On the agenda

1. 1Call to Order - Roll Call▶ 0:00
2. 2

   Approval of March 5, 2024 CRA Meeting Minutes

   approved

   The CRA Board approved the minutes of the March 5, 2024 CRA meeting.

   • motion:Motion to approve the March 5, 2024 CRA meeting minutes. (passed)

   #March 5, 2024 CRA Meeting Minutes

   ▶ Jump to 0:20 in the video

   ▸Show transcriptHide transcript

   Auto-transcript · machine-generated, may contain errors

   [00:00:20] shortly. Any approval of the March 5, 2024 CRA minute [00:00:26] Move to approve. Second. All those in favor? Aye.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

3. 3

   Proposed Purchase and Sale Agreement for 6348-6352 River Road (a/k/a the "Montemayor" Property)

   approved

   The CRA Board approved a Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire the Montemayor property at 6348-6352 River Road for $1.1 million, closing on or before October 31, 2024. The property is a key holdout parcel that, combined with Boatram Park and the Potter property, enables the 'Under the Oaks' waterfront redevelopment vision. The Board also approved acknowledging Vivian Montemayor's contribution to the community in the final redevelopment design.

   • motion:Approve purchase of 6348-6352 River Road (Montemayor property) for $1.1 million pursuant to a purchase and sale agreement substantially in the form of attachment one, and authorize the executive director to execute all related agreements. (passed)5–0
   • motion:Forward the name of Montemayor in an appropriate fashion, with discussion with the family, to acknowledge Vivian Montemayor in the final redevelopment design (building, park, dock, etc.). (passed)

   📍6348-6352 River Road📍Acorn Street property📍Boatram Park📍Potter property📍Sims Park🏢Chamber of Commerce👤Donnie👤Matt👤Mr. Oroveth👤Vivian Montemayor#2019 Community Redevelopment Plan#Downtown and US 19 Corridor Master Plan#Kelo case / eminent domain reform#Phase One Environmental Site Assessment#Rivergate Palms district#SunTrust redevelopment#Under the Oaks concept

   ▶ Jump to 0:31 in the video

   ▸Show transcriptHide transcript

   Auto-transcript · machine-generated, may contain errors

   [00:00:31] So that's 3-6. Proposed purchases and sale for 6348 and 6352 River Road [00:00:40] aka Montemayor property. Yes sir, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council. This piece of property is located as you've [00:00:50] indicated on River Road and it is a piece of property that has been [00:00:57] identified in the community redevelopment plan as a desirable piece [00:01:02] of property for a number of years and as such the the city staff has been [00:01:10] indicating an interest in the property for a number of years but for several [00:01:16] reasons has not been able to bring a proposal to you that has completely come [00:01:26] to fruition until now and Mr. Oroveth has committed to writing the terms of a [00:01:35] proposal that has been solidified that we would like you to consider this [00:01:42] evening and I'm going to allow him to present the full plan to you and I know [00:01:48] he's prepared to do so. So go ahead. Thank you Madam Executive Director. Good [00:01:53] evening board. Donnie, you got it? Thank you sir. The Executive Director and team [00:01:59] have been working very hard for a number of years on acquisition of 6348 through [00:02:04] 52. It's got a couple addresses River Road or the quote-unquote Montemayor [00:02:09] property and just to orient everyone here's a property map. The red is the [00:02:15] subject property that's the the pediatrics location the Montemayor [00:02:19] property. The orange marks what's already been assembled so you have of course [00:02:24] Boatram Park there and to the north of the Montemayor property you have it's [00:02:30] not the Harry Potter property but it is the referred to as the Potter property. [00:02:34] It was acquired in 21. You've been working at this for a minute. What we [00:02:41] have here are your excerpts of your 2019 adopted community redevelopment plan and [00:02:45] also your downtown and US 19 corridor master plan. So both of these documents [00:02:51] said hey community, CRA board, Executive Director, it would be a great idea to try [00:02:57] to make something special, more special, out of Boatram Park. And there's even [00:03:02] some drawings in your master plan document and let's see just Donnie which [00:03:09] one's the laser? I don't know. I have to talk to Dr. Evil. It's not strong enough. [00:03:19] Yeah I'm gonna have to go we're gonna have to we're gonna have to upgrade our [00:03:22] lasers everybody. I don't know if you can see that. Yeah better. So here's the [00:03:32] subject property, here's Boatram and here's the building and in the staff [00:03:38] memo or as I'm sure you have perfect recall of the master plan the under the [00:03:43] oaks concept that's where that's set forth and it's called under the oaks of [00:03:48] course because we have some great live oaks there and they're a little bit [00:03:50] different grade and so the plan calls for having outdoor dining and seating [00:03:55] underneath those oaks and hence quote-unquote under the oaks. I've gone [00:04:00] ahead and we just exerted some of the the language regarding what the plan [00:04:06] envisioned for Boatram Park and the under the oaks concept. Here's an [00:04:12] elevation, a rendering of what under the oaks might look like. [00:04:18] Needless to say you have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into dreaming [00:04:22] about doing something with this property and what the executive director has put [00:04:27] together in this proposal is an assemblage of 2.73 acres on the river [00:04:34] with 522 more or less running feet so it's really an impressive piece of [00:04:41] property on the river. If we look at the Montemayor property itself it's 0.61 [00:04:46] acres it has 228 linear feet along the the river. Gone ahead and set forth the [00:04:53] appraised value from 2019, the taxable value and the appraised value. We just [00:04:58] recently freshened up the appraisal and it came in at nine hundred and fifty [00:05:03] thousand dollars. The gross building area is just under 4,000 square feet [00:05:07] building 62. The purchase and sale agreement has a purchase price of 1.1 [00:05:13] million dollars to be paid via deposit with the balance at the time of closing [00:05:18] which is to occur on or before October 31st so the closing would actually occur [00:05:22] in the next fiscal year. Closing costs to be split pursuant to section 17 of the [00:05:28] agreement. The agency has been working again for a number of years. We talked [00:05:34] about how big it would be the proposed purchase prices within 16% of appraised [00:05:40] value. Staff is recommending approval because the subject property is the [00:05:45] holdout which unlocks the full potential and value of the assembled site on the [00:05:50] waterfront in downtown across from Sims Park on both Main Street and River Road. [00:05:55] That's a lot of superlatives. That's a lot of good stuff happening there and [00:05:59] that's the reason why the main thrust of the reason why we can support this [00:06:04] purchase. It seems like it's a generational opportunity and the only [00:06:09] way the only good way for the agency to acquire the property is through a [00:06:13] friendly transaction. As you may know back in 2006 the law changed and as a [00:06:21] result of I believe was the Kelo case and we had statutory reform we had [00:06:26] constitutional reform in response to taking a property for eminent domain. [00:06:30] Basically can't do it anymore as a result of a case in the Northeast. So [00:06:40] arms-length mutually agreeable transaction is the way to get there. It's [00:06:45] not uncommon to pay a premium for a holdout. It's a big part of what CRAs do [00:06:50] and furthermore I can just speak to my personal experience even when eminent [00:06:56] domain is authorized it's not uncommon for there to be authorization to exceed [00:07:02] appraised value. For example in Port St. Lucie we ran 1.25 to 1.5 times appraised [00:07:07] value when you really had to have the property for a project. The budget [00:07:12] fiscal impact of this is 1.1 million. That's the purchase price plus due [00:07:17] diligence and closing costs. Additionally we should always anticipate recurring [00:07:20] maintenance costs associated with keeping the property up to our community [00:07:25] standard and the cost of what comes next which can be quantified as we move [00:07:30] forward. The adopted agency budget includes 1 million dollars for property [00:07:34] assemblage this year. We anticipate that it will include a similar or greater [00:07:39] amount next year. Therefore budgeted funds are expected to be available [00:07:43] pursuant to your adoption of next year's budget. Signing of the agreement would [00:07:49] occur within five days. Completion of due diligence including phase one [00:07:53] environmental site assessment within that contingency period again closing on [00:07:58] October 31st. And then after we would close this is where the fun really [00:08:04] begins. We procure a planning and design professional, good evening, to lead a [00:08:09] community design workshop for the site which would lead to you and or the City [00:08:13] Council, you wearing your different hats, adopting a vision and master plan for [00:08:17] the property. We conduct community design session with vision and master plan to [00:08:22] be reviewed and approved by you. And again this is kind of like it's what [00:08:27] we're going to advocate as a system of doing things. So whether it's for this [00:08:31] property, whether it's for the health department building, whether it's for [00:08:36] historical high school, community driven planning approach leads to everyone [00:08:42] being who wants to be involved and then having that energy and that vision and [00:08:48] those ideas come through you and or the City Council. You go through the public [00:08:53] policy process, you adopt a vision, a master plan, specifications, you work on [00:08:58] the budget and the timelines and everything that's involved and then you [00:09:02] give us the marching orders and your executive director does what's in her [00:09:06] title and what she was born to do and that's execute and we facilitate that [00:09:11] and then we update you along the way. So it's the same thing here. We can be [00:09:17] fairly confident that that kind of planning process would result in some [00:09:20] public improvements and it might involve some private improvements. So depending [00:09:26] on what that master plan says, we would draft present an RFP for your [00:09:30] consideration, we issue it, we'd go out to the market for any desired development [00:09:35] redevelopment, we'd bring the best proposals back, we'd shortlist them, [00:09:39] they'd come to you, you'd pick the winner, we'd negotiate and we'd make it [00:09:43] happen. We'll be talking about this much more obviously if you approve this. Now [00:09:50] coming back to where this is in downtown and how significant of a property is, you [00:09:55] know, I'm three months into the end of the job, I've been reading a lot of [00:09:59] documents, doing a lot of studying, harassing the executive director on a [00:10:03] daily basis and I understand that this boat ramp issue, it could be a lightning [00:10:11] rod. You've had conversations over decades at this point of, hey, what [00:10:16] should the boat, what should we do with the boat ramp? Some people would say move [00:10:20] the boat ramp. Other people would chain themselves to it and say this is part of [00:10:24] downtown, it has to be here forever. These are the kind of fun things [00:10:27] that you go through in a master planning process, but as the new guy, my question [00:10:34] is when you study this, is there an opportunity to keep the boat ramp on [00:10:41] site, but just move it on site so that you might have a riverwalk that connects [00:10:52] from your boat ramp and wraps around Stonehaven into Acorn? Because if you did [00:10:59] something like that, not only would you have your boat ramp down still, [00:11:05] not only would you have your under the oaks and the other concepts, it would be more of a [00:11:11] waterfront community because we'd have an even more active riverfront and it [00:11:16] would activate this district and give people a reason to cross the bridge on a [00:11:25] regular basis and to feed into the much-anticipated SunTrust redevelopment [00:11:32] and really make a district a Rivergate Palms district. So don't want to put the [00:11:40] cart before the horse, but definitely wanted to plant the seed that this is a [00:11:44] big deal and it starts with your acquisition of this property because [00:11:48] that's what makes everything else possible and would really make this [00:11:52] district go. So staff is recommending approval and in the spirit of continuous [00:12:00] improvement, I'm speaking to the city attorney today or in this case Board [00:12:04] Council, the recommendations to approve the purchase of 6348 52 River Road aka [00:12:10] the Montemayor property for 1.1 million pursuant to a purchase and sale [00:12:13] agreement substantially in the form of attachment one for the purposes of [00:12:17] implementing the adopted community redevelopment plan and the downtown and [00:12:20] highway 19 corridor master plan and authorizing the executive director to [00:12:25] execute all agreements and forms consistent with this approval. Be happy [00:12:31] to take any questions. Do you have any public comment at this point? Seeing none, [00:12:39] we'll come forward and come back to council. I'll be happy to start with a [00:12:48] motion to approve the request. You can speak first. Yeah, thank you. [00:12:59] Yeah, it's been part of our vision and it's been included in our CRA plan to do [00:13:05] this. I think the commentary related to the long-term plans and the importance [00:13:11] of that was good and it was good to hear and certainly there are going to be a [00:13:16] lot of discussions about it. So at this point we're just getting started but I [00:13:21] would like to suggest as we go forward a couple of things which are which is when [00:13:26] we do acquire property that we look not only to the long-term plans but in some [00:13:31] cases to the short-term plans and secondly that when we acquire property [00:13:36] that has either vacant building on it as the old bank building does or or an [00:13:46] occupied building such as the Chamber of Commerce that we think of the [00:13:54] short-term way in which we can get to our vision without interfering with the [00:14:00] ability to have whatever vision arrives. So I do want to make sure we have [00:14:04] short-term issues. As example, the Chamber of Commerce could could probably [00:14:10] easily be moved to the upstairs second floor of the of the bank building to [00:14:17] allow us to you know really see what we have there because that building is old [00:14:22] and the design and the strategy to to get somebody interested always works [00:14:28] better when you prepare the site and so infrastructure plans and the plans I [00:14:34] think once we get something we need to show progress. We held that building on [00:14:38] River Road forever and we you know when we had the opportunity to get the Acorn [00:14:45] Street property we talked about its value and its appraisal and whether it [00:14:51] was worth buying it at the time. Now it's in your picture and it's a piece of land [00:14:56] we don't have so getting these long-term [00:15:00] term plans out so we know, you know, I think it was great to see that connectivity that you put together. But it's Johnny Appleseed, and it's food for thought, and I think it's good. [00:15:15] So it's a very interesting presentation. Thank you for negotiating that. We've been hoping for a long time to get that done, and so I'm excited to see us moving forward. [00:15:26] Thanks. You know, I love the vision, you know, that's looked at there. That piece of property is a huge part of the redevelopment of that side and revitalizing that side of the bridge. [00:15:38] I can tell you businesses over there, even residents, businesses are struggling. They kind of feel like they're left out on that side. Everything seems to come over to the other side of the bridge on the east side. [00:15:48] Residents complain about the area too, so it's a huge part of revitalizing that side and connecting all along River Road and getting that area up to where it needs to be. [00:16:00] So I'm excited about this little part to get it going. I know there's more to do, but this is a big piece. [00:16:08] Great presentation. I just wanted to also add everything Matt said is great. I think the businesses on that side of the bridge will benefit from this project, and I think that all of our residents will benefit as well. [00:16:23] A lot of people use the boat ramp. There's not really a ton of outdoor seating, which I think would make it great. It's a great area to be sitting around the river on that side of the river. [00:16:33] Just making sure that in our inspection, our due diligence period, that we're looking at the environmental concerns and also the seawall, making sure the seawall is structurally sound, those types of things during our due diligence period. [00:16:45] Thank you, Mayor. I've been really interested in that whole area for some time. I was a big supporter of purchasing the property just north when we had an opportunity. [00:17:00] While we compare the properties, we made a great deal back then purchasing that property, and we knew that this was eventually going to happen. [00:17:10] It's so key to merge those three parcels together for what exactly the future use is still to be determined. [00:17:21] It's kind of like other key pieces around the city. It's better for the city to have control of it and be able to help dictate that than let somebody else do it for us. [00:17:35] I'd be big in favor for that purchase, and congratulations on the negotiation. I know the sellers weren't really interested in moving on the property. [00:17:47] I'm glad it finally came to patrician. [00:17:50] I just want to add that it's the continual growth. It was real nice that we had the university come out there and the new hotel. [00:17:58] This is just in a gap spot between there and Stonehenge, so that helps fill the gap when we start doing commercial. [00:18:04] Also, we can do a lot of commercial there because only two blocks away is our parking garage, which would really be an asset to allow that commercial to go there. [00:18:14] I'm all in favor of it also. [00:18:17] We'll move for a vote. All those in favor? [00:18:20] Aye. [00:18:21] Those opposed? [00:18:22] It's called a five-zip. [00:18:25] If you'll allow me, I did receive a request from the Montemayors after the purchase agreement had been drafted. [00:18:34] The specific request was that we, in our final design for the redevelopment of the property, somehow acknowledge the contribution to the community that Vivian Montemayor made. [00:18:47] Absolutely. [00:18:48] I feel that she really has served the families of the community in a very honorable way and that it would be appropriate to somehow acknowledge her on the property, [00:19:01] but I would need your collective approval of that before I make a formal commitment. [00:19:09] Do you have a proposal? [00:19:11] I would move forward to forward the name of Montemayor in an appropriate fashion with discussion with the family as to development, [00:19:21] whether it's a building or a park or a dock or whatever it might be, to find something that is compatible. [00:19:31] I'll second that. [00:19:32] We're all second. [00:19:33] We're all jumping on that one. [00:19:35] All those in favor? [00:19:36] Aye. [00:19:38] All right, thank you.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

4. 4

   ↳You arrived here from a search for “Annexation Analysis” — transcript expanded below

   Proposed Update to the Community Redevelopment Plan

   discussed

   Staff and consultants Stantec presented a proposed update to the Community Redevelopment Plan, reviewing history of the CRA (established 1988, expanded 2001, last updated 2019), past planning efforts, accomplishments, and proposed vision/goals focused on healthy neighborhoods, historic downtown, and a transformed U.S. 19 corridor. Assistant City Manager highlighted Historic Gulf High School (Schwetman Education Center) as a top strategic priority for CRA acquisition from the Pasco County School Board. Additional public engagement is planned before finalizing goals and project priorities.

   • direction:Board to provide additional public engagement and input before finalizing CRA plan goals, vision, and prioritized strategic projects. (none)

   📍Leisure Lane📍Van Doren Avenue📍northeast corner of Grand Boulevard and Gulf Drive🏢Aqua Harbor🏢Comfort Inn and Suites🏢Hacienda Hotel🏢Historic Gulf High School / Schwetman Education Center🏢Kaiser University🏢Pasco County School Board🏢Riverside Inn🏢Seafire Grill🏢Stantec👤Donna👤Greg Orobach👤Jared Beck👤Matt Lewis#2019 CRA Plan#Annexation Analysis#Central on Orange Lake#Community Hospital site#Community Redevelopment Plan update#Downtown Shopability Analysis#Downtown and Highway Master Plan#Grand Boulevard Streetscape and Trail Conceptual Design#Historic Gulf High School master plan#Main Street Gateway#North Gateway#Open for Business Study#Railroad Square project#Rivergate and Palm District Conceptual Master Plan#Sims Park at Orange Lake#South Gateway#Stonehaven and Main Street project#Tax Increment Financing#ULI Residential Revitalization Study

   ▶ Jump to 19:41 in the video

   ▸Show transcriptHide transcript

   Auto-transcript · machine-generated, may contain errors

   [00:19:41] Okay, now back to a proposed update of the community redevelopment plan. [00:19:46] Just a little sidebar here for you people that are all dressed in green. [00:19:50] I think it's green. [00:19:52] Anyhow, we're going to go through a lot of things here, and we're not even sure we're going to get as far along as Swetman, [00:19:58] but I just want you to remind me, that's why I handed out that sheet, to tell you kind of that we're on the same team as you are. [00:20:04] You know, we really would like to look forward to it, and I think that sheet that I handed out tells you that we're on your side [00:20:10] and in the direction we're going to go. [00:20:12] But I just want you to be informed that when we get down to that far, we'll talk about it. [00:20:17] But I'm not sure with a packet being this thick that we're going to get to page 58 tonight. [00:20:26] All right. [00:20:29] I'd like to start with providing just a little bit of history about the CRA plan, [00:20:39] which was originally established in 1988 as a special district to guide the city's redevelopment efforts. [00:20:49] The CRA boundaries were originally the central business district with a couple of surrounding neighborhoods, [00:20:56] and in 2001, the boundaries were expanded to include almost exclusively the full city. [00:21:05] The agency, as all of you know, provides incentives for redevelopment activities through the use of tax increment financing, [00:21:14] revenues, which are intended to attract private reinvestment. [00:21:20] The last CRA plan update was completed in 2019, and that plan is still relevant. [00:21:27] The plan is still current. [00:21:29] There are some catalytic projects in that plan that have not been initiated yet. [00:21:36] The reason that we are advancing our plans currently to update the plan is to memorialize some of the planning work [00:21:47] that has been conducted in recent years that just kind of hangs out there [00:21:53] and isn't incorporated into any centralized planning document, [00:22:00] as well as to incorporate some of the important projects that are going to lead our future, [00:22:06] and specifically to turn the focus away from the downtown in some respects as the economic driver of the city [00:22:19] into some of our neighborhood districts and along U.S. Highway 19, which warrants some attention as well. [00:22:28] As part of the process, which we've been engaged in now for a couple of years, or nearly a couple of years, [00:22:40] the Assistant City Manager and I agree, and I hope you will as well, [00:22:46] that although we had public engagement in 2022 and in 2023, before we finalize our goals and our projects, [00:22:59] we'd like some additional public engagement so that when we come back to you with a final list, [00:23:09] which we would like you to be able to prioritize for our use in implementing projects, [00:23:17] that we do have the benefit of good public and current public input. [00:23:22] With that being said, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Orobach, [00:23:28] who has spent a lot of time putting together a PowerPoint for you, [00:23:35] and we're going to let him start presenting his slides. [00:23:38] Thank you, Greg. [00:23:39] Thank you, Madam Executive Director, Mr. Chair, members of the board. [00:23:44] This is actually, Stantec has done a lot of hard work on this presentation. [00:23:49] Don't want to steal any of their thunder. [00:23:51] We've queued up their presentation. [00:23:53] We've had a lot of good collaboration, but the Executive Director and I have been right in there working on the big picture. [00:24:01] And perhaps we should introduce Stantec. [00:24:03] Yes, we have Jared Beck and Matt Lewis. [00:24:08] And we'll call them up in just a second. [00:24:10] But before then, if I could, just like the Executive Director gave a good introduction, I'd like to add on to that. [00:24:17] Members of the board, as you know, I've been doing this for longer than I care to admit. [00:24:22] It's been about 28 years now. [00:24:26] And, you know, a community redevelopment plan is a big book, like 500 pages. [00:24:34] But as a board member, as a mayor and council, as an Executive Director slash city manager, [00:24:41] when you go to an HOA meeting or you go to a room like this, you don't need this whole thing. [00:24:46] You know what you need? [00:24:48] You need the vision statement, and you need high-level goals, and you need the specific projects that they care about. [00:24:56] That's what I would argue that you really need. [00:24:59] A lot of this you need for Florida statutes and compliance and getting into details so that your team can execute. [00:25:07] But when you're trying to communicate this, if there was just one thing that you would give us, [00:25:13] that the plan would give us, other than compliance with Florida statutes, because you've got to do that, is that vision. [00:25:21] And so tonight, on the 28th, and in the future as we adopt this plan, [00:25:26] the number one thing I'm asking from you through the Executive Director, and actually through the chain of command, [00:25:32] is that vision statement. [00:25:34] Then the goals, then the objectives that make those goals come to life, [00:25:39] and then those specific projects that matter most to you, the strategic ones. [00:25:44] We'll write the plan in such a way that it's general enough that we can do what we've got to do and take advantage of opportunities, [00:25:50] but it's really important that as the policymakers, you set the policy and the big priorities for the agency so that we can execute. [00:26:03] What is a vision? A vision is a statement of our desired end. [00:26:11] It's starting with the end in mind. [00:26:15] So what is it that we're trying to achieve together as a team? That's what the vision is. [00:26:20] It should be short enough to be remembered, long enough to be meaningful. [00:26:25] It should be aspirational and inspirational. [00:26:29] And it should be what you communicate to a group, an audience, your team, that inspires us to bring it to life. [00:26:36] And I think that's what I hope that we can get to, because man, oh man, you are doing so much great work, [00:26:44] especially over the last 10 years. [00:26:47] And so if you could help us with that vision, the goals, the strategic priorities, we'll be really taking it to the next level. [00:26:58] As it relates to that vision, Stantec is going to share one that they've come up with, [00:27:04] but it's going to be up to you, us, all of us, to put the New Port Richey sizzle on that, to really make it our own. [00:27:12] They're going to give us a planning vision statement, [00:27:15] but we call on you to really make it New Port Richey's vision statement, make it true to us. [00:27:21] As far as the goals, you're going to see, at the high level, healthy neighborhoods, historic downtown, and a transformed U.S. 19 corridor. [00:27:30] Healthy neighborhoods. [00:27:32] Healthy neighborhoods was picked first because, as the executive director pointed out, [00:27:37] so much of the great things happening in New Port Richey started in our downtown. [00:27:42] We're going to maintain and enhance that, but we're going to want to see that renaissance spread into each neighborhood. [00:27:46] Now, downtown is a neighborhood. [00:27:48] Make no mistake, from a planning perspective, it is a neighborhood. [00:27:51] It's just everyone's neighborhood, and that's why it's the number one neighborhood. [00:27:55] But now that it started there, we've got to bring it to all of the 19 historic neighborhoods of New Port Richey. [00:28:03] So healthy neighborhoods, historic downtown, and transformed U.S. 19 corridor. [00:28:08] I'm not going to BS you. [00:28:10] It's going to take us a while to get to a transformed U.S. 19 corridor, but if there's a will, there's a way, [00:28:15] and it just so happens that you got something special started with Aqua Harbor and also that northern gateway with Riverside Inn. [00:28:22] Such a huge opportunity, and I have faith that this community and that executive director are going to make it happen. [00:28:29] Moving on from that goal one of healthy neighborhoods, historic downtown, and a transformed U.S. 19 corridor. [00:28:38] Safe, clean, and beautiful. [00:28:40] That's your bread and butter of community making. [00:28:43] Resilient, high quality, interconnected roads and infrastructure. [00:28:47] Prospering local businesses, diverse economy, and abundant jobs. [00:28:51] The river, arts, culture, parks, recreation, and the environment. [00:28:56] And then the last goal, you got to always have your process slash administration goal. [00:29:02] Award winning administration and collaboration with community institutions, stakeholders, and citizens. [00:29:07] So we're going to be doing a lot of work on this. [00:29:09] I just wanted to articulate those so you would hear them for the first time. [00:29:13] As you know, we already have another meeting scheduled for the 28th, so this discussion can roll right into that. [00:29:20] I wanted to talk about big picture, about vision, goals, and I don't know if I get in a lot of trouble, [00:29:28] but I get in a lot of trouble, Madam Executive Director. [00:29:30] Donna, could you bring up slide 58 real quick? I think it's about 58. [00:29:40] It's around the 58 neighborhood. It's a little thing called Historic Gulf High School. [00:29:49] All right, there she is. [00:29:51] All right, so big picture, what we want to first get with the CRA board on is vision, goals, and your strategic priorities. [00:30:00] priorities. Your consultant, your staff have worked together based on public input and [00:30:06] a lot of work that Stantec is going to detail on coming up with what we think could be the [00:30:11] strategic priorities for the CRA. We just make recommendations to you. It's up to you [00:30:16] to decide. But here's one we certainly think is in our top 13. It's probably in our top [00:30:24] five. I can't speak for the Executive Director. But as far as my recommendations go, it's [00:30:30] that high. Historic Gulf High School. Historic Gulf High School, also known as the Schwetman [00:30:35] Education Center, also known as the place I played PAL football, is prominently located [00:30:40] at the northeast corner of Grand Boulevard and Gulf Drive. The main building predates [00:30:43] the incorporation of the city and is considered an invaluable historic resource. The CRA is [00:30:49] pursuing the acquisition of the school and associated property from the Pasco County [00:30:52] School Board and hopes to carry out a citizen-driven planning process for the overall site which [00:30:57] would lead to the adoption of a corresponding master plan. Such a master plan would be based [00:31:02] upon public input and set forth the City Council's vision and direction for the site. It is expected [00:31:08] that this vision and direction will include the preservation and restoration of the historic [00:31:13] Gulf High School building, collaborations with community organizations and stakeholders, [00:31:18] establishing public space along the waterfront, leveraging of grants and other resources as [00:31:23] part of formulating appropriate capital and operating budgets, creation of a special destination [00:31:29] and gathering place that serves as one of our community's crown jewels, catalyzes the [00:31:34] revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood and southern half of the city. Quite frankly, [00:31:39] it should be something that makes us more us and makes us proud for the next 100 years. [00:31:46] So that's just a recommendation to you. One of those strategic priorities, but just, [00:31:55] I'm a recovering mayor, you've got to read the room, you've just got to address it. So [00:32:00] with that being said, Madam Executive Director, I'll turn it over to STANTEC unless you wanted [00:32:04] to make additional comments. [00:32:05] No, I'm just glad you got that one out right away. [00:32:11] All right, so Jared and Matt. Donny, if you could take us back to the title slide. Here's [00:32:18] your presentation. Thank you for all your hard work to date. As Jared gets up to the [00:32:22] lectern, they've been at it for a good number of months. They've done a lot of hard work [00:32:28] and Jared's going to take you through it. [00:32:31] Good afternoon everyone. Good to be here to give you this update. As you might have seen, [00:32:38] there are a number of slides included in the presentation for tonight. So as we give you [00:32:42] this update, we're going to do it in two portions. One of them is going to be a looking back [00:32:46] at all of the elements that have gone into getting to where we're at today. The second [00:32:50] is going to be looking forward. As we look back on the past efforts of what I'm going [00:32:56] to speak to prior to Matt talking, you'll see that in those slides there are a number [00:33:00] of different bullet points and this is for you in the audience as well. We're not going [00:33:03] to go through each one of those. They're simply there for reference, but we do want to acknowledge [00:33:07] that work that's been done. [00:33:09] So with that being said, I want to also echo what the Executive Director said in that a [00:33:14] part of this planning process is to bring together in one document to give you one tool, [00:33:20] coalescing all of the good work that's been done in planning processes over the last number [00:33:24] of years, as well as update and recognize what has been accomplished. [00:33:29] So that being said, as we are building out the plan update, two of the core components [00:33:34] that have gone into formulating some of the base for this were the last CRA update as [00:33:38] well as the downtown and highway master plan. We are also incorporating and have reviewed [00:33:44] elements from the annexation analysis, the downtown shopability analysis, the ULI study [00:33:50] on the residential revitalization, as well as the open for business study. We're including [00:33:56] the Rivergate and Palm District conceptual master plan, the railroad square project as [00:34:02] well as Grand Boulevard streetscape and trail conceptual design. [00:34:06] And then as we start to dial into a little bit more detail and really pulling into specifically [00:34:11] what was included within these plans, and again the 2019 CRA plan update being one of [00:34:18] the core elements, there were a couple of characteristics that were included as really [00:34:23] those that should be emphasized. So that includes really having a strong level of design in [00:34:28] the work that is incorporated, pursuing economic development, ensuring that there's a quality [00:34:34] level of image and branding promotion in the work that's being done, as well as a detailed [00:34:39] level of organization and bringing everything together in an orderly fashion. [00:34:44] There were also a number of targeted projects, which you're going to see more of tonight. [00:34:48] And then as we moved into the downtown and highway master plan, they took a slightly [00:34:52] different tact on this, and there were a number of functional frameworks that were included [00:34:56] within this plan update or within that planning process, as well as geographic frameworks. [00:35:03] One of the things that we did then in going through all of these, and particularly with [00:35:06] the 2019 update as well as the downtown and highway master plan, we started to identify [00:35:11] some of the common themes as well as some of the common locations that then will be [00:35:15] core elements that move forward in this overall plan update. [00:35:19] So for example, a few of the theme elements that were consistent include active and micro [00:35:23] mobility, that really means improving mobility throughout the city and connecting into downtown [00:35:28] US-19, as well as parking being the availability, as well as the identification and having access [00:35:34] to it. [00:35:35] Incorporating public art throughout the community, both in public and private projects, as well [00:35:40] as expanding the housing stock within the city, improving housing stock, diversifying [00:35:44] it. [00:35:45] Having a high level of community design aesthetics in new projects that come forward, and also [00:35:49] ensuring that there is a quality brand behind this and in the city, and that it is one [00:35:55] that is recognized when we come into it. [00:35:57] A few of those common projects that were identified that we know will be important moving forward [00:36:01] include Railroad Square, Sims Park at Orange Lake, continuation and historic downtown, [00:36:07] as well as East Main specifically, Palmer Rivergate districts, South Grand, the South [00:36:13] Gateway area, as well as the Main Street Gateway area, the North Gateway, and the community [00:36:18] hospital site. [00:36:19] We also have identified through prior discussions and the previous studies, the annexation of [00:36:25] Leisure Lane and Van Doren Avenue. [00:36:29] All of that being said, while there is a lot of work to do, we do want to take a moment [00:36:32] and recognize the good work that has already been done by the CRA, and in concert with [00:36:37] the city, and that includes the improvements at Sims Park and Orange Lake, the Comfort [00:36:42] Inn and Suites, as well as the Kaiser University, the restoration of the Hacienda Hotel, as [00:36:48] well as the construction of the parking garage, the Stonehaven and Main Street project, and [00:36:54] the Central on Orange Lake, the South Gateway Seafire Grill in Aqua Harbor, as well as your [00:37:02] new entry signage into downtown. [00:37:05] And then there have also been business successes within the community, both in downtown and [00:37:09] beyond that should be acknowledged. [00:37:11] So all of that being said, as we look at all of the things that have been done in the past [00:37:16] and the common themes and working into more of a detailed plan going forward, we did go [00:37:20] through each one of these plans, and more specifically the 2019 as well as the Downtown [00:37:25] and Highway Master Plan, and pulled every action, every recommendation that came out [00:37:30] of those plans about what has been done, what has not been done, what are still relevant. [00:37:35] Some of you may recall that we did also then take these forward to focus group discussions [00:37:40] about a year and a half ago, and then about a year ago we had also taken this forward [00:37:45] in a community process or public workshop to really affirm or better remind the community [00:37:53] or share with the community what had previously been identified and affirm that these are [00:37:58] valid things that we want to continue to look forward towards with the plan update. [00:38:03] So when we bring all of those together and we put or created a graphic that really shows [00:38:08] all of the key focus areas that we have as well as some of the core elements that are [00:38:12] intended to be incorporated as we move forward that reflect all of the past prior planning [00:38:17] efforts. [00:38:19] So with that I'm going to ask Matt to come up and he'll start to talk about where we're [00:38:21] at today, and then as the Assistant City Manager had referenced, the vision and looking forward [00:38:26] as we move forward in the upcoming couple of months. [00:38:37] Thank you Jared, and thank you Greg for that great introduction to everything. [00:38:41] My name is Matt Lewis, I'm a Principal at Stantec working with Jared on this project [00:38:46] looking at how we're going to move forward with the vision. [00:38:49] And when you have a plan without a vision in place, the first thing you look at is well [00:38:55] what built the plan? [00:38:56] Where did we come from? [00:38:58] So we dug in to 2019, all of the various stakeholder meetings, public forums, surveys, and the [00:39:08] results of countless hours of community input to say what are people looking at, what do [00:39:14] they live in the city for in 2019, what are their concerns for the future, and what are [00:39:21] the people that are going to be ultimately really pulling this forward for implementation [00:39:26] saying about the future, the focus groups and the stakeholders. [00:39:30] And we put that all together into a planner vision statement for you. [00:39:36] This is not a community vision statement, this is a vision statement that's built on [00:39:39] community outreach that happened in 2019. [00:39:43] If it were a community vision statement, you would have had one in 2019 that looked something [00:39:46] like this. [00:39:47] A safe, prospering, waterfront community composed of beautiful neighborhoods that connects people [00:39:53] with an award-winning downtown, education, healthcare, jobs, shopping, and services, [00:40:00] arts, culture, nature, and each other. [00:40:03] So that's a lot of words in one vision statement. [00:40:06] It's a mouthful. [00:40:07] Imagine saying that in an elevator, you know, going to a community meeting and saying, hey, [00:40:10] what are you here for? [00:40:11] Well, a safe, prosperous jobs, culture, education, it's just, could use some distilling. [00:40:19] So to give you an idea of what people cared about back in 2019, reasons for living in [00:40:26] the city, number one, 88% of people, neighborhood quality. [00:40:31] That's very big, hearkening back to the idea of neighborhoods being an important element [00:40:36] of our vision in the future. [00:40:39] Economic well-being, mobility in streets always comes up in these types of engagements. [00:40:44] A sense of community, surprisingly high, as well as quality schools, parks and recreations, [00:40:52] cultural and social opportunities, as well as the downtown. [00:40:57] These are core components of what people care about, reasons they love New Port Richey. [00:41:01] So protecting those things that are important moving forward in the update to the plan. [00:41:06] Concerns for the future, overall appearance of the city, worried about improving our neighborhoods, [00:41:11] making our buildings and our commercial areas, U.S. 19, look better than it is today. [00:41:17] Public safety is always a concern, certainly was in 2019. [00:41:20] Good jobs, I'm sure it was a bigger concern in 2020 than it was in 2019, hopefully it's [00:41:25] not as bad today. [00:41:27] And then finally, school quality, always a concern of communities. [00:41:34] And now, what they really thought was a must-have back in the original planning process for [00:41:39] this in 2019. [00:41:40] I won't say original, it's 1988, but I don't think those people are going to be talking [00:41:46] as much about it today as the 2019 people were. [00:41:50] I'm not sure about that, but I'll take a look. [00:41:55] So must-haves from 2019, arts, culture, historic preservation, branding and marketing, community [00:42:01] appearance, these are in no particular order other than alphabetical. [00:42:04] Alphabetical, yeah, I noticed that already. [00:42:09] Placemaking downtown, economic development and growth, education, employment. [00:42:13] So these are getting to the appearance of New Port Richey, the way other people see [00:42:20] New Port Richey, the prosperity of the people within New Port Richey, and the overall look [00:42:26] and feel and definition of the districts and neighborhoods that make up the city. [00:42:36] So that gets back to our draft vision, a whole bunch of words addressing every one of these [00:42:40] things. [00:42:41] Now as you go through a more public process and you talk, and as we talk together, then [00:42:46] that draft vision starts to distill down. [00:42:49] We took a shot at it with the great help of Greg and the executive director, and came [00:42:56] up with the best walkable waterfront historic downtown in Florida. [00:43:02] Now that is not something that's run through the community. [00:43:04] It's a great vision statement, but it's just something up there that you would take so [00:43:10] many words and distill it to something you could say in an elevator. [00:43:13] You can go to a community meeting and say, this is what we're here to do. [00:43:20] So now I want to talk a little bit about the vision and its focus areas. [00:43:24] So Greg mentioned this early on, is that we develop a vision of some sort, and there's [00:43:27] three areas that we're looking at. [00:43:29] We've done a great job with downtown. [00:43:31] Downtown is really one of the best historic downtowns in the state of Florida already. [00:43:35] It's a great hidden gem. [00:43:39] Now it's time to move on to neighborhoods, being the first focus area. [00:43:41] If you look around at the neighborhoods of New Port Richey, what do you want to do with [00:43:47] them? [00:43:48] You want to strengthen and preserve them. [00:43:50] Matt, can I just jump in there real quick? [00:43:52] Yeah. [00:43:53] Because it's funny how different people will hear different things. [00:43:56] We're going to continue to maintain and enhance downtown, and if you look at the proposed [00:44:00] strategic priorities that are there, there's a number of things downtown. [00:44:05] We just got done talking about something that's adjacent to downtown. [00:44:09] We got a Main and Bank. [00:44:10] We have Railroad Square at the top of the list. [00:44:13] We got Grand Boulevard that obviously goes to downtown. [00:44:16] So we're going to continue to maintain and enhance downtown, but we're going to then [00:44:21] spread that focus also. [00:44:24] Keep the golden goose laying the gold eggs, and then invest that gold in the other neighborhoods. [00:44:31] Brilliant, Greg. [00:44:32] I think that's a great segue into the three principles that you'd be following in each [00:44:36] of these areas. [00:44:37] Strengthening and improving neighborhoods. [00:44:40] Maintaining and enhanced downtown. [00:44:42] And transforming U.S. 19. [00:44:45] From plenaries, that's preservation, revitalization, and redevelopment. [00:44:49] Those are the three ways you think about these three different geographies, all running up [00:44:54] to that one broad citywide vision of being the best darned [00:45:00] waterfront community in the state of Florida. [00:45:05] So I'm gonna go through each of the goals. [00:45:08] I'm not going to read every objective. [00:45:10] As Greg said, we're working together with city staff [00:45:14] to make sure these are objectives and goals [00:45:16] and actions underneath these goals [00:45:18] that are actually doable. [00:45:20] That are things that the city can say, [00:45:22] this is stuff we can move forward with, [00:45:24] this gives us the room to move on city priorities [00:45:27] in the future. [00:45:28] But I'm gonna generally discuss [00:45:30] the objectives under each goal. [00:45:32] The first goal simply restates that vision statement, [00:45:37] is that actions we take in the implementation of this plan [00:45:41] are steered toward healthy neighborhoods, [00:45:43] the historic downtown, [00:45:45] and a trans-Florida US 19 corridor. [00:45:47] It basically says, when you do things to implement the plan, [00:45:51] think about those three areas [00:45:53] and the approaches to those three areas. [00:45:59] The next objective under that goal [00:46:02] gets into the neighborhoods. [00:46:03] And it talks about neighborhood improvement [00:46:06] and community engagement program. [00:46:09] Should be enhancement, sorry. [00:46:11] That's all right, that's right. [00:46:12] We're still working on these. [00:46:13] So, I do like that enhancement. [00:46:16] Didn't have a green shirt on either. [00:46:20] And the community enhancement program. [00:46:22] And what that really means, [00:46:24] is you're going out into the community [00:46:27] and defining and improving neighborhoods. [00:46:31] You have a list of neighborhoods in the community, [00:46:32] maybe 15, 16 neighborhoods, [00:46:35] that each could use some edge definition, [00:46:39] some core definition to make sure [00:46:41] it's the right geography to make up that neighborhood. [00:46:44] And then individual plans. [00:46:46] What does that neighborhood need [00:46:48] to make it want to become, [00:46:50] to make it become what it wants to be [00:46:52] and what it can be in the future. [00:46:54] And then putting together the programs [00:46:57] and actions that can actually make [00:46:58] that neighborhood dream become a reality. [00:47:03] And then getting into healthy neighborhoods [00:47:08] and the historic downtown. [00:47:09] There is the idea of the public realm. [00:47:12] Continue to build that public realm. [00:47:13] Once you define neighborhoods, [00:47:14] you define your downtown, [00:47:16] you have districts in downtown, [00:47:17] you define US 19, [00:47:19] you start to understand what the public realm [00:47:20] is going to look like. [00:47:21] And it starts to define itself around you. [00:47:24] That's something that as you define [00:47:25] the public realm through your CRA actions, [00:47:29] you actually encourage the investment in the future. [00:47:34] Again, getting to the transformational potential [00:47:36] of US 19, Aqua Harbor and the Southgate area [00:47:39] as well as the Northgate area are great examples [00:47:41] of how just that perception, [00:47:44] welcome to New Port Richey, [00:47:45] can really happen as you perform [00:47:48] the transformative projects on US 19. [00:47:51] I think it's also important to note [00:47:53] that those are the catalytic projects [00:47:55] that really feed the funding [00:47:59] that are going to allow us to spend [00:48:02] in the neighborhoods. [00:48:03] And I know we're not going through [00:48:05] all of the specifics under the goals, [00:48:08] but I thought it might be important to note [00:48:10] that the Schwetman Oaks is the first neighborhood [00:48:13] where we're going to focus our efforts [00:48:16] in the Marine District. [00:48:17] Yeah, that's a great point. [00:48:18] Thank you. [00:48:20] And I think it's also interesting to note [00:48:22] that you had a great neighborhoods initiative [00:48:26] going all the way back to the 01 plan [00:48:29] and that there was this idea [00:48:31] of systematically going through at that time [00:48:34] 19 neighborhoods being identified [00:48:36] and coming up with a master plan for each of them. [00:48:39] And then what's so great [00:48:41] that the executive director hit on [00:48:43] is it just so happens that Schwetman Oaks [00:48:46] includes a historical high school [00:48:50] and also a former community hospital site. [00:48:53] And that both of those are huge opportunities [00:48:57] connected via Grand Boulevard, [00:49:00] connecting to the Renaissance and downtown, [00:49:03] but then also connecting via Marine [00:49:06] to Southgate and Aqua Harbor. [00:49:10] So you really have the opportunity [00:49:11] to do something special. [00:49:13] And if we do it right, [00:49:15] it lifts up the whole Southern half of the community [00:49:18] and the whole city. [00:49:20] It's exciting time. [00:49:21] Feel very lucky to be here with you. [00:49:23] Green is the appropriate color. [00:49:24] We're coming off the St. Patrick's day [00:49:26] and we're lucky to be in NPR. [00:49:27] Yeah. [00:49:28] Yeah. [00:49:29] Yeah. [00:49:30] Yeah. [00:49:31] Yeah. [00:49:31] Yeah. [00:49:32] Yeah. [00:49:33] Yeah. [00:49:34] Yeah. [00:49:35] Yeah. [00:49:36] Yeah. [00:49:36] Yeah. [00:49:37] Yeah. [00:49:38] Yeah. [00:49:39] Yeah. [00:49:40] Yeah. [00:49:41] Yeah. [00:49:41] Yeah. [00:49:42] Yeah. [00:49:43] Yeah. [00:49:44] And that was probably over three square miles [00:49:46] of the four and a half square miles [00:49:48] that makes up New Port Richey. [00:49:55] So then continuing in goal one with the now objective five, [00:50:02] this is getting to promoting and encouraging [00:50:06] the tools necessary to build the design character, [00:50:12] build the transformation that happens [00:50:14] in your neighborhoods and districts throughout the city. [00:50:17] Among them, things like form-based codes, [00:50:20] things like assembling properties [00:50:22] to encourage the redevelopment [00:50:23] and concert with the neighborhood character [00:50:25] that's defined through the neighborhood planning process. [00:50:30] Goal two, safe, clean, and beautiful. [00:50:32] Really a few key objectives to this. [00:50:36] The first is ensure a safe, clean, [00:50:38] and beautiful public realm. [00:50:40] This is where you have your basic public safety, [00:50:45] basic street repair, maintenance, [00:50:48] those types of things happen [00:50:49] in ensuring the beautiful public realm. [00:50:51] And then- [00:50:52] You know what a public realm is, by the way. [00:50:54] So the public realm is everything [00:50:56] between the private property lines. [00:50:57] So it's not just the asphalt, [00:50:59] but it's the public right away between the property lines [00:51:03] and basically everything that you can see [00:51:05] when you're traveling on a public thoroughfare. [00:51:08] And then it even includes the public spaces, [00:51:10] formal and informal. [00:51:12] You know, sometimes we have formal public spaces [00:51:14] like a park, but sometimes they're informal green spaces. [00:51:17] It's a median. [00:51:19] It's the way you treat the sidewalk. [00:51:20] It's the way you treat a landscape island. [00:51:22] All of that is the public realm. [00:51:24] And it's hugely important [00:51:25] because how people perceive your public realm, [00:51:28] and especially the public realm [00:51:29] associated with your number one neighborhood [00:51:31] and your major thoroughfares [00:51:33] is really how they form their opinion of our community. [00:51:36] Right there, that fast, [00:51:38] based on what they see in the public realm. [00:51:40] So they're making an instant snapshot decision [00:51:44] about our community based on their perception in that moment. [00:51:49] That's a good add. [00:51:50] Yeah, when you, little game, [00:51:53] when you go outside after this, [00:51:55] look around and when you see downtown, [00:51:56] when you see US 19, ask yourself, [00:51:58] when do you see the buildings [00:51:59] and when do you see the space between the buildings? [00:52:01] Because it's the space between the buildings, [00:52:03] that public realm that creates the sense, [00:52:05] the feel for what makes Newport richy. [00:52:08] Also known as curb appeal. [00:52:10] Curb, yeah. [00:52:11] Yeah. [00:52:12] Great. [00:52:17] So under this, you maintain and enhance [00:52:19] your existing programs that protect the public realm, [00:52:23] protect public safety and protect the beauty of the city. [00:52:27] As well as you look at adding different things, [00:52:30] vacant property fence regulations [00:52:32] to protect us from that blight that happens [00:52:35] when things sit vacant for a long time. [00:52:37] As well as the identification [00:52:39] and beautification of gateways in the city. [00:52:41] The main street gateway sign is one beautiful gateway [00:52:45] that is an example of that. [00:52:50] Then the third goal is about interconnectivity. [00:52:55] You have these three focus areas connecting them [00:52:57] and providing the infrastructure necessary to serve that [00:53:00] and making sure it's resilient. [00:53:02] So the first thing is every city, [00:53:04] no matter where they are, [00:53:06] does master planning for all of their infrastructure. [00:53:08] Whether it be stormwater, reclaimed water, repaving. [00:53:12] There's somewhere buried in the city's bowels [00:53:14] something that says, [00:53:15] this is how we're going to approach repaving streets. [00:53:19] If you don't have some of these master plans, [00:53:21] like a lot of cities aren't going to have [00:53:23] a Gulf Court master plan. [00:53:25] Either because they're in the north [00:53:27] or because they just haven't done it yet. [00:53:30] But they are very common. [00:53:31] They're starting to become more and more common. [00:53:33] So as cities develop these things, [00:53:35] as New Port Richey develops these things, [00:53:38] the CRA would support and participate in that process [00:53:41] to make sure those things are consistent [00:53:42] with the goals that the CRA establishes. [00:53:46] And with your approval, we might fund some of those things [00:53:49] or participate in the funding thereof. [00:53:51] Right, and some of the plans we already do have in place, [00:53:54] we're just noting them so that we can support them [00:53:58] with CRA funds if it's appropriate to do so. [00:54:01] Because if it's not in the plan, you can't do it. [00:54:08] I call the vision. [00:54:11] You're saying you want to put the plans in the plan? [00:54:14] Well, I get so confusing. [00:54:16] And that's why you really should have a good vision [00:54:19] and then have general enough language [00:54:22] that allows you to make the case during an item. [00:54:25] Your staff says, we believe this is consistent [00:54:28] with goal whatever, and you agree, [00:54:30] there's a legislative finding and we can do it. [00:54:32] But to the extent that we can, [00:54:34] you want to play on both levels at the same time, [00:54:36] three-dimensional chess, [00:54:38] include what you know you want to do, [00:54:40] write the rest general enough to give you flexibility. [00:54:44] Yeah, and the implementation of any plan [00:54:47] is a collaborative effort. [00:54:48] When you see goal six, [00:54:49] that's a big part of that collaboration. [00:54:52] It's collaborating with FDOT, [00:54:54] collaborating with the Water Management District, [00:54:56] collaborating with the Corps of Engineers, [00:54:58] everyone who does anything that has anything to do [00:55:01] with achieving the goals and the vision [00:55:03] of the CRA master plan, [00:55:05] you want to make sure that you have a goal [00:55:06] to collaborate with them. [00:55:08] Now, it doesn't mean you won't do that anyway. [00:55:10] It's just a part of your roadmap to the future [00:55:14] is to say we're going to work with everybody [00:55:15] to make sure we get the outcomes [00:55:19] that we're looking for in this master plan [00:55:20] and in this citywide plan, basically. [00:55:27] And this is another collaboration. [00:55:28] As we're working on specific targeted projects [00:55:31] within the CRA, [00:55:34] there are people that we need to collaborate with. [00:55:36] So this is an objective that says [00:55:38] CRA also has a responsibility to reach out [00:55:42] and coordinate with other people as they're building things [00:55:45] and implementing the plan. [00:55:51] So this is getting to the right-of-ways themselves, [00:55:56] design guidelines, building streets, [00:55:58] building that public realm, [00:56:00] that space between the buildings [00:56:01] so that it's usable for the citizens of the city [00:56:04] so that it's something that supports [00:56:06] multiple modes of transportation, [00:56:08] as well as building the infrastructure [00:56:11] that is useful for the expansion of CRA development [00:56:17] and properties like reclaimed water [00:56:20] and the channel maintenance to improve the waterfront [00:56:25] and the river. [00:56:28] Just taking that opportunity to connect some dots. [00:56:30] So if you had a vision that recognized [00:56:32] that we wanted to be the best, [00:56:35] we wanted to be the best walkable waterfront [00:56:39] historic hometown, [00:56:40] we want to do the things that make us more us. [00:56:43] So waterfront. [00:56:44] Well, waterfront's great to see it. [00:56:47] It's even better to see it and use it. [00:56:49] So if maintaining canals and channels [00:56:53] helps us be more water-oriented, [00:56:55] helps us develop a more diverse economy [00:56:58] and lifts all the other goals up, [00:57:00] those are the kinds of things that we want to do. [00:57:02] So we're introducing, [00:57:04] we're dumping a lot of information on you tonight. [00:57:06] We're just introducing you to it [00:57:09] in the hopes that between now and the 28th, [00:57:12] you can go through it, think about it, [00:57:15] what's there, what's missing, what needs to be added? [00:57:18] Do things need to be prioritized? [00:57:21] And then with the mind on the vision. [00:57:24] If I might, the word vulnerability ought to be in here, [00:57:29] which is much higher priority than expanding [00:57:34] your reclaimed water into communities [00:57:36] that don't have sprinkling systems. [00:57:38] So it's really, the vulnerability [00:57:43] is where the money is for us in terms of infrastructure. [00:57:46] And that's, and it is a potential future blight [00:57:50] because we had 1,000 homes that got flooded. [00:57:53] And so as we're doing all the pretty stuff, [00:57:55] we got to make sure that we're helping the resiliency. [00:57:58] And I think it could be beefed up a little bit. [00:58:02] So as a clarifying question, [00:58:05] so with regard to vulnerability, [00:58:07] resiliency plan is under 3.1. [00:58:12] So if it's the will to move that up, [00:58:16] or do you see vulnerability differently than resiliency? [00:58:23] No, I just think as we talk about the river, [00:58:25] the canals, keeping them clean, [00:58:27] that it's important that we work, [00:58:30] again, collaborate with the county [00:58:31] because our river, when it overflows, [00:58:35] is going to flood the Cecilia Drive, the meadows. [00:58:43] And a third of the meadows is going to be underwater. [00:58:46] So we have to look seriously at our infrastructure, [00:58:49] not just to keep it clean, [00:58:50] but also to make sure that the houses are protected. [00:58:53] So it's fine to do the curb appeal, [00:58:56] but we do have potential for a lot of funding [00:58:59] in infrastructure, and those words [00:59:02] are often important in grants. [00:59:04] And that's the only reason I'm bringing them up. [00:59:06] So the identification and protection [00:59:10] of vulnerable infrastructure, [00:59:12] getting the words vulnerability in there [00:59:13] gets us in a position where we can put in [00:59:17] for the federal grants to build it. [00:59:19] Okay. [00:59:20] Thank you. [00:59:32] So goal four is about the economy. [00:59:36] It's about the preservation of jobs, the creation of jobs. [00:59:42] I couple of, when you turn your head, [00:59:43] it's not close enough. [00:59:44] Certainly, yeah. [00:59:46] And the objectives in here are going to get [00:59:48] to the idea of branding. [00:59:50] They're going to get to the idea of, [00:59:52] wow, that is a lot louder, isn't it? [00:59:55] And they're going to get to the idea [00:59:57] of attracting the industries that are going to create. [01:00:00] tax revenue that's going to create the ROI that helps the CRA continue to evolve, and [01:00:04] also gives the citizens the opportunities that they're looking for in the 2019 community [01:00:12] outreach that said they were concerned about their jobs, they were concerned about their [01:00:16] economic well-being in the future. [01:00:22] Goal 5 starts to bring together the community assets, the river, the arts, culture, the [01:00:30] environment, the beauty of Newport, the big trees along Main Street as you go through [01:00:35] that park we just looked at for the boat ramp and the redevelopment of that. [01:00:41] And it's about promoting it, and it's about creating the events, the opportunities that [01:00:49] start to help define the culture of the city, give someone a reason to turn off at the [01:00:53] Main Street sign and say, I'm in New Port Richey, I'm going to go and visit it and see what's [01:00:57] going on. [01:01:00] Again, goal 5, getting to that full calendar of special events, branding, promoting the [01:01:09] city. [01:01:11] So let's hit a couple concepts while we're on this slide. [01:01:15] In the continuing renaissance of the Ritchie Suncoast Theater, the executive director and [01:01:21] I worked on that specific language together just because I think it's fair to say we both [01:01:26] feel it's so integral to the success of downtown being an attractor and a generator for us. [01:01:34] It's so important that we might have mentioned that more than once. [01:01:37] You'll find that some themes echo kind of like poetry through the plan. [01:01:43] And then also, 5.7 is identify and recruit desirable arts, cultural and recreational [01:01:49] uses, attractions and venues. [01:01:51] So we've had this ongoing conversation, discussion, and when I say we, I mean you, because you [01:01:57] were having it before I got here about uses like a children's museum and other things. [01:02:02] I think that those are very much on point and that you as a team should be deciding [01:02:08] what we're going to actively recruit on an annual basis as part of our annual strategic [01:02:13] planning. [01:02:14] When we update our annual work plan, we want it to be authorized and enabled by the plan [01:02:20] and then every year we'll update our actual work effort and we'll attach money to it as [01:02:25] part of the budgeting process. [01:02:28] But I want you to know that some things are mentioned like Ritchie Suncoast Theater specifically. [01:02:32] There's something else collectively that you want us to put in there. [01:02:36] Tell us when we come back and if we have three votes to do it, we will, it'll be done. [01:02:40] I'll be sweating in the sun. [01:02:43] But you know, that general language is there so that on an annual basis, we have the ability [01:02:50] to go out there and say, hey, you know, a children's museum would be great. [01:02:54] And now we have a proposal, we could make it work. [01:02:57] And so it's authorized under the plan. [01:02:59] And so if there's a different use like that out there, I don't know, fill in the blank. [01:03:04] I mean, what are the other, I had the opportunity to spend some great time with Board Member [01:03:08] Mothershead the other day and she has been working on like the gap analysis, the missing [01:03:12] businesses, the missing links for a long time as I think all of you have had. [01:03:16] At this point, I've had great conversations with each and every one of you and you have [01:03:19] great ideas. [01:03:20] We want to have the flexibility to bring your ideas to life provided that the whole, you [01:03:26] have a consensus on the board. [01:03:28] I want to just add to that that, you know, one of the anchors that I thought that we [01:03:33] worked on the last eight or nine years was the Hacienda Hotel. [01:03:38] And then when Jim Gunderson comes and tells us, you know, after he made a multimillion [01:03:42] dollar investment, he comes and tells us that the Ritchie Suncoast Theater is the anchor [01:03:46] in the town. [01:03:47] And I thought he was the anchor in the town. [01:03:49] So that really, you know, supports that whole thought too of having a strong, you know, [01:03:54] infrastructure, you know, would draw the people to town too. [01:03:57] Well, amen. [01:03:59] And now a mayor is preaching to a recovering one. [01:04:02] So the more that we can get all of the pieces together and the more that they come together, [01:04:07] I mean, we're a team. [01:04:08] So the more you can enrich it and you can diversify it, the stronger we are together. [01:04:14] So amen. [01:04:15] That's it. [01:04:16] Can a twice termed out mayor also jump in real quick? [01:04:20] Yeah, that's it. [01:04:21] Which is just some words on goal five. [01:04:24] And it reminds me of, I've heard of Joppa Davis when he was a councilman talking about [01:04:29] the potential to put an Olympic swimming pool into our capital plan many years ago because [01:04:34] our pool isn't quite that size. [01:04:37] And interestingly, just a few weeks ago, Chairman of the County Commission, when I was talking [01:04:41] to him about our recreation center, asked if we had an Olympic sized pool. [01:04:48] So the word competition, if it could be put in under 5.7, because recreation also has [01:04:55] a competitive nature and competitive nature qualifies us for tourism money, which can [01:05:00] only be used for stadiums, those kind of things. [01:05:03] But whether it's something typical like a Olympic pool or something a little more elaborate [01:05:10] like a water park or a whitewater training course, which I've talked to you all about [01:05:15] before, as has been said, just having it mentioned, the word competitive recreation in the plan [01:05:24] in general could give us a hat to hang, something to hang our hat on if we do have an opportunity. [01:05:32] The other thing I would ask would be that lifetime learning, when you talk about your [01:05:36] educational things that we talked about the college and the schools, but lifetime learning [01:05:43] is also a big draw for both local residents as well as for folks to come in. [01:05:49] Buses take folks to learn how to build a mullet net, a cast net, or some of the ideas that [01:05:57] we've heard from the Save Our Schools folks. [01:06:01] So all generations, I guess, that we have a very diverse age group here. [01:06:07] We used to be old, now we're old and young, but the old feels young and sometimes I think [01:06:14] the young feel a little older than we are. [01:06:18] Anyway, thanks for that. [01:06:20] So, Mr. Chair, if I could, would I get a consensus to add the library to Goal 5, the river, library, [01:06:29] arts, culture, parks, recreation, the environment, and then put lifelong learning under this [01:06:35] one and then something to the effect of competitive sports venues? [01:06:40] Yes. [01:06:42] And that'll get us there. [01:06:43] And going to that competitive sports, the opportunity to cultivate the relationship [01:06:47] with the county, who identifies us as the sports coast. [01:06:53] It opens up a whole idea with the river, it opens up a whole idea with the 80 acres down [01:06:59] the river, you know, the great preserve, and so it opens up, when you just say that word, [01:07:04] it opens up a lot more of the town. [01:07:07] Good point. [01:07:08] So we're speaking the same language, when you talk about competitive recreation, you're [01:07:12] talking about sports tourism? [01:07:15] That's a part of it, but just regular, we had dragon boat races and they were like the [01:07:21] newest thing at Chasco and they created some interest, but those are opportunities for [01:07:28] residents to engage with each other and do things that are quality of life. [01:07:33] So you know, some competition is like the, you know, some of these travel ball things [01:07:39] are over the top, I think, sometimes, but just even casual competition, which we have [01:07:46] in our rec center all the time with our local basketball or pickleball or whatever. [01:07:50] Pickleball is just, you know, baloney. [01:07:53] We have indoor and outdoor courts. [01:07:56] That sounds like a great addition, thank you. [01:08:03] So goal six, this is that collaboration goal. [01:08:08] I think we've talked about this one a bit, it's anytime you are implementing a plan, [01:08:12] you're not doing it yourself, you've got to commit to collaborate with other people. [01:08:16] They're going to help you out if you let them. [01:08:18] So this is, hopefully, this is the goal that sets the framework for doing that. [01:08:26] And when we look at collaboration, it's not just with agencies. [01:08:32] It's not just with FDOT and the people that you normally collaborate with because, you [01:08:37] know, you're all going to work 9 to 5 every day and that's what you do and you get paid [01:08:40] to do it. [01:08:41] It's with the people that are also working and pulling alongside you to make the city [01:08:46] what it could be in the future. [01:08:47] If you have a vision that everyone's bought in on, the community organizations, the Main [01:08:52] Street Merchants Associations, the Grand Boulevard Merchants Association, hopefully in the future, [01:09:01] they're going to be pulling forward in the same direction that you are. [01:09:04] You want to collaborate with them as well. [01:09:07] And then, as part of that, the administration of your city, support that in making sure [01:09:13] things are transparent, clear, understandable. [01:09:18] We have a Main Street program, too, that should be implemented in this, you know, whether [01:09:23] it, you know, one of those two pages under six. [01:09:29] I might have made, maybe it's in there and I missed it. [01:09:32] It's under 6-2, Main Street Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations. [01:09:37] But to your point, there's several we're missing. [01:09:40] I can tell you that, full disclosure, back on the education slide, this is a previous [01:09:45] version. [01:09:46] The executive director and I have worked on it since then because I forgot to put Kaiser [01:09:50] in there by name. [01:09:51] So, obviously, you want to do things like that. [01:09:53] It won't be the people that are mentioned in there that get upset. [01:09:56] It'll be whoever I or someone else accidentally left out that'll be upset. [01:10:00] So, thank you. [01:10:01] Thank you, Mr. Chair. [01:10:03] Well, certainly, you're going to want to put with that which might include those but not [01:10:10] exclusive. [01:10:11] So, for example, St. Leo University would like to do some marine biology classes here. [01:10:17] We don't have to name them, but a simple word to make it non-exclusive to make sure that's [01:10:24] clear. [01:10:25] I think it's a safe bet to say that some are going to pop up over the course of the [01:10:30] next 25 years to 2049 that we don't know about yet. [01:10:36] Some are in the midst of forming right now, and they're going to pop up. [01:10:39] Well, we're adopting this plan, and they're going to say, hey, where were you? [01:10:43] And some are going to get missed. [01:10:45] So, that type of language is critical for these type of things. [01:10:48] This is not a gated community. [01:10:51] You can come from all directions. [01:10:52] Right. [01:11:00] So, you're going to have goals. [01:11:01] You're going to have objectives, and they're all going to be derived from this citywide [01:11:08] vision and these visions for focus areas. [01:11:11] And once we have that, the final document, what we're looking at doing is lining up specific [01:11:17] actions under each of these objectives that complete this master plan, complete a park [01:11:27] master plan that includes the revitalization of the newly acquired boat ramp. [01:11:37] Those type of things will be included in your specific actions under each goal and objective. [01:11:42] So, finally, the target project sites. [01:11:50] There are 13 sites listed here, and what these are, are sites that are hot. [01:11:54] They're active right now. [01:11:57] The objectives and goals are going to be broad enough, and they're going to have the room [01:12:02] for the next project site to come out. [01:12:04] It's not like these 13 sites are going to be actively worked on until 2049. [01:12:08] These are just what's hot, and there's a lot of irons in the fire, and we can look [01:12:15] at these in the future workshop to say what are the priorities, if that's the pleasure, [01:12:23] or we can just confirm that these are the active things that need to be continued to [01:12:28] be worked on. [01:12:29] I want to say that they're all active or hot, but they all have the room for the next project [01:12:36] site to come out. [01:12:37] They're all hot, but they all are issues that have been discussed by the CRA and are [01:12:44] of interest. [01:12:47] I agree 100%. [01:12:51] Might I ask, as you lay these out in a grid fashion, that you could, if you went back [01:12:56] to them, instead of putting them in two columns, for example, I've circled the railroad square [01:13:03] improvement, because that's all public space. [01:13:06] There's been a lot of talk about going out for RFPs, and that stimulates concern sometimes [01:13:13] when we have something identified, like Schwetman, as a development of a public project, even [01:13:18] if there's a private element to it. [01:13:19] So there's public projects in those. [01:13:22] There are also private projects or separately owned, but there's also the public-private [01:13:28] partnership projects, which is the big one out on Main Street, or our new boat ramp. [01:13:34] I think it would help people, because sometimes when we talk about the need to go out for [01:13:39] proposals, it acts like every one of our projects is going to be up for sale or to flip or to [01:13:44] sell, and that's why we have so many people here now, because there's such an interest [01:13:50] in preserving some of those jewels that you would call your community assets. [01:13:57] And it's good to have a mix of those. [01:13:59] Debbie, as you mentioned, some of those projects create a lot of tax increment to allow us [01:14:03] to do some of those railroad square projects, because hopefully we don't get COVID money [01:14:11] again, which is really fortunately what allowed us to do, is allowing us to do a lot of that [01:14:17] railroad square improvement. [01:14:19] That's correct. [01:14:21] Excellent. [01:14:23] I noted that. [01:14:25] So as we move into more discussion, there's a few things we're looking at doing today, [01:14:36] and the 28th. [01:14:38] So the first is confirming whether or not the draft vision accurately reflects New Port Richey, whether the long one or the more concise one. [01:14:50] If I could, Matt, on that board, what we would ask is that [01:15:00] You pick door number one or door number two or offer a third door. [01:15:05] So one door would be that we workshop it. [01:15:08] I think we should do that on March 28th when we come back for a full meeting. [01:15:13] Yes, not here tonight, but in the future, separate. [01:15:18] Do you want to workshop the vision as a board and come up with it and wordsmith it yourself? [01:15:23] Or two, would you like the direct staff to bring back a proposed vision after additional public input for your consideration, [01:15:34] or the third door would be something else? [01:15:36] But do you want to workshop it and wordsmith it? [01:15:38] Do you want the staff to go out for additional public comment and bring something back, [01:15:43] or do you want to propose a third option on the vision? [01:15:46] I propose a third option that I like it, [01:15:49] and we don't need to spend more time talking about it, that I think it was good. [01:15:53] I don't know if any of you all have things to change, but if anyone has a change, they ought to submit it. [01:15:58] But I'm happy with it the way it read. [01:16:01] I just want to mull it over a little bit more. [01:16:05] Yeah, but I think we could do it on the 28th. [01:16:09] I don't think we need to have a big discussion. [01:16:12] I'm very pleased with the short one particularly, and the long one doesn't sound bad either. [01:16:21] The long one would fill all 58 pages here, or whatever the number is. [01:16:26] It's still the one vision that we can focus on. [01:16:28] Right, yeah, it's good, I think. [01:16:31] So the boards that come back on the 28th will discuss it more, and you can make a decision or direction at that point. [01:16:38] Thank you. [01:16:46] Okay, so that actually takes care of one and two on the list. [01:16:53] Third thing is confirm the strategic priorities. [01:16:55] That's those targeted project sites. [01:16:57] Are we missing anything? [01:16:59] I mean, we're looking at Railroad Square. [01:17:03] That is taking a secondary street in the downtown and revitalizing it into something that really creates a more active and vibrant downtown. [01:17:11] Ritchie Suncoast Theater, we've talked about that. [01:17:14] Everyone agrees it needs to have more programming and supporting the… [01:17:17] No, we need to fund them further for capital improvements. [01:17:22] Yes. [01:17:24] To the Railroad Square, would that include the former West Pasco Press building because it's adjacent to that? [01:17:30] Because, you know, I don't know whether we could still acquire it, but there's a great need for parking, and it's a good-sized lot, and it's not used at all. [01:17:41] I'm sorry, you have to identify it further for me. [01:17:44] Right next to the Verizon building right off of Missouri. [01:17:47] Off the street from the Verizon next to the Lisa's thesis. [01:17:50] It's the little building that you can get two parking spaces on when you're going to… [01:17:57] It does not include it at this time. [01:18:00] It's adjacent to it. [01:18:01] It's not the Red Cross building. [01:18:02] Yeah, that's right. [01:18:03] No, I did have a conversation with the county administrator about that property this week, and he indicated that it would be available to the CRA. [01:18:14] So I think that if it's part of Railroad Square improvements, I think it could easily be an enhancement because we're taking some parking, and that lot that faces behind the building that comes out on Montana, is it? [01:18:28] Yeah, it comes out on Montana. [01:18:30] It's a good-sized lot, and we'd be picking up a lot of parking right there if it's needed. [01:18:36] It's not currently part of the plan, but we could include it, yes. [01:18:40] That's why I'm asking, yeah. [01:18:41] Got it. [01:18:43] Well, it makes sense there. [01:18:44] You know, it just depends how large you want to expand it there, and we've also had some discussion about continuation of Railroad Square further west. [01:18:53] So, you know, obviously it can actually go all the way down to the river. [01:18:58] And so, you know, I don't know if we have to identify that or just the general area that it's connected to, but I think it all needs to be looked at. [01:19:07] Probably do need to identify it as Phase 2 of the project. [01:19:11] Yeah, I love it. [01:19:12] We should write this in such a way that we can evaluate additional expansions of the concept, you know, as you've outlined. [01:19:20] We might acquire the property where we're talking about the behind the leases spaces, maybe not be part of this. [01:19:26] You know, not necessarily Phase 2 with that, too. [01:19:34] So the Red Cross is on the east over by Verizon, but then there's the opportunity to go behind Main. [01:19:39] Exactly. [01:19:40] And banks all the way into the waterfront with it, right? [01:19:42] Right. [01:19:43] That's the other direction. [01:19:44] It's south. [01:19:47] Yeah. [01:19:48] Yeah. [01:19:49] That's the Missouri. [01:19:50] Yeah. [01:19:52] It remains that partial, too, between that area and Main Street. [01:19:59] Okay. [01:20:00] That's just across the street from Hacienda that's going to be, whatever goes there is going to be critical to either an enhancement or detractor from our downtown. [01:20:11] So I don't know that that's available to us, but we need to somehow keep our eye on it. [01:20:16] So you're talking about the Main and Bank redevelopment, the vacant site? [01:20:20] Yeah, that's one of your strategic priorities, and that's actually a terminus of the view from Railroad Square. [01:20:25] That's correct. [01:20:26] So. [01:20:27] We are keeping our eye on it currently. [01:20:31] So Phase 2 or just whatever, however, to get it authorized in case we can move forward on this. [01:20:42] Across the street from Main and Bank is the Health Department building, another strategic priority that you've had. [01:20:48] Right. [01:20:50] But how the sausage is made, kind of, is that, okay, so you have Railroad Square. [01:20:55] We've already talked about public improvements, public-private redevelopment. [01:20:59] So under public improvements, Railroad Square, Phase 1, this is what it is. [01:21:04] Evaluate opportunities for additional expansion, including Red Cross, including to the south of Main and Bank. [01:21:15] So that's how we would write it. [01:21:17] To the river, yeah. [01:21:18] To the river, and this is the level of detail we need. [01:21:20] You can't get there in 15 minutes. [01:21:22] You can't get it when you just got the presentation, but ponder it so that when we come back on the 28th, [01:21:27] we can get into the weeds on each of these items and then augment and enhance. [01:21:34] Or cut. [01:21:35] Or cut, yeah. [01:21:37] Paste. [01:21:39] So Main Street and River Road redevelopment, you've actually just talked about that. [01:21:42] So kind of confirm that as a priority earlier in the day. [01:21:47] The SunTrust redevelopment project, that is just down the street on River Road, [01:21:53] the old gateway church in the SunTrust building, kind of implementing previous plans to kind of extend that Main Street, [01:22:01] kind of extend that downtown feel further along. [01:22:04] And that helps create your gateways. [01:22:08] Historic Gulf High School, we've talked about that. [01:22:10] That's something that's a potential right now, and Greg was kind enough to read the details of that. [01:22:20] The former community hospital redevelopment, that's a large area in the Swetman Oaks neighborhood, [01:22:24] another potentially defining area in that neighborhood. [01:22:28] Proposing specifically, if you'll allow me, is a master plan for that site, [01:22:34] which is currently under contract for a large-scale residential project [01:22:39] with a small amount of retail fronting Grand Boulevard. [01:22:46] And we'd like to do some community visioning so that we have a master plan for the use of the site [01:22:54] so that we can work along real closely with the developer on his plans for the use of the property. [01:23:04] So would that also include, when we talk about former community hospital, not just that site, but the adjacent sites? [01:23:11] We have so many other medical, what are once medical offices and buildings and so forth, [01:23:18] that needs, obviously, development. [01:23:19] So I would think that would be included in that point, right? [01:23:23] We wouldn't have to make that specific. [01:23:24] Well, it's in that territory. [01:23:25] Right, okay. [01:23:26] I just want to make sure. [01:23:27] I don't want to overlook that. [01:23:29] That's a good term, adaptive reuse. [01:23:32] It could be public-private or it could be private all the way. [01:23:38] You don't transform a site that large without making an impact on adjacent property, [01:23:43] so you would look at giving them the opportunity to see what they can do as well. [01:23:48] Collectively, there's almost 23 acres now involved in that assemblage. [01:23:53] The Aqua Harbor redevelopment, that is a lot of work going on in the South Gateway area with Seafire Grill, [01:24:01] which is just opening the new Aqua Harbor development, [01:24:07] as well as the potential long-term revitalization of the shopping center across the street. [01:24:13] What's the word we used? [01:24:15] Transforming that portion of US-19. [01:24:27] North Gateway, Riverside Inn, [01:24:29] that's another development you've talked about earlier as being a critical piece. [01:24:33] It's coming from the north into New Port Richey, [01:24:36] which is a lot of work. [01:24:38] Finally, the annexation of Leiser Lane and Van Doren. [01:24:41] One of the things we'll look at as we do that, [01:24:44] this is the back side of the South Gateway. [01:24:49] It has a direct interaction with the ultimate revitalization and redevelopment of that area. [01:24:58] As you know, we're looking at the possibility of annexing that property. [01:25:02] We do have an inter-local agreement for the annexation of that property. [01:25:07] We're pretty far along on the annexation of that property. [01:25:13] One of the things we'll be looking at is the finding of necessity [01:25:18] to include that within the boundaries of the CRA itself. [01:25:23] Is that something we'd want to pursue at this stage as we annex the property? [01:25:29] We're looking at the possibility of annexing that property. [01:25:33] We do have an inter-local agreement for the annexation of that property. [01:25:38] Is that something we'd want to pursue at this stage as we annex the property? [01:25:43] Give it its land use, give it its zoning, do all those things you need to do. [01:25:46] Are we going to include it in the CRA to allow us to use CRA? [01:25:51] We're already working on that. [01:25:53] Okay, excellent. [01:25:54] Actually, I would appreciate if the board wouldn't mind giving us a motion to proceed, [01:25:59] to recommend that the city proceed with the formal finding of necessity. [01:26:04] Madam Executive Director. [01:26:06] Okay, fair enough. [01:26:09] And just a note of caution, because we've got an entire city of CRA, [01:26:15] which really restricts any property tax growth to our general fund, [01:26:22] there has to be some strategy that we can see economic growth outside the CRA [01:26:29] that can help to fuel the general fund. [01:26:32] So I don't want us to find a place where all of a sudden we can't afford to give employees raises [01:26:38] because we have, and I won't use the terminology, [01:26:43] but overdone it with taking every opportunity to double up our money. [01:26:50] Because when we had our attorney visiting, it's like, [01:26:52] who wouldn't want to get your own tax money you pay to the county back? [01:26:56] But we're already getting about 90 percent of it back. [01:27:01] So we just have to make sure that somewhere we incorporate our financial analysis [01:27:06] of the survival of our general fund in all of this. [01:27:12] So, you know, I don't know how much we need in that tax to generate, [01:27:20] but we've got to keep paying the bills on the general fund. [01:27:23] And this does, it does take a sacrifice to the general fund for us to get where we're getting. [01:27:29] And that's just a point to be made. [01:27:33] And it's a good point, Pete. [01:27:35] At this point, we're going to, there's, if we went to the next page, [01:27:40] there's going to be another half hour, hour discussion, and we have a meeting at 7 o'clock. [01:27:44] Very good. [01:27:45] So I think this is a place to adjourn this CRA meeting and take matters. [01:27:49] Mayor, just again, we were on that one page. [01:27:51] The last item that we were under target, projected sites, [01:27:56] and we got to the leisure lane of Van Doren and we stopped, [01:27:59] but I thought there was a very important one after that, [01:28:01] and that's neighborhood improvement and community engagement. [01:28:07] And it's already been stated today, and it's one of the things that I talked about first running for this position [01:28:14] is that there's a lot of momentum downtown, and it's going to keep evolving [01:28:17] and kind of, you know, take on a life of its own. [01:28:20] But how do we get this fingered out into our neighborhoods? [01:28:23] And there's a lot of different ways to do that, but we need to act on it and concentrate. [01:28:28] And some of those, one of those, for example, is there's been some discussion. [01:28:33] We've taken some steps on looking to take advantage of a unique feature our city has in a couple of neighborhoods, [01:28:41] and that is our alleyways. [01:28:43] We haven't gone very far yet. [01:28:45] We've gone as far as to name them, recognize the importance of them, [01:28:49] but I really think that that's something that we need to continue to look at. [01:28:56] I see particularly as we look at changing to go to form-based code [01:29:02] as individual property owners might go in and redevelop their specific parcels or their homes, [01:29:11] whether they want ancillary dwellings or others. [01:29:14] I think that comes in all this way. [01:29:18] But I really would like to see us going forward keeping a high priority on our neighborhoods. [01:29:25] If we don't lift up or continue to work on lifting up our neighborhoods, [01:29:31] if they're not coming up, they're going down. [01:29:33] So I'd really like to just—I didn't want us to leave that point. [01:29:39] When you look at this guidelines here, there's—we could spend another quite a while just on that, too. [01:29:44] That's kind of where we need to stop here and go on. [01:29:48] We'll come back to that right there in a second. [01:29:50] But there's so much information here given us today, and, of course, this is your first look at it. [01:29:54] So I would—we'll come back to that workshop. [01:29:58] It would be a great idea. [01:30:00] and we'll all come back with different pages highlighted [01:30:02] and start. [01:30:03] Yeah. Mr. Director, could we each like have maybe two [01:30:05] or three minutes for some comments before we go? [01:30:07] No, we don't really have the time to. [01:30:09] One, two, three, four, five? [01:30:11] Excuse me. [01:30:12] I mean, I've been asked to end this at 6.30. [01:30:15] Okay. You know, so, you know, so, and we're going to be back here [01:30:20] on the 28th, so, you know, we'll come back with a lot more. [01:30:22] We don't have a time limit then. [01:30:24] Yeah, well, that's fine. [01:30:25] I've got my notes. [01:30:26] Yeah, and there'll be a lot more thoughts that'll come [01:30:29] to your mind once you've gone through this booklet. [01:30:31] Thank you. [01:30:31] I can share them as well with the staff, too, so.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

5. 6Adjournment▶ 1:30:34
6. 5Communications