The future of the city’s ambitious Midtown project, a proposed residential and commercial district on 85 acres south of downtown, got a boost this week when legislators approved a bill to help cities considering urban renewal projects tackle stormwater runoff issues more easily.
The legislation approved unanimously in the Florida House on Tuesday and three weeks ago in the Senate would allow Plant City to tear out acres of abandoned concrete foundations and asphalt in the Midtown district without having to build stormwater retention ponds or some other elaborate drainage system to capture runoff. The bill requires Gov. Rick Scott’s signature, but lawmakers say they don’t anticipate a problem.