EDGEWATER — Plans for two new Community Redevelopment Areas that cover about 2,400 acres and seek to rehabilitate ailing stretches of U.S. 1 were heard Tuesday by the leaders of Southeast Volusia’s three cities.
New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater are both planning to petition the Volusia County Council this summer for new CRAs, after officials in both cities give their final signoffs on plans for the redevelopment districts. The details were given at a special workshop at Edgewater City Hall attended by the governing bodies of Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and Oak Hill.
If approved, Edgewater’s CRA would be its first. City Councilman Gene Emter said the redevelopment district for Edgewater, which would stretch along U.S. 1 from 10th Street to Magnolia Boulevard and east on Park Avenue to Riverside Drive and west to the railroad tracks, is a “critical necessity.” He said the city doesn’t have the tax base to rejuvenate U.S. 1 – called Ridgewood Avenue in Edgewater — on its own.