Concerned Friends of Fernandina                                

                            Concerned Friends of Fernandina is a grassroots citizens group formed to inform and involve

                             residents wanting to preserve the small town  identity of Fernandina Beach and its natural beauty.

Home
Up                   

Archives for CRA

• 24 Oct 04  U.S. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR KEY EMINENT DOMAIN CASE
  
  Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut. Last October, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that will determine if local governments can use the power of eminent domain to force homeowners and small business owners off of their land so that their properties can be handed over to higher tax-generating shopping malls and business complexes.
  
  The government power of eminent domain is a limited one -- i.e., government must pay fair market value for private property, and can only take it for "public use." Traditionally, public use meant building roads, schools, city hospitals, and other public facilities. But activist courts have given the term a broad meaning so as to encompass any economic benefit to a community. Thus, land use regulators across the country are abusing the power of eminent domain to force the sale of homes to build parking lots for casinos and hotels, or to force the closure of a church or small business to make way for a retail giant, strip mall, or office building complex.
  
  In this case, the Connecticut Supreme Court authorized the town of New London to take the properties of Susette Kelo and other landowners to clear the way for construction of a hotel, conference center, health club, and marina. The city's actions are part of a plan to complement a new research facility for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. The state high court sided with the city ruling that the mere promise of additional tax revenue justified the eviction of long-time homeowners. PLF is preparing a friend of the court brief in support of the property owners arguing that local bureaucrats cannot dispossess private landowners of their properties to generate more tax revenue.
  
  Related press report:
  Forum: Eminent Property Justice
  Washington Times, October 24, 2004
   
• 02 Sept 04  Worth reading from Miami News Times...
  Originally published by Miami New Times Sep 02, 2004  

   Bored with the CRA

   South Miami City Commissioner Craig Sherar and some of his constituents are on a mission to kill the city's embattled and controversial community redevelopment agency. "The CRA is nothing more than a black hole," gripes local resident and vocal CRA critic Valerie Newman. "We need to get rid of it."

  Created by the South Miami City Commission in 1997, the CRA is charged with revitalizing the area bounded by SW 62nd Street on the north, Sunset Drive on the south, 62nd Avenue on the west, and 57th Avenue on the east. Under an interlocal agreement adopted in 1999 by the CRA, the city, and Miami-Dade County, the CRA receives roughly 50 percent of the ad valorem taxes generated by the properties within the CRA's designated area -- tax money that would otherwise go to the city's general fund. The CRA also receives state tax incentives through the county's Office of Community and Economic Development. Although the CRA is independent of the city, the city commission serves as the CRA board of directors. The CRA has the power to take people's properties through eminent domain and to dole out grants to landowners and investors who want to redevelop properties within the CRA's area.

  To date, the South Miami CRA has collected more than three million dollars in taxpayer money to fund its operations and the redevelopment of homes and businesses in blighted neighborhoods. But Sherar, Newman and other residents have long complained that the CRA has done little to revitalize the area, which includes the Shops at Sunset Place and other not-so-blighted commercial properties near and along Sunset Drive. For instance, the CRA has doled out roughly $53,000 to local homeowners for upgrades on the facades of their houses and other home improvements. Yet the CRA has spent more than a half million dollars on consultants. "When you do an analysis," Sherar notes, "you can see we are not getting anything in return."

   Now the CRA is scrambling to extend the interlocal agreement, which expired last year, with the city and the county so it can continue to receive funding. "They were supposed to have a plan submitted to the county in January," says an exasperated Newman.

  At the CRA's August 24 meeting, a visibly angry Sherar did his best to kill CRA director Joseph Gibson's request to pay a consultant $124,250 to help the agency develop a new plan that would extend the CRA for the another 25 years. Although Sherar's bid failed, he succeeded in cutting down the number of years from 25 to 10. Gibson did not return phone calls seeking comment.

   

• 17 Aug 04  City revises CRA ground rules.........only 60days after committing to direction. 

CRA Update

The City Commission created a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) earlier this year as a means of financing infrastructure costs along Front St. in hopes of encouraging development along the Amelia River Waterfront. The City hired Ivey Planning Group, an Orlando-based planning group, to create a Waterfront Development Plan. In early April, they conducted Charettes to take public input regarding the redevelopment of the waterfront.  The Charettes were well attended and provided a strong vision by the public as to what they wanted to see along the waterfront area.

A CRA is a powerful tool that has the potential for abuse because the CRA's governing body (in this case, the City Commissioners) yields power for up to 40 years and has more lenient powers of eminent domain.  CFOF does not believe that the redevelopment of the City's waterfront requires a CRA to accomplish its goals.  When the boundaries of the CRA area were extended to residential neighborhoods north and south of the waterfront area, CFOF came out publicly against the CRA.  We felt that the neighborhoods were being used as 'cash cows' to fund the improvements that would primarily benefit property owners outside the neighborhoods.  CFOF organized neighborhood meetings to inform the property owners of the potential implications of being included in a CRA's 'blighted area', and assumed an active role in the public input portion of the City's meetings concerning the adoption of the CRA.

On June 15th, largely due to this effort and the widespread support these activities generated, the City made a number of key modifications to the CRA Plan including: removal of the residential areas; shortening the life of the CRA from 40 years to 20 years; and, pledging that the CRA funds would not be used for the Marina improvements or to improve private property.  Unfortunately, those promises made on June 15th appear to have been short-lived.  At the Commission meeting on August 17th, with minimal notice the City approved a resolution directing City Staff to evaluate the CRA with the following reversals from its original directive:  extend the duration of the CRA to 30 years; and, to include the Marina improvement effort in the list of CRA-funded projects.  The City is indicating that a new Waterfront Development Plan will be developed using these guidelines.  It is unclear as to whether Ivey Planning Group will be utilized to conduct this work or whether the City will engage a different firm.  CFOF will continue its active participation in this project and we invited interested citizens to join us.  You can monitor the latest developments through this website.

• 26 May 04  News-Leader

Waterfront development on horizon       City Manager Bob Mearns     "A public/private partnership with the city" has been proposed that could lead to development of shops and a private marina just north of the city marina on the Amelia River, City Manager Bob Mearns said. Mearns, who met with the property owners May 19, said they provided few details but did indicate plans could include a mixed-use development including shops such as a ship's chandlery and a private marina extending into the river. George Vuturo of Washington, D.C., and his wife Dorothy, own water use rights and one of the two parcels of land on the river between the city marina and Tringali Bros. Shrimp Co. The Vuturos' company also owns the FCX building on Centre Street. Vuturo said he told Mearns about "nine" different development options but declined to be specific about them. "We've got a variety of options . . . that echoes some of the stuff the (Community Redevelopment Agency) is talking about .  Read Entire Story                                                          _________________**________________ Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - Edition EDITORIAL Yes for the waterfront; No to CRA Fernandina Beach Commissioners are set to consider Tuesday an Amelia River waterfront master plan and ordinance establishing a trust fund for a Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA. We urge commissioners to reject both. We support waterfront redevelopment but remain unconvinced that this particular plan should guide it and that a CRA is vital to its success. There remain too many unanswered questions, and implementation of the plan should be delayed until these are answered to the public's satisfaction. Here are a few: -- What, precisely, is the plan? There is a general consensus that we don't want high-rise condos or overdevelopment, that we want to preserve views and public access to the river. But what will our riverfront look like in 10 years? We don't believe the vision has been effectively communicated to the public. -- What will become of our city marina? No clear vision has been imparted about our marina, which is the centerpiece of the riverfront. It's listed as the number-one objective in the plan, yet our city manager says the plan originated to improve infrastructure for waterfront industries, not to provide money for marina improvements. Which is it? -- Who will profit from CRA-financed improvements? Owners of private property due north of the marina have suggested "a public/private partnership" with the city but few details have been made public. Public/private partnerships all too often benefit private parties at the expense of the public. We want to know more about this deal before the waterfront plan is approved. -- Why should adjacent residential neighborhoods be included in the riverfront plan? Commissioners appear willing to limit the powers of eminent domain that customarily accompany a CRA. That's good, but it's not enough. The city called these neighborhoods blighted because they lack sidewalks and lighting and moved forward to "improve" them without consulting residents. Affordable housing was belatedly added as an objective, but how will this plan accomplish that? This clearly did not originate as a plan to improve these neighborhoods, and shouldn't now be promoted as such. -- How will this diversion of property tax revenues affect other government operations? At the highest forecast, the CRA may generate $25 million in new property tax revenues to spend on public improvements solely within the CRA district. But at what cost to other city operations? To county government? To the schools? -- Why should we trust city government to do this? Look at the effects of the "revitalization" at Main Beach, with two oversized "hotels" in place and two more coming. Is this what we want for our riverfront? Look at Egans Creek Greenway, the city's most expensive undertaking in recent years, still unfinished. There even has been talk of diverting money from the greenway for riverfront redevelopment. -- Finally, what's the rush? Riverfront redevelopment has been delayed for too many years but we should take our time to do this correctly. A local waterfront task force spent months on this project last year with good results but the plan has since taken on a sprawling life of its own. This plan is not sufficiently focused and has not been properly sold to the public. We should not move forward until that's corrected.     We don't really need the CRA       The No Spin Zone Ron Sapp     Seldom has a local issue generated as much simultaneous opposition and advocacy as the waterfront CRA. Redevelopment districts and their accompanying redevelopment agencies are divisive and it doesn't take a particularly gifted clairvoyant to predict, at least in our peculiar case, great disappointment and disillusionment in the minds and hearts of the non-prevailing side. There is no debate, however, as to whether or not city government has been able to generate a consensus for action on the part of its citizens - it has not, and in the absence of that consensus it is up to that government to demonstrate a compelling need or interest for the establishment of a waterfront CRA. That compelling need, at least in my mind, would have to greatly outweigh the real fears and skepticism of a wary citizenry.  Read Entire Story                                                 __________**_________ Planner: CRA good for neighborhoods A thriving city marina. "A lively marketplace" for shrimp down on the docks. A riverwalk and places along it where the public can enjoy the view. "Stabilization" of adjoining neighborhoods that preserves their character. That's the vision a city planner has for a proposed Amelia River waterfront redevelopment. Opponents of the plan are missing "the spirit" and overlooking the responsiveness of city government to criticisms of it, Fernandina Beach planner Lupita McClenning said Friday. "Eminent domain was never the spirit of this plan," McClenning said, noting the primary criticism leveled against creation of a Community Redevelopment Area, or CRA, for the waterfront district. "Those were the same fears the waterfront property owners had, and it filtered down to the single-home property owners," she said.  Read e Story

                                                         ____________**______________

12 May 04           News-Leader   Residents fear city's intent Would CRA claim homes? About 45 people, most of them residents in a proposed waterfront renewal district, met Friday night to learn more about a city plan's impact on their property rights and future. The downtown Fernandina Beach residents are uncertain about what the Amelia River waterfront plan means for them and mistrustful of the city's intentions. "Every one of these ordinances they pass takes rights from you and me every day," said Tony Ferreira, who lives a couple of blocks outside the waterfront district. "This is a beautiful place in spite of government, not because of it," he said. The meeting, sponsored by Concerned Friends of Fernandina, was a prelude to consideration of the waterfront master plan by the city's Planning Advisory Board tonight and the city commission in June.  News-Leader full Story   Waterfront plan calls for 'property assembly' The waterfront master plan suggests "a property assembly program" that would combine current lots to create larger parcels for parking or commercial development. The Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA, could target "substandard properties" or "problem" parcels and then seek to purchase them or assist in their purchase by developers. "The intent of the property assembly program is to provide suitable sites for parking and associated commercial development by aggregating specially targeted or adjacent substandard lots to create larger parcels," the master plan states. The plan calls for the city to "encourage acquisition and subsequent redevelopment by the private market" and then to purchase land itself if necessary. It suggests the city should: -- "Identify and inventory all relevant substandard properties." -- "Document and analyze overall parking demands and constraints throughout the redevelopment area." -- "Document site criteria for modern commercial developments by business type to facilitate the understanding of contemporary developer site and parking requirements." "-- Map and index all commercial properties in the redevelopment area to provide detailed information on parcel boundaries, sizes and ownership." -- "The city shall facilitate aggregation and redevelopment of 'problem' or constrained parcels or groups of parcels." -- "The CRA and city shall assist in the purchase, sale, negotiation and coordination of land assembly." -- "To secure the city's and CRA's success, public resources must be dedicated to fund the mapping and indexing of all properties in the redevelopment area; funding to research or otherwise obtain contemporary site development requirements; provision of city resources and staff time to negotiate acquisitions and public/private partnerships with potential developers; and funding to finance land acquisitions by either the city or the CRA (some of which will be recovered or rolled over as properties are resold)."                                                           ____________**______________ 12 May 04    News-Leader Editorial The threat of eminent domain Fernandina Beach officials have emphasized repeatedly they have no intent to use their powers of eminent domain to reshape the Amelia River waterfront. But dozens of local residents who live in the newly created waterfront district fear their homes could be targets. City officials have made noises about using condemnation powers to take a parcel of property directly north of the city marina to create a park and additional boat docks. That might make sense since the property is now vacant and could be critical to making the marina the centerpiece of a revitalized waterfront. But homeowners and business owners in areas adjacent to the waterfront are rightly worried about what comes next. A proposed Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA, would have expanded powers of condemnation that could be used to take private property for residential or commercial development or even new parking lots. The CRA master plan suggests combining lots for just such development in what has now been tagged a "blighted" area. The city may disavow such intent now but who's to say what will happen during the 30-year life of this proposed project. Riviera Beach, a harbor town on Florida's Atlantic Coast, was 17 years into its CRA before it was decided to level hundreds of houses in favor of high-rise condos, larger homes and upscale shops. That could happen here. These neighborhoods on the outskirts of the historic district are a prime target for developers. With the island mostly built out, it's about to be built up. Redevelopment is the next stage of island growth. That means, aided and abetted by their friends in government, developers could be coming for your home next. Public hearings are planned on the CRA on June 1  at City Hall. We encourage you to attend.                                              __________**_____________

20 Apr 04 City Commissioners appoint themselves to CRA Board.

                                                    ______________**_____________

• 25 Mar 04

A concerned citizens view:

Many of us are just beginning to awaken to the “feeding frenzy” that plagues Nassau County since Rayonier has decided to go into the real estate business and convert 37,000 acres to the DRI (Development of Regional Impact).  Each time I drive off the island, I’m astounded at the rate of sprawl that threatens the ambience of our area. 

The next development frontier for Fernandina is the downtown Waterfront.  Planning for its redevelopment is happening now!  The City Commission has delineated a CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) along the Waterfront and several blocks to the east of Front Street.  The CRA has established “Tax Increment Trust Fund”.  The current assessed base value of the properties within the CRA is $16.8 million.  Within the CRA area, the taxes that increase in value for the next 20 – 30 years will be transferred to this trust fund an used for infrastructure improvements for the redevelopment of the Waterfront. 

Redevelopment has begun folks.  There have already been proposals put forward by Compass Group for a multi-million dollar per unit condominium that would be built south of the present marina parking lot featuring 12 individual units each with a private elevator, a roof top swimming pool, and a private marina.  Our Waterfront could easily become privatized and/or commercialized.  Is this what we want for our community?  What is the Waterfront we as a community envision?  What will maintain the ambience and small town appeal of our community?  Do we really want 45 ft. high condominiums blocking our access and views to the river? 

Ivey Planning Group (IPG) has been hired by the City to focus design proposals for the Waterfront.  They are the group that is also doing the work for Nassau County and the DRI.  Perhaps I’m cynical, but one of their claims to fame is the development around Disneyworld.  Frightening concept. 

IPG in conjunction with the City Commissioners will take public input on the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan through Waterfront CRA Charettes.  A “Charette” is an envisioning process where the community gets to be heard.  Some in town will be promoting mixed use development – restaurants, retail space, condominiums and townhouses.  I say let’s be more creative in our envisioning.  What if we created parkland that extended from the Rayonier border (Cooks property) to the south all the way to the Port?  What if we created boardwalks, bicycle trails, and protected view sheds?  What if we improve our Marina and work as a community to preserve our shrimping heritage rather than see it die out and be replaced by a plastic replica of a shrimp boat?  How about a multi-functional cultural events center which would be open for the summer months and able to be enclosed for inclement weather?  What if we could have outdoor concerts, Shakespeare, traveling ballet and dance troupes, or even film festivals at the river? 

Fernandina residents are being given a unique opportunity to enhance and improve our small town.  We are being a chance to harness our collective power as citizens—to specify what is really important for us as a community.

We need to remember as Vice Mayor Lamb expressed at last week’s Commission meeting—the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  Let’s not pander to the developers or allow those who will profit the most monetarily to decide the direction of our Waterfront will grow in.  Let’s rise out of our complacency and have the courage to imagine the community we wish to live in.  We need to take the unilateral pre-emptive strike as citizens to ensure that our community will be livable for future generations and better than we found it. 

Charettes will be held April 1-3 at the downtown Hampton Inn and Suites, please mark your calendars and please participate.  We only get one chance to do it right! 

Julie Ferreira,  Fernandina Beach   

                                   ______________________**___________________________

             Back  to Top

For problems or questions regarding this web contact  webmaster@fofgroup.org

"cfof" are residents of Fernandina Beach, Florida.

 
Last updated: November 17, 2008.