Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area Claimed

Community redevelopment is the publicly-financed rebuilding of an urban, residential or commercial area. Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into deteriorated areas plagued by social, physical, environmental or economic conditions that act as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise. Through redevelopment, a target area will receive focused attention and financial investment to reverse deteriorating trends, create jobs, revitalize the business climate, rehabilitate and add to the housing stock, and gain active participation and investment by citizens which would not otherwise occur.

There has been a state-wide discussion regarding the future of Florida’s Community Redevelopment Agencies over the past year and a half that has resulted in an uncertain future for all CRAs, including Gainesville’s. The City and County Commissions wished to create a solution that would address local issues and also insulate the GCRA from future state legislative mandates. The City and County were able to design the future of the GCRA in a mutually agreeable structure. Under the new structure, the GCRA will be able to focus on areas that need more robust programs and that historically did not have the funding to support it.

An agreement was negotiated and signed by the City of Gainesville and Alachua County Commissions in April of 2019. An ordinance regarding the CRA was brought to the City Commission for a first reading on August 15, 2019 and for a second reading on September 5, 2019, at which time it was adopted. The ordinance in effect dissolved the Community Redevelopment Agency and created the Community Reinvestment Area. The “new” GCRA is a city department and reports to the City Commission.

The GCRA office and staff will be relocated to the Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC) at the Cornerstone Campus on SE Hawthorne Road. The team will be led by the GCRA Director, who reports to the City Manager, with the Gainesville City Commission as the governing board.

The four redevelopment areas are now a single district with the same external boundaries – the internal boundary lines have been dissolved. The GCRA has a new 15 member advisory board to represent the single district. Members of the new board were appointed at the October 3rd, 2019 City Commission meeting and meet on the third Tuesday of every month.

Under the new structure, the four redevelopment plans will be consolidated into a single “Reinvestment Plan” that will guide the work of the agency for the next ten years. The plan consolidation will be done through a public process involving community workshops, stakeholder meetings, surveys, and other outreach. The GCRA is using the approved CRA 5-year workplan as a starting point. All initiatives that are currently under construction will be completed. Any projects in the early planning stages will be evaluated and prioritized based on the combined redevelopment plan. All economic development and community partnership programs are on hold and are being revised in order to better suit the needs of the community. Additionally, programs will be added that will encourage further economic growth. The GCRA will be collaborating with other City departments and organizations in order to maximize the reach and effects of all initiatives.