04/16/2018 - Special Meeting Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes April 16, 2018
City of Clearwater
City Hall
112 S. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33756
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Meeting Minutes
Monday, April 16, 2018
1 :00 PM
Council Chambers
Community Redevelopment Agency
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City of Clearwater
Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes April 16, 2018
Roll Call
Present 5 - Chair George N. Cretekos, Trustee Doreen Caudell, Trustee Bob
Cundiff, Trustee Hoyt Hamilton, and Trustee David Allbritton
Also Present—William B. Horne 11 — City Manager, Jill Silverboard — Deputy City
Manager, Micah Maxwell —Assistant City Manager, Pamela K.
Akin — City Attorney, Rosemarie Call — City Clerk, Nicole Sprague —
Official Records and Legislative Services Coordinator, and Amanda
Thompson — CRA Executive Director.
To provide continuity for research, items are listed in agenda order although not
necessarily discussed in that order.
1. Call to Order— Chair Cretekos
The meeting was called to order at 1:16 p.m. at City Hall.
2. Approval of Minutes
2.1 Approve the minutes of the April 2, 2018 CRA meeting as submitted in written summation
by the City Clerk.
Trustee Hamilton moved to approve the minutes of the April 2,
2018 CRA meeting as submitted in written summation by the City
Clerk. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously.
3. Citizens to be Heard Regarding Items Not on the Agenda — None.
4. New Business Items
4.1 Approve amendments to the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Cleveland Street
District Fagade Improvement Program Guidelines to provide grants for design
assistance of$4,000 and construction of fagade improvements; construction grants be
matched dollar-for-dollar by applicant with up to $25,000 for fast track grant funding and
up to 50% of fagade improvement construction costs through the CRA Board approval
process; and rename the program to CRA Fagade Improvement Program Guidelines.
With the updated 2018 City of Clearwater Downtown Redevelopment Plan, the
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City of Clearwater
Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes April 16, 2018
CRA determined that it is important to partner with property owners who wish to
participate in the construction of a "high quality public realm." The 2018 plan
builds on earlier studies from 2006 that encouraged the creation of a Cafe
District on Cleveland Street to provide restaurants and merchants with
opportunities for outdoor dining and other activities on public sidewalks. With the
construction of Phase III of the Cleveland Streetscape project, the CRA
anticipates that commercial properties on Cleveland Street and Gulf to Bay in
the Downtown Gateway district will begin to redevelop. To support the
renovation of commercial facades, the CRA is recommending amendments to
the current fagade grant program including expanding eligible locations,
increasing the amount of grant funding per project, providing design assistance
and providing Director approval for grants $25,000 or less.
In summary, the fagade program matches dollar-for-dollar, the improvements
made by the property owner or tenant. All funds will be used to further the goal
to create a high quality public realm and must be applied to improvements that:
(a) effect immediate improvement to the storefront area of the building including
signage, lighting, entryways, windows, public art and other cosmetic or
structural work associated with the first floor where customers interact directly
with the building, (b) are in concert with first floor fagade improvements as
described in (a) above but that also may extend vertically to the upper areas of
the fagade. Isolated building improvements that are not directly connected to
improvements at the street level fagade are not allowed. All funds to be
disbursed by the CRA on a reimbursement basis upon completion of the
improvements and final inspections needed to satisfy permit requirements.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
Funding will come from 388-99979 Fagade Program Implementation
In response to questions, CRA Executive Director Amanda Thompson
said the program would include that portion of Cleveland Street that
becomes Gulf to Bay Boulevard that is within the CRA district. To qualify
for the incentive, the applicant must be located within the CRA district.
Trustee Caudell moved to approve amendments to the
Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Cleveland Street
District Facade Improvement Program Guidelines to provide
grants for design assistance of $4,000 and construction of facade
improvements; construction grants be matched dollar-for-dollar
by applicant with up to $25,000 for fast track grant funding and
up to 50% of facade improvement construction costs through the
CRA Board approval process; and rename the program to CRA
Facade Improvement Program Guidelines. The motion was duly
seconded and carried unanimously.
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City of Clearwater
Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes April 16, 2018
5. Director's Report
CRA Executive Director Amanda Thompson provided Trustees an
update regarding the land exchange agenda item to be heard by the City
Council this week. She distributed copies of a map identifying proposed
developments coming down the line, an updated appraisal map, and the
2018 CRA Major Projects List. Since starting with the City, she has met
with all of the major stakeholders (i.e., Downtown Merchants Association,
Downtown Partnership, Downtown Development Board, Neighborhood
Association, Chamber of Commerce, etc.). The CRA has been able to
meet some of their requests in the last couple of months, such as the
Concierge Tour and the upcoming Dali Art Museum Patron Event, Craft
Beer Festival, Children's Day Festival, and toured potential brewery sites
with the Clearwater Downtown Partnership Executive Director. A Strategic
Planning Meeting for the Downtown Development Board has been
scheduled for May 22 at Collaborative Labs. Social investment is a key
strategy and approach for Downtown redevelopment, which considers not
only financial return on investment but how it continues to payback the
City via relationships, additional resources, and leverage of private
investments. She said the CRA is trying to attract additional private
investment in addition to the public money the CRA is spending. The
goal is to increase the property value of the CRA area, which provides
additional funding to reinvest in the CRA area. The CRA must be
deliberate and strategic about where the public dollars are invested. Ms.
Thompson said the CRA can have the most impact in network expansion
(i.e., attracting talented business owners, surfacing the ideas of residents
wanting to invest), looking for barrier reductions (reducing the cost to
improve facades), and branding (balancing the aspirational- Imagine
Clearwater- with events that are happening now). She said there should be
significant focus on housing and retail, every downtown that is sustainable
has housing with retail within walking distance.
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City of Clearwater
Community Redevelopment Agency
6. Adjourn
Meeting Minutes April 16, 2018
The meeting adjourned at 1:31 p.m.
Chair
Community Redevelopment Agency
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City of Clearwater