After more than a decade of work, Federal Highway in Delray Beach is back to its roots as a thoroughfare with two lanes in each direction. In the mid-1970s the road was widened to three lanes before the state Department of Transportation extended Interstate 95 from Fort Lauderdale north to West Palm Beach. But the…
Hollywood City Commissioner Peter Hernandez says the Beach Community Redevelopment Agency should be abolished because it has had increasing property tax funds for its use — at times exceeding its needs — while the “rest of the city is starving” to pay for operations and needed improvements. While his proposal has yet to gain support…
EAGLE LAKE — Ending blight and positioning the city to take advantage of opportunities for growth were major topics during the City Commission’s retreat Saturday. City Manager Luke Lewis began the discussion of the city’s future by talking about blight in the 3.2-square-mile city and ways to generate revenue. “There are areas in this city…
A vote on a $1.5-million investment in a Big Bend Cares expansion was delayed until next week over concerns about how it affects Bond Community Health Center. During a crowded meeting of a Community Redevelopment Agency citizen panel this week, members decided they need more clarification on how Bond and Big Bend Cares would work…
TREASURE ISLAND — As a city with an aging infrastructure and limited growth potential, officials are looking for every opportunity to generate more revenue. One possibility on the horizon that could expand the city’s tax base is redevelopment of residential areas, said City Manager Reid Silverboard. About 83 percent of the city’s property tax base…
ZEPHYRHILLS — A code enforcement crackdown is coming to Zephyrhills. City leaders sounded the alarm this week during a City Council workshop, warning that blight is spreading throughout the city as property owners are letting their properties fall into extreme disrepair. “Something needs to be done about this. It’s almost getting out of control,” City…
PANAMA CITY — One of the two administrative positions at the Panama City Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) is now vacant after the organization cut ties with Main Street Coordinator Valerie Woods, who held the position for less than a year. Main Street, a statewide program administered by the Florida Department of State, is overseen by…
SARASOTA COUNTY – Sarasota County commissioners will not renew a program that has seeded nearly $100 million into downtown and Newtown redevelopment during the past three decades. After months of signals that they were letting the program sunset — and a growing rift with the city that solidified the program’s demise — commissioners this week officially…
ANATEE — Local attorney Caleb Grimes has watched Manatee County’s existing Land Development Code and the project approval process turn people away from wanting to develop in the county. “We have to recognize that we may not get it right the first time but we’ve got to start and we’ve got to start letting the…
Scott Shimberg spreads an enormous map across a conference table, and sweeps his hand over the geographic picture of east Tampa. One roadway in particular gets his attention — 22nd Street. He sees a roadway that is noteworthy as a connector to neighborhoods — Ybor City and the Channel District among them — and a…
The Boynton Beach City Commission will meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. Here are 3 topics the commissioners are expected to discuss, and here’s why each is important: – It’s budget time. The commission will have a final vote on approving the budget for 2015-16. The proposed general fund budget is $76,518,564 with…
There’s no doubting the achievements of the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency in lifting the city from the doldrums to a dynamo. But after 30 years, the agency’s success has turned it into something of a runaway train, an engine that rakes in lots of money and seems hellbent to spend it — often to…
Economic development is at the epicenter of our daily lives. It affects where we live, work and play. The prosperity of this community depends on thoughtful investment of our tax dollars to create jobs and foster a culture of private reinvestment that will continue for generations to come. We are dedicated to economic development, which…
LEESBURG — Staffers will ask city commissioners Monday night to continue waiving impact fees for projects that redevelop vacant properties in the city. Leesburg created the waiver in March 2015, and staffers want it extended to September 2016. “The purpose of this extension is to continue to encourage businesses to locate in currently vacant structures…
Vivian Brooks received a lower rating this year for her work as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency director, and two city commissioners want her fired. But a majority of the board thinks she deserves to keep her position — and has even voted to give her a 3 percent salary increase. The CRA approved the…
Economic development is at the epicenter of our daily lives. It affects where we live, work and play. The prosperity of this community depends on thoughtful investment of our tax dollars to create jobs and foster a culture of private reinvestment that will continue for generations to come. We are dedicated to economic development, which…
RIVIERA BEACH — After a decade-long delay, a giant resort and spa project is back on the drawing board for Riviera Beach’s Singer Island. The Wellness Resort and Spa complex would be composed of two 20-story towers along North Ocean Drive, less than a mile north of Blue Heron Boulevard. It would generate millions in…
TAMPA — After a marathon — and contentious — hearing that lasted until early Friday morning, the City Council denied a zoning change needed to build Altis Grand Central, a mixed-use project with 296 apartments proposed near the Oxford Exchange. Plans called for two apartment buildings, five and six stories tall, at 504 W Grand…
A controversial plan to eliminate two road-improvement fees charged to developers and replace them with something called a mobility plan, with rates some argue are too low, will be considered by Sarasota County commissioners at a public hearing Tuesday. If adopted, the mobility plan would supplant the existing system of road impact fees that Sarasota…
Dick Rosedale remembers a time in the 1980s when “you could roll a bowling ball” down Canal Street because of the lack of activity in the the city’s mainland downtown district. While the business climate there has waxed and waned since then, it seemingly hit critical mass in June 2011 when Canal Street was pocked with empty…
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — City commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve the request by developers of a proposed 114-room beachfront hotel to build closer to the ocean, a critical step for the project to move forward. Poseidon Hotel Ventures, which is planning to build a SpringHill Suites by Marriott on about 1½ acres just…