Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 96-08-Finding Necessity for CRA — reading text

o infrastructure is inter-related and must be comprehensively approached as a network. 3. 1.3 DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES The CRA Area includes a substantial number of development and redevelopment opportunities which can be realized. Development opportunities include structures with adaptive reuse potential, as well as parcels which can be redeveloped ( clear, or existing vacant). Strong indicators of such opportunities include the presence of a significant number of vacant properties; however, in many locations, ownership and assemblage patterns and urban deficiencies do not facilitate comprehensively planned redevelopment. 3. 1.4 COMPLEMENTS EXISTING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT The CRA designation shall become a primary leveraging force to encourage and direct public and private investment in the designated area. To leverage private participation with public investment, the best possible use of existing public investments should be made. The area is positively impacted by the inclusion of two community development block grant ( CDBG) sites along Windham A venue, existing capital improvements, and public land. These assets provide a starting point from which the many needed infrastructure, land, and structural investments can achieve a cohesive economic revitalization in the CRA Area. 3. 1.5 TAX BASE An important objective of the redevelopment of a central area of the city is to increase the value of that area, which increases the city' s and county' s general revenue tax base. In this role, the CRA becomes a revitalization tool for the city and region at large. In the interest of its own self-sustainability and growth, with new investment in the CRA area, the CRA can leverage further improvements via an increased revenue by an enhanced tax increment area base. 3. 1. 6 COMPLEMENTS EXISTING CRA The proposed CRA expansion area should complement the existing 218- acre CRA located south of First Street. The expansion area should functionally enhance development or redevelopment in the existing area by creating mutual support relationships, such as the concurrent development of a residential area to provide a base for commercial revitalization, while the commercial area provides an employment base for residential development. The expansion area should be a asset to the CRA in its 9  o potential balance between tax increment revenue and outlay for development- leveraging projects. 3. 1.7 COMMUNITY SUPPORT I INCLUSIVENESS Among the various residential, civic, and commercial communities which exist in the potential expansion area, the CRA boundary encompasses a wide base of support in its ability to channel resources to the needs of these groups. The CRA area incorporates many potential assets and opportunities, while maintaining consistency of purpose and a compact form to link the synergism of the individual projects within a comprehensive plan. Its specific efforts must be focused to effect economic vitality, and attain visibility as a regional asset. 3. 1.8 CITY VISION The purpose of defining the CRA area is consistent with the overall City Vision as well as supportive of the neighborhood visions for which it encompasses. The visions are outlined at wide and neighborhood scales in the City of Fort Walton Beach Vision city- Plan. 10  o 2> inadequate parking requirements inadequate yards and setbacks lot coverage, height restrictions, and floor area ratio. 4.2.3 FINDINGS Four structures were found in the proposed CRA area which do not confonn with zoning codes. Their locations are shown in Figure 4. 1. At 12 SE Second Street, the residential structure does not meet the setback of the C- 2, General Commercial Zoning District, that the front yard requirements be a minimum of 10 feet, and the side yard, when abutting a residential district, be at least 30 feet. A 2. At the 109 SE Shell Avenue ( comer of Birch Street), 3B does not meet setback requirementsfor the R-2 Zoning District: front yard minimum of25 feet, and side yard minimum of 7. 5 feet. 3. At 42 NE Carson Drive, the back of the property, which fronts on Harbeson Avenue is violation of the~- NC Residential- Neighborhood Commercial Zoning District pennitted uses. An aUto repair operation is on the dwelling site. 4. At 107 SE Carson Drive, the single family residence has a non- confonning apartment at the rear of the building. This is is a violation of the R-l Single- yY~~ Family Dwelling Residential Zoning District permitted uses. v~ Three areas, shown in Figure 4 were found to be blighted by conflicting land uses. In the first areas, there are no uses which are inconsistent with zoning requirement; however, the marketability of the residential properties in these areas are impacted by the immediate proximity of commercial uses. The third involves a grandfathered land use which causes blight to proximate residences. 1. The first of these areas is the residential community along Park Circle, in which there are 2 buildings which are dilapidated, and 3 buildings which are in deteriorated condition. The character of Park Circle is that of a single- family residential area. At the southeast comer of Park Circle, Park Circle Condos is a a middle- planned unit development of new townhouses which are aimed at income market; however, this development is sheltered from views of Park Circle and the commercial use at the street' s northeast comer. Here, is located the back- lot of an auto- related business on Hollywood Boulevard. On this portion of the lot are stored abandoned automobiles, buses, and other parts and machines. This and storage, characteristic of a used auto parts lot, is immediately adjacent to, visible by the residences along Park Circle. It is possible to revitalize this area as 16  o o a quiet residential enclave utilizing the old growth, and the layout of Park Circle; however, the commercial use situation will need to be resolved or visually buffered. 2. The second of these areas lies along Comet Street, along which there is 1 building which is in deteriorated condition, and 1 building which has burned, and has since been abandoned. The backs of the homes along the north side of Comet Street face onto Crescent Circle, which is a busy service road for several commercial establishments fronting on Crescent Circle or on Hollywood Boulevard. The backs of homes along the south side of Comet Street abut the Fort Walton Beach Housing Development, which is not as well maintained as the Germany Terrace Housing Development. Combined, these impacts detract value from the The Comet Street neighborhood, as evidenced by the abandonment. neighborhood is small, consisting of 21 single-family homes, and located on the edge of a hill, has attractive natural features. To remain a vital neighborhood, investment to stimulate further reinvestment will be needed. 3. At 42 Carson, between Bobolink Street and Walter Martin Road, there is an auto within a repair operation dwelling. This operation takes place at the single-family back of the address, so the auto repairs are visible to and cause blight to the homes along Harbeson Avenue, between Bobolink Street and Walter Martin Road. There are five single- family residences along this segment of Harbeson Avenue. 17  o o 4. 5 DIVERSITY OF OWNERSHIP Blighted areas in need of redevelopment are often further disadvantaged by a diversity of ownership on blocks for which redevelopment is planned. Often, individual owners do not have the means individually, nor the necessary organization to effect a comprehensive revitalization effort. The authority of the CRA can provide organization for such purposes, and when efforts fail, the CRA may invoke eminent domain where it is a valid public purpose related to economic redevelopment of the CRA area. If the area is not a designated redevelopment area, these actions can not be applied for redevelopment purposes; their use as assemblage tools is not permitted. The proposed CRA area has been considered for blocks where a diversity of ownership would inhibit the redevelopment and the correction of blight by individual property owners. 4. 5. 1 METHODOLOGY AND CRITERIA Diversity of ownership can be tested by matching the number of addresses to the number of property owners for each block. On blocks which are primarily residential, single lots can be used to successfully construct residential dwellings. It is further assumed that in detached single-family residential areas, houses are owned individually, and these areas may be characterized by a high diversity of ownership. Because single lot development is economically feasible by contractors and local developers in residential areas, their diversity of ownership is not relevant to the correction of blighted conditions. This applies to all areas zoned as R- I, R- IA, Single Family Residel1:tial, and R-2, Multiple Family Residential. The same is true for area zoned as C- I, Limited Commercial, or R-NC, Residential Neighborhood Commercial. Although the diversity of ownership may be high, it is not an impediment to redevelopment of the nature and scale that is appropriate to these areas. In other commercial areas, specifically those zoned as C- 2, General Commercial, DC-4, Downtown District, and DR-5, Mixed- Use District along the waterfront, diversity of ownership can impede redevelopment of the nature and scale which is economically feasible. Within these areas, three criteria were used to identify blocks in which diversity of ownership is an obstacle to the correction of blight. 1. there are signs of deterioration in the block and signs of deterioration or economic obsolescence in the commercial establishments in the block; 2. There is a diversity of ownership which is inappropriate to the scale and nature of economically feasible development, and the character of development which has been identified for this area as a future land use. 2S  o o 4.7 HIGH CRIME RATES High crime rates, relative to other areas of the