![Gulf Breeze City Manager Samantha Abell [Special to the Press Gazette]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-639d3e0b-9d34-5fa8-e053-0100007f67b5-4f578e9d.jpeg)
GULF BREEZE — City Manager Samantha Abell presented the Board of County Commissioners an updated plan for the Community Redevelopment Area in Gulf Breeze.
The updated CRA plan allows the city to extend the CRA for 30 years, until 2049; the last time the plan was updated was 2009 and it is set to expire in 2019. According to Abell, no expansion to the existing CRA district is proposed in the new plan.
Gulf Breeze’s CRA is one of two CRA districts in the county. The CRA was adopted in 1989 and currently contains 445 parcels. The area is 393 acres in size, which is 13 percent of the city.
The base-year taxable value Gulf Breeze uses for the CRA was $49 million in 1990; the present taxable value is $168.9 million.
“We’re not talking about new development, we are primarily talking about redevelopment of existing strip centers,” Abell said.
According to Abell, the CRA is not a special tax district; residents and business owners located in the area pay the same taxes as other Gulf Breeze residents. However, a portion of the ad valorem tax comes back to the district and is used to reinvest in projects to eliminate blight.
According to Florida statutes, the CRA must specify projects in their plan and only spend funding on those projects. The projects can comprise the following:
- Acquisition of land
- Demolition of buildings
- Relocation expenses for associated properties
- Construction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, public areas in convention facilities, parking facilities and other improvements
- Disposition of property
- Repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements
- Payment of debt service on loans or tax increment revenue bonds
- Administrative and planning expenses associated with carrying out the CRA
Recent investments made by the CRA — totaling $8.7 million — are underground wiring, the Andrews Research and Education Foundation Grant, property acquisition or a blighted property, Town Center infill development, and landscape and stormwater improvements.
New capital projects for the Gulf Breeze CRA include the Medical and Technology Office Park, Town Center infill redevelopment, parallel corridors as an alternative to Gulf Breeze Parkway, underground utilities, stormwater infrastructure, and community policing and safety.
The city of Gulf Breeze will present a notice of intent to adopt the new CRA Plan to Santa Rosa County on Feb. 16. The first reading of the ordinance will take place March 5, and the second reading is March 19.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Gulf Breeze updates CRA Plan, extends 30 years