yet secured all the money needed to clean it up.
At a meeting this week, members of the Westside Community Redevelopment Agency said the Environmental Protection Agency is moving closer to starting the first phase of cleanup at the long-polluted site. But staff also told the board the project remains short $8.6 million and that a deeper, second phase of treatment has no funding at all, keeping the city from moving ahead with park construction and complicating decisions about buying the land.