Of the nearly $3.9 million the city of Pinellas Park plans to spend within its Community Redevelopment District this fiscal year, more than a quarter of it will be spent on infrastructure improvements in the Homeland subdivision.
About 14 percent of those funds were budgeted toward the recently completed green parking lot at the Performing Arts Center. Ten percent has been pooled for grants and incentive programs for businesses and homeowners within the district.
Those three projects make up half of the district’s budget for the 2010-11 year. The remaining half includes mostly infrastructure improvements. The $3.9 million worth of expenditures are despite less-than-expected revenues from property taxes, only a total of $1.6 million, requiring the city to likely dip into its trust fund balance for the district.
On Feb. 22, Pinellas Park City Council approved an addendum to the redevelopment plan, which was first adopted in 1990 as a way to address slum conditions in the downtown. Since then, the T-shaped area designated for the district, a total of 1,339 acres around Park Boulevard and 49th Street, has had no introduction significant of employment.
“We wanted to update the plan a little bit to show where moneys were being spent and what was being done in the district to reduce blight,” Zoning Director Dean Neal said. “It was a voluntary effort to educate and inform people about what they do.”
The action was prompted by the city because the Community Redevelopment District is different from many other, more recent redevelopment districts in that the city was designated as the sole authority amending the plan, Neal said.
The most visible addition to the redevelopment plan is the addition of the CRA Community Policing Unit, which began in the second quarter of 2010. The unit, headquartered at a station at the corner of 49th Street and 70th Avenue, is funded in half by a U.S. Department of Justice grant and half by the city’s CRA funds, about $388,000 budgeted this year.
To use CRA funds, state law requires that the district experience more crime than the rest of the city, which according to city police records has been the case in almost every major crime category since 1991.
The CRA unit has a different focus than usual patrol operations. Aside from having an officer solely designated to handle homelessness issues, police offices within the unit are focused on establishing relationships with neighborhoods and use “attention-getting” vehicles to travel: Segways, a SMART car and four-wheel drive utility vehicles.
However, the largest category of expenditures in the CRA budget this year will be spent on infrastructure improvements in the Homeland subdivision, located southeast of the Gandy Boulevard and U.S. 19 intersection. The city plans to spend $625,000 on drainage improvements, $235,000 on reclaimed water infrastructure and $145,000 on potable water infrastructure.
Budgeted funds for other infrastructure improvements within the CRA include $230,000 for the United Cottages neighborhood, where a developer’s agreement was recently approved to promote an overhaul of the historically tourist cottage homes. Another $200,000 of CRA funds is budgeted for sidewalks.
A total of $300,000 is slated for the last phase of improvements to Park Boulevard’s stormwater management system, designed to keep runoff off the major roadway. Funding for the project, several years in the works, also comes from the county, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The CRA offers several grant programs to help small businesses and homeowners make improvements to their buildings. The city has put aside about $405,000 for the downtown façade grants, slum and blight removal program, the homeowner’s and small business assistance grants, as well as miscellaneous incentives.
A total of $160,000 will be used to upgrade the three signs in front of Park Station, at the intersection of 49th Street and Park Boulevard and in front of the Performing Arts Center, respectively, into LED message boards. The Performing Arts Center is slated for $50,000 worth of enhancements
The city has budgeted about $240,000 worth of drainage improvements, including studies for future projects and improvements to City Hall Plaza Park’s culvert system. Other expenses included in the budget include a landscape median renovation program, Park Station operation costs, CRA training courses, attorney fees, audit services and consulting and contracting services.
The majority of the CRA’s funds come from tax increment financing. As the value of properties in the redevelopment district goes up, the extra taxes generated from those values are put aside to pay for further improvements in the district. This year, that is projected to amount to about $857,000 from the county’s portion of the property taxes and $788,000 from the city’s portion.
Initially, before the economic downturn, the city planned on bonding out the funds for the projected improvements.
“It’s a good thing that they didn’t bond it, because there was no money coming in (during) those first years,” Neal said. “They would have been paying the bond out of the general fund.”
The district has a balance of about $4.75 million from previous years, part of which it plans to use to make up for projected losses this year.
About 14 percent of those funds were budgeted toward the recently completed green parking lot at the Performing Arts Center. Ten percent has been pooled for grants and incentive programs for businesses and homeowners within the district.
Those three projects make up half of the district’s budget for the 2010-11 year. The remaining half includes mostly infrastructure improvements. The $3.9 million worth of expenditures are despite less-than-expected revenues from property taxes, only a total of $1.6 million, requiring the city to likely dip into its trust fund balance for the district.
On Feb. 22, Pinellas Park City Council approved an addendum to the redevelopment plan, which was first adopted in 1990 as a way to address slum conditions in the downtown. Since then, the T-shaped area designated for the district, a total of 1,339 acres around Park Boulevard and 49th Street, has had no introduction significant of employment.
“We wanted to update the plan a little bit to show where moneys were being spent and what was being done in the district to reduce blight,” Zoning Director Dean Neal said. “It was a voluntary effort to educate and inform people about what they do.”
The action was prompted by the city because the Community Redevelopment District is different from many other, more recent redevelopment districts in that the city was designated as the sole authority amending the plan, Neal said.
The most visible addition to the redevelopment plan is the addition of the CRA Community Policing Unit, which began in the second quarter of 2010. The unit, headquartered at a station at the corner of 49th Street and 70th Avenue, is funded in half by a U.S. Department of Justice grant and half by the city’s CRA funds, about $388,000 budgeted this year.
To use CRA funds, state law requires that the district experience more crime than the rest of the city, which according to city police records has been the case in almost every major crime category since 1991.
The CRA unit has a different focus than usual patrol operations. Aside from having an officer solely designated to handle homelessness issues, police offices within the unit are focused on establishing relationships with neighborhoods and use “attention-getting” vehicles to travel: Segways, a SMART car and four-wheel drive utility vehicles.
However, the largest category of expenditures in the CRA budget this year will be spent on infrastructure improvements in the Homeland subdivision, located southeast of the Gandy Boulevard and U.S. 19 intersection. The city plans to spend $625,000 on drainage improvements, $235,000 on reclaimed water infrastructure and $145,000 on potable water infrastructure.
Budgeted funds for other infrastructure improvements within the CRA include $230,000 for the United Cottages neighborhood, where a developer’s agreement was recently approved to promote an overhaul of the historically tourist cottage homes. Another $200,000 of CRA funds is budgeted for sidewalks.
A total of $300,000 is slated for the last phase of improvements to Park Boulevard’s stormwater management system, designed to keep runoff off the major roadway. Funding for the project, several years in the works, also comes from the county, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The CRA offers several grant programs to help small businesses and homeowners make improvements to their buildings. The city has put aside about $405,000 for the downtown façade grants, slum and blight removal program, the homeowner’s and small business assistance grants, as well as miscellaneous incentives.
A total of $160,000 will be used to upgrade the three signs in front of Park Station, at the intersection of 49th Street and Park Boulevard and in front of the Performing Arts Center, respectively, into LED message boards. The Performing Arts Center is slated for $50,000 worth of enhancements
The city has budgeted about $240,000 worth of drainage improvements, including studies for future projects and improvements to City Hall Plaza Park’s culvert system. Other expenses included in the budget include a landscape median renovation program, Park Station operation costs, CRA training courses, attorney fees, audit services and consulting and contracting services.
The majority of the CRA’s funds come from tax increment financing. As the value of properties in the redevelopment district goes up, the extra taxes generated from those values are put aside to pay for further improvements in the district. This year, that is projected to amount to about $857,000 from the county’s portion of the property taxes and $788,000 from the city’s portion.
Initially, before the economic downturn, the city planned on bonding out the funds for the projected improvements.
“It’s a good thing that they didn’t bond it, because there was no money coming in (during) those first years,” Neal said. “They would have been paying the bond out of the general fund.”
The district has a balance of about $4.75 million from previous years, part of which it plans to use to make up for projected losses this year.
