Haven CRA Plan To Be Unveiled

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

By JOY MURPHY
The Ledger

WINTER HAVEN -- A detailed plan and construction timeline for redevelopment in the downtown area will be presented at a public meeting scheduled for later this month.

Cy Paumier, a consultant working on the project, will recommend Phase I improvements begin with Fourth Street, between avenues A Southwest and A Northwest, Central Avenue between Third and Fourth streets, as well as renovating that part of Central Park known as Fountain Park.

"Those will most likely be Cy Paumier's recommendations for the first phase of construction," said Mike McMahon, community redevelopment agency director. "It is yet to be determined by the CRA and the city what is the best use of the funds for the first phase of construction."

After Phase I, additional improvements will most likely be broken into about five phases to include work on other parts of the park and the remaining blocks of Central Avenue between First and Sixth streets, according to McMahon.

A public presentation of the plan is scheduled for Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce building, 401 Ave. B N.W.

The city has budgeted $2.5 million for improvements to the Central Park and Central Avenue areas. The budget includes $500,000 from a 1999 bond issue and about $2 million from a bond issue that was recently approved for several projects including a new library to be located in the downtown district.

In 1999, Paumier, a Maryland-based international planner with HNTB/LDR, recommended all three blocks of Central Park be renovated first, but members of the downtown CRA advisory board recommended improvements be made along Central Avenue initially.

"Central Avenue needs to be the first priority," said Steve Lockhart, chairman of the advisory board. "Along Fourth Street and Central Avenue is a good place to start."

While he's glad to see improvements taking shape, Lockhart said Paumier's "upgrades" to Central Park need to be more specific before the plan is approved by the CRA board, made up of city commissioners and two local residents.

A CRA allows the city to use tax increment financing to produce revenue to renovate deteriorating areas. Under that system, property values are frozen for the purpose of city and county taxes.

When the value of property rises in the district, revenue representing the difference between the frozen values and the new values goes to the CRA.

As soon as one phase of the project is completed, the next phase will begin, McMahon said.

"The idea is to not close down downtown," he said.

Each phase will last two to three months, McMahon said.

Since little redevelopment progress has been evident since the agency was created in 2000, last April officials with the city and Main Street Winter Haven erected a large sign announcing Central Park renovations.

In the Florence Villa district, about $1.5 million is budgeted for improvement projects.