Committee recommends long-term CRA extension

On April 1, the Sarasota County and city commissions will discuss whether to extend the Downtown Community Redevelopment Area. If they listen to the advisory board selected to weigh in on the issue, the program will remain in place for another three decades.

Since 1986, the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has taken city and county property taxes from within the downtown area and reinvested them into infrastructure and public/private projects inside the heart of the city and, since 2007, Newtown.

The Downtown CRA will sunset in 2016, and commissioners will decide on its future at a joint meeting next month. Several commissioners on both boards have criticized the program for tying up money that would otherwise go toward the governments’ general funds, but, at that meeting, they’ll hear a presentation endorsing a long-term extension of the CRA.

CRA extension committee Vice Chairman Chris Gallagher said the group unanimously supports the extension because it feels the CRA has accomplished what it was created to do. Property values within the downtown CRA have increased 292% since its inception, and it has contributed to the creation of more than 1,000 jobs, according to a draft of the group’s presentation.

The group points to a series of public and public/private projects to which the CRA has contributed funds, including the development of the Whole Foods complex and the Lemon Avenue mall, as successes.
The committee also feels that there are still areas of the city that need support from the downtown CRA.

Gallagher said the north and east ends of the area still contain examples of blight, which the CRA sets out to fight. Additionally, the Newtown CRA depends on funds from the Downtown CRA.

“There are several areas that have not been redeveloped, which is the whole point of this,” Gallagher said. “There’s still a lot of work to do, and so, in a sense, its mission is not complete yet.”

The committee isn’t recommending another 30 years of the status quo, though. The most significant change would alter the makeup of the CRA board, which currently consists of the five city commissioners. Instead, the committee suggests a board consisting of two city commissioners, two county commissioners and three citizens the City Commission appoints.

CRA extension committee President Andy Dorr said the change would give the county and citizens a voice, while preserving the ability of city residents and elected officials to control a majority of the board.

Contact David Conway at [email protected]