Does the town need a Community Redevelopment Agency? That will be a focus when the Fort Myers Beach government hosts its second Town Hall meeting on June 18th at 5PM.
What is a CRA? Under Florida Statue 163 municipalities can designate an area suffering from blight in their community and direct tax dollars directly to that area to revitalize it and encourage private investment. Fort Myers Beach is looking to establish a CRA in the downtown area. Taxes are not raised. They are taken from the properties within a CRA and used specifically for revitalization. A CRA is governed by a locally appointed group, which could be the Town Council acting as the CRA. Lee County must approve any plan.
The Town has partnered with a consulting firm to prepare a CRA study, which is a required step in the process of getting a CRA approved.
The June 18th Town Hall will be 2 hours and held at Town Hall.
I own a two week time share on Ft Myers Beach so my opinion is just that… an opinion. Follow the LDC and Comp plan.
I can’t help but wonder if there’s an ulterior motive behind this survey and meeting. There was already something very similar to this when the Comp Plan was revised. Why is the meeting being conducted when a majority of the residents are not here? Of those that are here full-time, I already know of 3 of us just on 2 streets that will be on vacation that week. The survey does not confirm if you are a resident or not and I took the survey twice already, so anyone can take the survey as many times as they want claiming to be a resident. Number 7 should include: Follow the LDC and Comp Plan. I hope that the Town Council remembers that 67% of the voting residents already told them what they want in redevelopment by having a Recall Election: Follow the LDC and Comp Plan. Please stop beating a dead horse by trying to get around it.
So you want the town to check to see whether you’re on vacation before they schedule a meeting?
Of course not! That’s not the point I was trying to make!