Bills that would extend liability protection for the clean up of contamination sites known as “brownfields” are moving through the House and Senate. Bill supporters, including the Florida Brownfields Association, also are asking the Legislature to boost a $5 million annual tax credit for cleanups to reduce or eliminate what was a $14.7 million backlog…
As Fort Meade drafts a vision for its downtown area, residents will come together again to review a report consolidating the ideas they expressed at a planning meeting. Residents are encouraged to attend the meeting Thursday, which will begin at 7 p.m. in the Fort Meade Community Center, 10 SW Third St. Colleen Burton of…
The City of Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (the “CRA”), Florida, invites interested parties to submit qualifications from experienced individual(s), group(s), or company(ies), referred to in this RFP as the “Master Developer”, to provide the services described in the RFP. The CRA intends to evaluate and determine which firm(s) is qualified to participate in a…
The Board of the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) invites interested law firms and/or attorneys to submit a written Letter of Interest and Hourly rates to provide CRA Attorney services to the Boynton Beach CRA. The CRA intends to enter into a contractual arrangement with a firm or individual attorney to provide legal services…
The City of New Port Richey, Florida invites interested qualified persons to submit Letters of Qualifications for the renovation and management of the Historic Hotel property. The Community Redevelopment Plan for this area requires a use such as a boutique hotel, restaurant and/or other related amenities. The City’s goal is for the historic preservation and…
The Open-Air Information Center serves a critical purpose for the Port St. Joe Historic Downtown Shopping District: it will provide travelers on US-98 a vision of retail opportunities one block to the east — the center of the business district that is not visible from the highway. It will also serve to inform passers-by of…
It is not everyday that a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) gets recognized for a project that promotes environmentally conscious design and placemaking among multi-million dollar super-highway and infrastructure, space orbiter, and aeronautic and astronautic projects. This award confirms that a modest project incorporating humanity with technological innovations will eventually find its way to the top…
LAKE PLACID — Heated debate was the norm Monday night when the Town Council discussed fire inspections, annexing areas into the town for the creation of a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and a resolution for funding to improve the health of Lake McCoy. Councilman Mike Waldron told the council that he tried to find out…
CLEARWATER – The city of Clearwater could forgo more than $1 million in tax revenue over the next decade on improvements to General Electric Co.’s nearly 40-year-old manufacturing site. City officials, though, say they’re getting a good deal – an overhauled manufacturing plant in the aging Hercules Avenue industrial zone, more than 200 new jobs…
Orange City is known for small town ambiance. Our little city is a great community to raise a family and is home to many businesses. However, our city needs the help of the county council! We need county council to approve the Community Redevelopment Plan. Approving the CRA would mean a portion of city taxes…
Coral Gables has a new historic district along Coral Way, following a unanimous decision by the city’s Historic Preservation Board on Thursday. The district will include 61 residences, three plazas, three vacant lots and a park between Alhambra Circle and Anderson Road. The district includes some of the first home in Coral Gables, built in…
The City of Fernandina Beach and the Amelia Island Museum of History wish to recognize the efforts of those involved in preserving our unique architectural resources by honoring historic preservation projects through the City’s third preservation awards program. Historic structures contribute to the identity of our community, and sensitive treatment of these resources ensures residents…
WEST PALM BEACH — Nationally-recognized “walkability” and urban planning consultant and author Jeff Speck will do a study of West Palm Beach’s downtown. The board of the city’s Downtown Development Authority approved the deal at its monthly meeting on Tuesday. The DDA will pay half the $50,000 cost, with the city and its community redevelopment agency splitting the other…
LAKE ALFRED | Lake Alfred is moving closer to creating a Community Redevelopment Agency. Commissioners voted Monday to adopt the area identified by a finding of necessity study as the target for the agency. Next the Polk County Commission will have to approve the finding of necessity study and give the city authority to establish…
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn provides a swift update of the InVision Tampa Plan (developed with a 2010 HUD Community Challenge grant), which has focused on drawing development back into the city’s downtown and close-in neighborhoods. So far, 1,000 residents have been involved, first hand, with 1,700 engaging with the project on-line. The waterfront and downtown is already attracting…
Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) Quarterly Newsletter. Each quarter, this newsletter will highlight DEO’s activities, initiatives, and news items of interest to Florida’s workers, employers, economic and community developers, and more. The newsletter will highlight one division of DEO each quarter and provide an in-depth look into the…
MANATEE — In the historic house market, things are moving. Really moving. Eight years ago, a Palmetto mansion was briefly the most famous house in the world when 30 million people watched it get barged under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on its way to a new location in Ruskin. Today, more historic homes — including…
PANAMA CITY — City commissioners took a $35,000 step into the unknown during Tuesday’s meeting. Acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board, commissioners embarked on a pilot program offering residential housing grants in the Downtown North district. The program is the first of its kind in the CRA to allocate $35,000 as “gap fill” money…
In the face of depressed economic conditions, the past four years have brought significant achievement and national recognition to the city of New Smyrna Beach. This progress is the result of collaboration, dedication to the city’s vision by staff and city leadership, and the good stewardship of previous administrations. With this strong foundation the future…
BROOKSVILLE — The citizens task force evaluating commercial properties for Brooksville’s federally funded Brownfields program will meet Wednesday to determine which ones warrant further investigation for contaminants. An initial list of more than 80 potentially hazard-laced properties has been pared down to 10, based on a scoring and ranking method that also considered the likelihood…
Sharply changing tack, the owners of a downtown Miami lot where the remnants of a prehistoric Tequesta Indian village have been unearthed launched an attack Thursday on the archaeologists responsible, calling their conclusions about the site “hokum” and “a joke.’’ In an interview Thursday, an attorney for MDM Development Group, which plans to build a…