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Community Redevelopment Area Vote
(2.22.10)
All registered voters in the city of St. Pete Beach
should have received their mail-in ballots for the St. Pete Beach
Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) question - March 9, 2010. Here
are some of the Frequently Asked Questions taken from the City
of St. Pete Beach Website.
City of St. Pete Beach Ballot Question – March 9, 2010
Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CRA? - A Community
Redevelopment Area is a designation provided for by Chapter 163,
Part III of
the Florida Statutes which allows the exercise of “redevelopment
powers” by a local government through
establishment of a Community Redevelopment Agency for a specified
area of the community, for a specified
period of time. These powers include the ability to: acquire and
hold property; dispose of property at fair market
value; develop property; install, construct, and repair streets,
parks, utilities and other public improvements; and
carry out the voluntary or compulsory repair and rehab of buildings.
Currently, there are more than 140 CRA’s in
the State of Florida.
What is the St. Pete Beach CRA intended to accomplish?
– The specific goals of the CRA Plan are outlined in
the plan document itself, but the general intent is to facilitate
reinvestment and quality redevelopment in the
City’s downtown and Gulf Boulevard commercial areas through
public and private expenditures for new
infrastructure and improvement of the appearance of the area.
Why are we voting on the CRA Plan?
– The CRA Plan was first brought forward by Citizen Initiative
in 2008
in association with a set of Comprehensive Plan amendments that
the voters have already approved. The Plan
content was later revised by the City based upon input from Pinellas
County officials. The City’s Charter requires
that voters consider any CRA Plan before it can be implemented.
How is the CRA funded?
– A CRA can be funded in a number of ways, but the Plan
under consideration calls
for revenues to be collected through additional County and City
tax revenue generated as a result of increases in
property values in the CRA itself and certain fees for new development
which would not affect any properties
outside of the CRA. The City’s Community Development staff
projects these sources to generate well over
$60,000,000 over the 20-year life of the CRA. The staff revenue
analysis is incorporated into the Plan.
Will approving the CRA designate my property
“slum and blighted”?
- The establishment of a CRA requires
a determination of the existence of “slum” or “blight”
conditions as these terms are defined by Florida Statutes,
including but not limited to inadequate street layout, lack of
parking facilities, inadequate and outdated density
patterns, and faulty lot layout. However, this determination has
already been made by the City Commission and
approved by the Pinellas County Commission. The determination
is made only for the area as a whole and does
not identify any particular property.
Will approving the CRA give the City more authority
to condemn my property? – No. Establishing
the CRA
will give the City no additional authority to condemn property
of any kind.
Will approving the CRA commit the City
to any expenditure that may become a tax burden on the
residents? – The CRA Plan
does not obligate the City to make any particular expenditure;
it only designates
those projects which are eligible for funding if revenues are
available from those sources identified for the CRA.
Any further questions, please contact the Community Development
Department at (727) 367-2735.
You can find further information by clicking here
CRA
Fact Sheet (From www.stpetebeach.org).
Be patient, it is a large PDF file that may take a few minutes
to load.
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