Ocala Update on Silver Springs
Marion County commissioners on Tuesday embraced a plan to reverse the decline in quality in Silver Springs — the community, that is.
At a workshop, the board agreed to launch the process of creating a redevelopment district covering 4,000 acres around the famous attraction.
The effort to establish a community redevelopment area, or CRA, for the Silver Springs area would primarily focus on improving the infrastructure around the local commercial sector.
That, commissioners hope, would encourage existing businesses to upgrade their sites and sufficiently reduce the neighborhood blight to entice new businesses to invest in the area.
CRAs are defined zones where the property tax base is frozen in a given year and any subsequent property tax revenue increases within the area are plowed back into the district.
The CRA board overseeing the project, which is typically the local governing board, could set aside 50 percent to 95 percent of that new revenue for a variety of things.
Most commonly the funding covers paving roads; installing or improving stormwater management or water and sewer systems; and enhancing the area through removing blight, adding streetscapes or preserving historical sites.
The specific improvements for each CRA are spelled out in a plan adopted by the district’s governing board after a public vetting process.
CRAs in Florida can run for a maximum of 30 years.
Read more here.