The Crestview Community Redevelopment Agency has frequently been in the news lately. What is it and how does it benefit the community?

CRESTVIEW — Residents may have heard about the city's Community Redevelopment Agency.

But what is its purpose, and who's behind it?

Read Part I of this report here>>

WHO’S IN CHARGE?

Crestview’s CRA oversight falls under the Growth Management Department and, for financial oversight, City Clerk Betsy Roy.

The agency answers to the CRA board, which includes the City Council, plus two appointed members from the district. An attorney, who specializes in CRAs, provides legal advice to the board.

Separating City Council and CRA board responsibilities is important, Crestview CRA administrative team leader Brenda Smith said.

“When they walk in the door they have to think very creatively and strategically,” she said. “They have to be visionaries.”

Hands-on day-to-day operations until June 30 fell under a contracted director. As of July 1, an eight-member team manages the CRA.

THE C.R.A. TEAM

Last week, Smith went from being the agency’s director to a team leader for the CRA’s newly hired advertising and marketing agency.

Hiring the Petermann Agency of Fort Walton Beach was a necessary step in bringing the CRA to the next level as it prepares to tackle serious redevelopment, she said.

“You surround yourself by the experts that know how to redevelop, to transform something from what it is to something totally different,” Smith said. “It’s going to eliminate blight and increase the value of property in the area and everyone benefits.”

Smith said she, with Petermann’s staff of experts, will immediately begin assessing the district and developing a redevelopment plan.

“We need a real good conceptual plan,” she said. “We need to address issues like high vacancy.”

RETAIL DEVELOPMENT

Toward that goal, Petermann brought Matt Petro, chief development officer of Retail Strategies, before the CRA Board’s June 24 workshop meeting.

“(Retail recruitment) is really critical,” Smith said. “When you have a problem, you can sit there and talk about it, but you have to look for a solution.

“There’s a lot of data that these retail companies look at. You have to position yourself and say ‘Hey, look at me! Look at me!’”

While downtown Crestview has often looked toward Fairhope, Alabama’s successful downtown rehabilitation, Smith said that model can’t be cut-and-pasted onto Crestview.

“It’s great to look at other places, but we’re going to be very different from Fairhope,” she said. “We’ll never be a Fairhope. They have different qualities and different planning. We have to be proud of what we have.”

NO FEARS FOR MOM-AND-POPS

Should the CRA contract with Retail Strategies — a year-to-year contract could run as much as $50,000 annually — existing locally-owned Main Street businesses needn’t fear being run off, Smith said.

“If it’s done right, they don’t suffer,” she said. “They grow as well. It makes everybody have to be business savvy and entrepreneurs. It creates entrepreneurial niches, and that’s what you want in your downtown area.”

With her team of experts and her funds in place, Smith sees the CRA district poised to leap into its next phase of redevelopment.

“We’re going forward with some serious stuff,” she said. “There’s enough money that we can have some serious impact on the area.”

Crestview’s Community Redevelopment Agency has spearheaded several downtown improvements, including:

●Three-phase Main Street district streetscape improvements, 1996-2003

●Main Street Crestview Association creation, 1998

●Historic Preservation District designation and documentation of more than 200 downtown structures, 2001-03

●National Register of Historic Districts designation received 2006

●Crestview Centennial Celebration funding begun, 2013-16. Centennial events contracted to Main Street Crestview Association

●Crestview Bark Park dog park planning and fundraising begun, 2015-16

CRESTVIEW C.R.A. PROJECTS

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's CRA, Part II: Who's behind it and what does it do? (VIDEO)

The Crestview Community Redevelopment Agency has frequently been in the news lately. What is it and how does it benefit the community?

CRESTVIEW — It’s hired an ad agency, is considering engaging a retail recruiter, is funding the city’s centennial events, and spearheaded turning downtown into a mixed-use district.

It’s the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Read Part II of this report here>>

But what is it? How does it function? What is its purpose, and how is it funded?

C.R.A. DISTRICT

Crestview’s CRA district, established in 1995, today encompasses much of downtown, plus Twin Hills Park and Martin Luther King Avenue, areas that were added when the district expanded in 1998.

It aims to combat blight.  

“There has to be some sort of distress or special need with it,” Jack Dorman, owner of municipal consultants J.E. Dorman and Associates, said.

“Typically it’s a lower income area or business failings. In Crestview it was to provide impetus to do things downtown. For example the streetscape, lighting, landscaping, was all done with CRA funds.”

The agency will sunset in 2025, unless the board requests an extension from Okaloosa County.

WHAT IT DOES

“A CRA is designed to improve and enhance the conditions in a specified area,” Dorman said.

Through CRA funds and leverage it provides to obtain grants, the city embarked on a $3.7 million, three-phase downtown streetscape improvement project between 1996 and 2003.

Today that project’s results continue to enhance the historic Main Street area, with brick pavers, new street lighting, landscaping, benches and an events gazebo.

Most recently the CRA spearheaded mixed-use rezoning that reintroduces residences in the district, creating a 24-hour life to a section of town that slows down after hours.

“CRA funded that activity rather than the general fund,” Dorman said. “It’s an activity that was designed — and I believe it’s going to be successful — to bring people downtown who are going to be living, shopping and eating downtown.”

Twin Hills Park improvements, also in the agency’s scope, include a recently proposed dog park to be partially funded by recreation grant money secured by the CRA.

The Main Street Crestview Association program also falls under the CRA, providing events and improvement plans to enhance the historic district.

FUNDING

The Crestview CRA is funded through a process called tax increment financing that keeps some locally generated tax dollars from going to Okaloosa County.

“You establish a  baseline,” Dorman said. “As the property goes up in value, that increase goes to the CRA, not the city, county or general fund. Over time it builds up. It becomes a source of money for the CRA to do things, take action, make improvements.”

For example, if a company in the CRA district paid $1,000 in taxes when the district was established, but was taxed $1,025 the next year when it increased in value, the $25 difference would go to the CRA, rather than the county or city.

Crestview’s CRA was established “for the expressed purpose of development and redevelopment within a defined community redevelopment area, which encompasses all of the downtown area,” according to the city’s website.

Currently the CRA has accumulated more than $1.4 million in available redevelopment funds.

Here’s a look at Crestview’s Community Redevelopment Agency:

●Established in 1995

●Sunsets in 2025

●Current available redevelopment funds: $1,406,128

●Board members: President Joe Blocker, Bill Cox, Doug Faircloth, Shannon Hayes, Dr. Margareth Larose-Pierre and  JB Whitten. One vacancy

●Attorney: community redevelopment specialist Carol Leone

●Marketing and advertising firm: Petermann Agency, Fort Walton Beach

●Program team leader: Brenda Smith

●Main Street Crestview Association manager: Patti Gonzo

●Office: Crestview City Hall

THE CRESTVIEW C.R.A. AT A GLANCE

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's CRA, Part I: What is it anyway?

CRESTVIEW — City department heads reported that with the budget year about 60 percent over, their budgets are roughly on track.

During a June 30 City Council budget workshop, City Council President Joe Blocker queried department leaders on 2015-16 spending.

PUBLIC WORKS: Director Wayne Steele reported his budget is between 60 and 70 percent spent, though some line items have reached 100 percent or more.

“Some repairs and maintenance (are) eating me alive,” Steele said. “I've had a lot of lift station repairs, and water wells repairs and a lot of building and maintenance repairs. It's been one of those years. They come in cycles.”

However, Steele said his planned Public Works projects have come in under budget.

“We've had some very good bid responses this year that have come in under our projections,” he said. “Our purchases on equipment, we've been able to get the equipment we needed at lesser cost than projected in our budget.”

POLICE DEPARTMENT: Police Chief Tony Taylor said his department has spent about 65-70 percent of its budget as well. He anticipates carrying between $700-800,000 in cash forward to the next budget year due to vacant positions.

“We're one (police officer) position down and anywhere from four to five dispatchers down over the year,” he said.

LIBRARY: While Library Director Marie Heath did not have her expenditures figures with her, she said she expects to carry “a little bit” forward into the 2016-17 budget year, “but not as much as the chief.”

FIRE DEPARTMENT: Fire Chief Joe Traylor said his department, too, had personnel issues that affected his budget. Two firefighters are out receiving workers’ compensation due to injuries; another is in the military reserves and was called up for duty.

Overtime pay has increased as other firefighters fulfill the duties of the three who are out.

“Overall we're about 65 percent of the entire budget, Traylor said. “There are categories within the budget that went over but there is funding within the budget to move.

“We won't go over our total budget. …Part of that is fuel savings because the cost of fuel has not risen but has gone down.”

“Most of the departments are between 5 and 7 percent of where they need to be,” said City Clerk Betsy Roy, whose office oversees the city’s Finance Department.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview city budgets running on track

CRESTVIEW — City Clerk Betsy Roy introduced the preliminary 2016-17 budget, noting city revenues are expected to rise with the improvement of property values.

Roy predicted "a conservative 3 percent increase in tax revenue over last year," and also expects state sharing revenue, such as fuel and locally generated sales taxes, will increase.

While the budget is still undergoing a few tweaks, it will most likely fall in the $29 to $30 million range, she said, which is roughly the same as the current fiscal year's budget.

Meeting in a June 30 workshop, the City Council discussed a few generalities before meeting with individual department heads over the next several weeks.

The next public budget workshop will be July 14, followed by a special meeting on July 25 to set the tentative millage.

Councilmen gave no indication if they will raise, lower or keep the millage at its current rate, but, Roy told them, "Remember when it's set it can go down but not up."

Public hearings on the new budget are tentatively scheduled for Sept. 9 and 22, but a series of workshops to hash out the final budget will be held before then.

"The goal is, everything is settled long before those public hearings so we don't need to have meeting after meeting after meeting," Roy said.

The 42-page budget binders Roy distributed at the Thursday meeting contain each department head's requested budget.

"If they requested it, it's in this budget," she said. "If it's personnel, capital equipment, whatever, it's in this budget."

While past budgets have been balanced by transferring money from the utility fund to the general fund, Roy said the city's improved financial shape won't require that next year.

"We're in good shape," Roy said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Preliminary 2016-17 Crestview budget introduced (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — The Community Redevelopment Agency Board unanimously approved a contract with the Petermann Agency for “comprehensive administrative and operations management services.”

The contract with the city, which includes a monthly $9,875 retainer, was reworked to board member JB Whitten’s satisfaction. Whitten had previously voted against the proposal because there was no guarantee the city’s current CRA director, Brenda Smith, would remain the Petermann team’s lead.

The revised contract includes a provision assuring any change of team lead would first require CRA approval.

Smith’s extended contract with the CRA board expires Friday. She will continue in virtually the same capacity, including keeping a city hall office, but as head of the Petermann Agency’s Crestview team.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Community Redevelopment Agency OKs Petermann contract

FORT WALTON BEACH — A coalition of Northwest Florida churches has set three forums for Okaloosa County candidates.

The forums begin with 30-minute candidate meet-and-greets.

The first forum — for school board districts 2 and 4, and superintendent of schools — is 7-9 p.m. July 28 at Ocean City Church, 428 Racetrack Road NE, Fort Walton Beach.

The second — for Okaloosa sheriff and District 1 commissioners — is 7-9 p.m. Aug. 11 at Victorious Life Worship Center, 5973 Victorious Life Place, Crestview.

The third — for District 4 state Representative and District 1 state Senate seats — is 7-9 p.m. Aug. 25 at Gateway City Church, 216 Eglin Parkway NE, Fort Walton Beach.

In a media release, the coalition stated the purpose of the forums is completely educational, and it does not endorse candidates or political parties.

"Our desire is to promote good citizenship, primarily within the Christian community in Okaloosa County. All of the citizens of Okaloosa County are welcome to attend our candidate forums," the coalition stated.

For more information, contact Ocean City Church, 862-4012.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Churches schedule three Okaloosa candidate forums

CRESTVIEW — The Crestview City Council will have a workshop at 5:30 p.m. June 30 at city hall, 198 Wilson St., N.

Here is the meeting's agenda.

1. Call to order

2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Open workshop

4. Public opportunity on council propositions

5. Workshop discussion

6. Comments from the audience

7. Adjournment

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Here's what the Crestview City Council will meet about June 30

CRESTVIEW — In addition to kids, joggers, walkers, soccer players, fishermen, picnickers and flocks of water fowl, Twin Hills Park could soon have a place just for dogs.

The Community Redevelopment Agency Board unanimously told the Main Street Crestview Association committee tasked with developing a dog park to begin fundraising.

 Presenting a preliminary plan for the park to the board during a June 24 workshop, chairwoman April Meier reported the results of the committee’s market research.

“People in our market and our city do want a dog park,” Meier said.

The committee, working with city Public Works officials, identified a half-acre site along U.S. Highway 90 for what they tentatively called the “Crestview Bark Park.”

MEETS CRITERIA

In addition to committee members Rae Schwartz and Ted Wickman, “we have a whole cadre of volunteers who want to help us do fundraising for it,” Meier said.

Meier said the dog park site met her committee’s criteria, which included:

●Sufficient size

●Not being near residences “because dogs may bark”

●Not encroaching on areas of frequent activity, such as the children’s park

A dog park will benefit both dogs and their owners, Meier said.

“Dogs become more socialized and people become more socialized,” she said. “We envision a park that builds relationships between residents and their dogs.”

EQUIPMENT

The park would include training and exercise equipment, such as “sit and stay” benches, agility courses and hoops to jump through.

“Dogs will socialize in pack format if they don’t have anything else to do,” Meier said.

Schwartz said owners would have to register their dogs before they receive a swipe card allowing admission to the park.

“It will help us have information about the dog,” Schwartz said. This would include medical and vaccination records.

Charging an annual user fee, such as $25 for residents and $35 for people from outside of Crestview, would help cover maintenance costs, Meier said.

Such “buy-in” also creates a sense of ownership, she said, leading most dog park users to voluntarily help maintain the facility.

“They act to police the park and keep after dog owners who forget to pick up their poop,” Meier said.

GRANT MONEY

CRA Director Brenda Smith said the district expects to receive state approval by July 1 to begin using recently awarded recreation grant money, some of which can be applied toward dog park lighting, benches and shade sails.

Board members praised the committee for its thorough research.

“I commend you for what you’ve done,” board President Joe Blocker said. “But you ain’t done enough: we don’t have a dog park yet!”

Meier said she and her committee have already begun brainstorming fundraising ideas, including selling paving bricks residents can buy in memory of beloved pets, going to online crowd-funding sources, holding dog wash events, accepting donations and holding run/walks.

“If we’re going to build a dog park, it’s going to be an awesome dog park!” Meier said.

______________________

IN THE DOG PARK

A Main Street Crestview Association committee tasked with researching a dog park in Twin Hills Park made these recommendations for the facility:

●Separate big dog and small dog areas

●Secured card-swipe gate entrance, with owners required to register their dogs and prove vaccinations

●Annual membership fees to fund maintenance

●Covered gazebo for dog park events

●Dog agility and exercise equipment

●Benches for owners

●Possible water feature for dogs to play in

A Main Street Crestview Association committee tasked with researching a dog park in Twin Hills Park made these recommendations for the facility:

●Separate big dog and small dog areas

●Secured card-swipe gate entrance, with owners required to register their dogs and prove vaccinations

●Annual membership fees to fund maintenance

●Covered gazebo for dog park events

●Dog agility and exercise equipment

●Benches for owners

●Possible water feature for dogs to play in

IN THE DOG PARK

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Community Redevelopment Agency OKs fundraising for 'Bark Park' (VIDEO)

CRESTVIEW — After a detailed presentation by Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard, the City Council gave its consensus that she should continue the process of evaluating how the city offers out-of-city utility services.

Gaillard estimated the city currently provides water and sewer services to between 300 and 400 addresses that are not within the Crestview city limits.

Most of these properties are just outside the city but are not served by Okaloosa County services. Most are in the area east of State Road 85 around Aplin Road and East Chestnut, Gaillard said.

But short of actually comparing each address to a map, identifying who is in the city and who's right outside of it is difficult, she said.

"There's not a viable way to track the out-of-city customers that are out of our utility billing area," she said.

Another problem is though the city requires property owners who request Crestview city utilities to agree to be annexed into the city when their property becomes contiguous, the agreements are between individuals and the city, not the property and the city.

So when an owner sells his property, unlike the water and sewer hookups and service, the annexation agreement does not transfer to the new owner.

"When it comes time to annex, we're not interested with the person who's gone," Public Works Director Wayne Steele said. "Our interest is with the property. The language needs to be changed within the municipal service agreement, and tie it with the property."

But that, city attorney Ben Holley said, might violate state law, which requires the person that is the owner of the property to be in the agreement.

That will be among questions Gaillard said will be researched following the council's unanimous consensus that she prepare information on how she plans to approach reworking the annexation and out-of-city service procedures.

"What I'm needing in order to propel our city forward, that will affect the modernization of our procedures, I'm requesting in-depth research to modernize the documents, work with land attorney, and examine rates charged," she said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview to evaluate out-of-city services

NICEVILLE — The Emerald Coast Association of Realtors will host an Okaloosa County candidate forum.

The event is 5:30 p.m. June 30 at Niceville High School, 800 E. John Sims Parkway. Candidates running for county commission, school board, superintendent, property appraiser, county clerk and tax collector have been invited to participate.

Northwest Florida Daily News editor Bob Heist will moderate the event, and candidates will have one minute to make opening remarks, answer several predetermined questions, and give a one-minute closing.

Unopposed candidates will have the opportunity to speak to constituents for five minutes.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Realtors host Okaloosa candidate forum