Is that a 10-gallon hat... ...or is Steton looking at Parent?
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Beautiful landscaping
Tradition recognized for its beauty
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You, who are on the road
Graham Nash on Sunrise calendar
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ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 4/ISSUE 7
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015
VA gives first nod to Culinary skills at school $25 million for Copas home Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — It’s an early and conditional nod, but a valuable and promising nod nonetheless. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs recently released a list of proposed and existing state veterans nursing facilities in line for construction and renovation grants in 2016. The proposed Ardie R. Copas State Veterans’ Nursing Home was number 11 on the list and in line for up to $25 million from the VA. “This latest action once again reminds us of the number of partners who are working hard to complete this project,” Mayor Greg Oravec said in an emailed response to queries. “We can’t wait until the doors open and veterans have another place to call ‘home’ in Port St. Lucie.” The VA’s decision follows Gov.
Rick Scott’s recent request for the State Legislature to put about $6.7 million during the state’s next fiscal year toward building the home. The federal VA’s state veterans home program funds up to 65 percent for construction of new homes. The states receiving the construction grants must fund the remainders. The Copas Home is projected to be almost a $40 million construction project, and will take about two years to build once started. Groundbreaking could be next fall. Steve Murray, communications director at the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs — a state department not associated with the federal VA — said there’s much that has to go right before those federal dollars head to Tradition to build the home. Now that the proposed veterans nursing home has made the federal grant list, the
See COPAS page A6
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer St. Lucie West K-8 students Casie Schulz, 13 and Vanessa Cano, 14, prepare the red velvet cake desserts at St. Lucie County School District’s Third Annual Culinary Arts Showcase Wednesday, Dec. 2 at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center. More photos on page A8.
City Council gives Keiser’s site plan final thumbs up Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — The Port St. Lucie City Council was happy to give Keiser University the last thumbs up needed for a site plan. “This is an opportunity to say, “Yee-haw,’” Councilwoman Michelle Berger said. At its regular meeting on Mon-
day, Dec. 7, the council approved Tradition Land Company’s final site plan for a 74,000-square-foot building on eight acres nestled between Village Parkway and Interstate 95 south of Discovery Way. That’ll be home to Keiser University’s Tradition campus. Patricia Tobin, the city’s director of planning and zoning, said in a phone interview after the meeting that the only hurdles left for Keis-
er University’s Tradition campus are “staff level reviews.” “We’ve had it in since, probably, April, May,” Tobin said. “A lot of things had to happen.” Jeff Bremer, city manager, told the council the new campus will bring with it numerous bonuses. “That’s a big improvement for us,” he said. “It’s a big opportunity to see some development on the western side (of the city).”
Mayor Greg Oravec chimed into the festive spirit at the meeting. “This is another positive in what is now a string of positives,” he said. Tradition was the site of two spectacular economic-development failures: the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida and Digital Domain. Both were
See KEISER page A26
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