Friday Footnotes with Dale Martin: November 15th, 2024

Editor’s Note: Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin publishes, from time to time, a report he calls ‘Friday Footnotes’ updating residents on current happenings and topics in Flagler Beach.

This is the November 1st, 2024 edition of that report, published here with his cooperation.

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Some residents are likely unfamiliar with the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency, commonly referred to as the “CRA.” CRAs were authorized by the State of Florida in 1969, and can be created locally when certain conditions exist, such as substandard structures, inadequate parking, lack of affordable housing, insufficient streets, and other similar shortcomings. If those conditions exist, the local government can prepare a Finding of Necessity. If the Finding of Necessity confirms the shortcomings, the local government can create a CRA to gain the ability and tools to facilitate redevelopment. The Flagler Beach CRA was formed in 2002, and, in general, encompasses the area bounded by S. 9 th Street and N. 9 th Street and Oceanshore Boulevard (A1A) on the east. The western boundary is irregular, following S. Flagler Avenue north to roughly N. 3 rd Street, then to N. Central Ave., to N. 5 th Street, before returning to the properties along N. Oceanshore to N. 9 th St. The properties in this district, the CRA, provide funding to support the activities of the CRA.

The CRA properties pay no additional taxes due to their “CRA” designation, but the property taxes that are paid to taxing authorities are divided differently. When the CRA was created, the property values of the affected properties established a “base line” property value. The taxing authorities continue to receive tax revenue based upon the baseline value, but tax revenues generated from the increased value of intervening years is directed to the CRA. The baseline value established in 2001 was approximately $24,000,000; the value of the CRA properties in 2023 was roughly $71,000,000. That increase in value generated $600,000 for the CRA in this year’s budget. This method is referred to as “Tax Increment Financing” (TIF).

The CRA is governed by an Executive Board. In Flagler Beach, the Executive Board is the City Commission, serving in a dual role. Soon after the creation of the CRA, the City appointed a Downtown Redevelopment Committee to recommend strategies and programs to the CRA Executive Board. The most notable effort of the Downtown Redevelopment Committee was the creation of a Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines for the CRA. The Downtown Redevelopment Committee was disbanded in 2007.

Although the CRA is still functioning to address “downtown” issues, the CRA efforts have been guided by the Executive Board (City Commission) in the aftermath of the Downtown Redevelopment Committee. Some City Commissioners have direct small business experience and insight, but engagement with other business owners and residents has been conducted on a somewhat limited individual basis. I have initiated discussions with the City Commissioners to create a CRA Advisory Board, seeking to more directly involve business owners whose livelihood is rooted in the success of downtown Flagler Beach. The City Commissioners have indicated an initial openness to the establishment of such an advisory board.

I believe that the City (government) and business community needs to be more engaged with each other: the success of each relies substantially with the success of the other, but yet we rarely have direct interaction at an organizational level. I, as I expect the City Commission, would enjoy the opportunity to learn of what the business community sees as the City’s strengths and weaknesses, what they need for more success, what are their hopes and desires for the future. A CRA Advisory Board can enhance formal communication between the City and businesses.

An application will soon be developed for interested residents and business owners to complete and submit to the City Commission for consideration. If you are so interested, I encourage you to visit the City’s website and under the Government tab, select the Community Redevelopment Area Department to learn more about the history and goals of the CRA. Another document of interest is the City’s 2003 Scenic Highway charrette, which, although somewhat dated, lays out a remarkably detailed vision that is still wonderfully relevant today. The charrette can also be found on the City’s CRA page.

Thank you in advance for your interest to work with the City.