Community Redevelopment Board - Regular Meeting

all right good evening we have the um panal  City community redevelopment agency board   meeting for February 18th is here by call to  order we'll begin with an opening prayer with   Dr Delwin Williams the senior pastor of St  John Missionary Baptist Church followed by   a pledge of allegiance to the flag led by City  attorney Nan Zimmerman would you please stand let's pray together God of our weary years God of  our silent tears God who has brought us thus far   on the way God who has by thy might led us into  the light keep us forever in your path we pray   here we are again our God asking and invoking  your presence into this place in this space   so that we might be able to see you as the god  God of Abraham Isaac Jacob and all of us would   you please sir move as you have time and time  again and get the glory out of everything that   we do and everything that we say in this moment  so that the end of the story we would be able to   say that you were edified and you were glorified  and your people were edified and the devil in   hell was horrified allow us now in this moment  to be able to see you more clearly follow you   more nearly and then love you more dearly and we  vow to give you all of the praise and all of the   honor and all of the glory for you doing it again  in the midst of Our Lives your blessings upon all   of these that have gathered here today and we pray  that your will be done in earth as it is in heaven   in the mighty and the Magnificent in The Marvelous  name of Jesus the Christ even he who saved us amen  

please Place uh face the flag I pledge allegiance  to the flag of the United States of America and   to the Republic for which it stands one nation  under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Miss s would you please call the role board  member alas here board member Lucas present board   member Granger present board member Street  here chairman Rowan will not be present for   the meeting today thank you uh item number four  on your agenda board members is approval of the   meeting minutes from the January 27th of 20125 we  would entertain a motion to approve the minutes   as published a motion we approve the minutes  there second we have a motion to second is   there any discussion Miss haor please call the  role board member Halas yes board member Lucas   yes board member Granger yes board member Street  yes motion passes item number five is additions   deletions or modifications to the agenda  today are there any additions deletions or   modifications from the board or staff seeing  none moving on to item number six audience   participation open to any issue related to the  Panama City cra's Authority remarks are limited   to 3 minutes please approach the podium name and  address for the record and uh address the board get right seeing no audience participation  moving on to item number seven item number   seven is consideration approval and authorization  to execute a memorandum of understanding between   the City of Panama City community redevelopment  agency and the City of Panama City Florida for   the programming supplies at the MLK rec center  in the amount of $325,000 relevant background   information is enclosed in your agenda packet as  well as a uh line item explanation of the $325,000  

staff recommends approval of theou between the  panal city CRA and the City of Panama City for   programming supplies at the MLK rec center in  the amount of $325,000 staff would entertain   a motion to approve so moved second second he  seconded second it all right there's a motion   to Second any uh discussion or questions from  the board hearing none Miss sorn please call   the role board member helas yes board member  Lucas yes board member Granger yes board member   Street yes motion passes item number eight is  review consideration and approval to adopt the   finding finding of necessity study uh results  from G Consultants that will enable expansion   of the boundaries of the St Andrews community  redevelopment agency background information is   enclosed in your packet and uh GI I believe  is joining us virtually uh to uh briefly go   over this presentation and answer any questions um  that uh that the board may have uh following that   staff will make its recommendation so I see Miss  Smith on here from uh G Consultants uh hi laara uh   we want to go and test your sound out oh we can't  hear you I don't know if that's on your end or our end nope I don't know if that's us Jerome she's talking cannot hear you no ma'am I we  see you perfectly crystal clear but we   no audio so let's see here he's back there working it oh oh can you keep talking Laura sorry NOP  still can't hear you are you sure you have  

the right mic selected on your end okay give him  one more second he's trying one more thing for [Music] all right try again yes can you hear me good  job all right we got you so if you'll just um   uh give your name and the position you have with  GI and then you can go right into the presentation   thank you um I think your staff's going to give  the presentation I'm just really here to answer   questions my name is Laura Smith I'm with GI  Community solutions group I am the director of   our Ed analytics Division and I work closely  with JN Jones so I'm very familiar with your   finding of necessity and I'm here to answer  any questions that you have about the finding   of necessity and the information being shared  with you in your packet unfortunately John is   out on extended medical leave so I'm just kind  of back stopping for him and helping out where I   can to make sure that everything is still moving  smoothly and that you have all the information   that you need to proceed today thank you so  much Laura so uh board members the staff engag   with GI consultants to explore the possibility of  expanding the St Andrew CR boundaries utilizing   specific criteria outlined with Florida Statutes  if the board does approve the adoption of the   finding of necessity from GI consultants expanding  the new boundaries for the St Andrew community   redevelopment area as attached here too then a  resolution will be considered and adopted by the  

city commission uh at one of the next meetings  attached is a draft of the proposed resolution   which acknowledges the adoption of the finding of  necessity by the CRA board adds the participating   Parcels to the Panama City St Andrew CRA  list of included and participating parcels   and establishes the base year 2025 value for the  determination of the tax increment fund Revenue   if approved the resolution will be presented for  approval and adoption by the city commission at   the March 11th 2025 regular commission meeting  um I will state that I I had a question someone   asked me after uh seeing this on the agenda  uh uh board members and uh and Miss Smith   was uh if we wanted to make an additional small  tweak to it um what would that entail uh the ask   was kind of in that in that top right corner uh of  the new boundary uh kind of going maybe up to 19th   Street and and an over East to baloa uh to bring  in some areas there that um I think you know there   might be some opportunities to encourage um you  know some of the blight and abandoned warehouseing   development for over that so um I don't know  what what that policy or not policy but what   that process would be but that was something  that was asked of me earlier today by one of   the community leaders so uh board members any  questions um in addition to that one uh for Miss Smith I mean I would just Echo that conversation  should there be further map adoptions what would   we what would it entail to do that Miss Smith so  we would need to make some edits to the finding   of necess we would need to explore those  areas document them um so it would be a   substantial change to your finding of necessity so  normally we would try to establish the boundaries   as accurately as possible before we begin the  analysis um in this situation we we've completed  

the analysis so we would need to then go back in  add those parcels and refine that map make sure   that those other Parcels in that additional area  also satisfy the conditions under Florida statute   for preponderance of Slum and blight occurring  within those areas so essentially we would be   tweaking the entirety of the study to make sure  that we're encompassing all of the areas but also   to make sure that there is substantial evidence  of preponderance of Slum and blight in those   areas and compliance with chapter 163 part three  so I do want to caution to be very sure before   you move forward with doing that it will be a  delay so we'll be taking a step back and then   re-evaluating that additional area remapping then  updating your finding of necessity you've already   notified your taxing authorities with the maps  that you have to my knowledge or at least you're   in the process of doing that that would need to  be done again showing these new areas so it would   require um you know and essentially starting this  process this adoption side of things over again   Ren notifying and then putting that information  back out but as well we would need to do our part   which is to revise the maps revise the parcel list  go back through and look at all of the character   istics of those additional parcels and make  sure that they satisfy chapter 163 of Florida   statute then publish you an updated finding of  necessity and then you would move forward with   notification again to your taxing authorities  and going forward for all of your advertisements   for adoption so we have not notified just for  the board members uh awareness and yours Miss   Smith we have not notified the taxing Authority  yet that would happen after the adoption of the   resolution by the city commission at the  March 11th meeting uh and so um when you   substantial I mean I mean are we talking about  adding a month or two and or are we talking about   adding four to six plus months what what would  it estimate be if it's it's a small area we're   talking about it would it would probably be an  additional two months um just because we need to  

go back into that process we're also in the middle  currently of of updating all of your plans for all   of the districts within Panama City's CRA so we're  actually in that process now um that would also   put that process on hold while we continue  refining the St Andrews finding of necessity   to make sure that we're encompassing all of those  Parcels correctly so it would delay the finding of   necessity by probably about eight weeks but it's  also going to delay your plan update for all of   the districts um consistently as well because  we'll have to wait to proceed there until we   have the St Andrews area resolved so what if  we what if the board went ahead and approved   this and then approved the resolution at the and  their roles as uh commission members and then we   came back to make another small adjustment would  that too be an entire new process or because that   would be a brand new finding of necessity okay  all right anytime you change the boundaries of   your Redevelopment areas it requires you to do  a finding of necessity unless it's a scrivener's   error and it's been deemed that it was just an  error in the legal description or something like   that that's really the only way that you bypass  having to go back through finding of necessity   to change your rri boundaries y so um for I guess  maybe the the benefit of the board specifically   board member Lucas and board member Granger that's  right on the edge of theirs is um this could   potentially bring in the old uh Clear Channel um  uh that's facility right there at the corner of   19th and lizenby and depending on how far east  we went it could potentially bring in uh Delwood   Estates are familiar with some of the challenges  that they have there so that was kind of uh the   the one two question that I got uh today from  two different Community leaders so Laura would   it make more sense to look at establishing  an additional area like separately from

this so we could create a separate District  creating essentially a fifth Redevelopment   area it would still require the same level  of effort we'd still be doing a finding of   necessity to prove that there's adequate  evidence of a preponderance of Slum and   blight compliant with Florida statute  then you would be updating your plan   again to incorporate that new District into  your plan so um your best bet if you are sure   you want to think that you want to go forward  with adding those areas would probably be to   put the current finding of necessity on hold um  just to build on that efficiency and go ahead   and add these areas in let us study those areas  make sure that they're compliant and consistent   and then update your finding of necessity and  go back through this process which is you know   a couple of months of delay but it's not going to  put you back you know a year or put you back in   this same position a year from now or six months  from now trying to create a new district and it   allows us then to make sure that your plan is  updated reflecting all four of your districts   in their expand in including the St Andrews  expanded size um and so that would put them   all back into your current Plan update that we'll  be doing once that we get the St Andrews expansion resolved I would advise us to just adopt as  is today and then then if we want to explore   other areas we either look at creating a new  District or starting a new process under a new   timeline so that it doesn't hinder um the plans  and everything else like that understood board   member is that a uh motion then to recommend the  adoption of the expanded boundary set forth in   the St Andrew finding necessity study and approval  of the draft resolution to be taken to the either   the February 25th 2025 City commission meeting or  the March 11th 2025 City Commission meeting that   is motion is there a second second all right we  have a motion and a second is there any further

discussion all right um Miss Sor please call the  role board member grer yes board member Street yes   board member hus yes board member Lucas yes motion  passes all right yes all right thank you so much   for uh being available and uh and answering  our questions and uh we hope you have a great   evening thank you all so much I hope you  have a good evening and we look forward   to moving forward with you all y all right  thank you yep all right uh item number nine   is discussion of the memorandum regarding  the incremental development uh Alliance   program as background information at the  January 27th 2025 SI board meeting board   member Lucas requested that CRA staff research the  incremental development Alliance or inev program   this memorandum summarizes the findings and  discussions with inev Representatives including   an overview of the training opportunities they  offer inkd provides education and mentorship for   aspiring smallscale developers and City officials  as well as continuing education and networking   opportunities additionally this memorandum  outlines the associated cost and a proposed   timeline for program implementation uh staff has  provided the enclosed information as requested   by the CRA board and is available to address  any questions during the board's discussion   and consideration uh of the inev program board  members well thank you uh uh staff for getting   this information uh together for us um I am  uh delighted that we are able to entertain   this tonight um is there a further we've got a  information in our packet is that will that be   presented or are we just discussing based on  information that we have um we can we can do  

either we can kind of talk through the different  program offerings um there's there's basically um   you know uh there's it's pretty involved uh I'm  happy to defer to staff if they want to kind of   touch on some of the highlights um the memo is  uh is in your packet uh I mean we have the we   kind of have an introduction that they're able  to do um you know 1.5 hours it's just kind of   an introduction to the ink Dev lecture uh there's  also the small scale development Workshop uh which   is a full day uh then there's a small developer  boot camp which is over five to six weeks one   time per week 3 hours each and uh expenses uh  can range anywhere from $4,000 uh to $775,000   uh plus uh travel um the inkd has you know had  conversations with staff and and looked at the   city and our our CRA uh districts and they  recommend both the lecture and workshop as   a as minimum options for their training program  if participation warrants they suggest adding the   boot camp uh in addition to their core training  offerings they provide the following continuing   education and networking opportunities as well as  a membership program there's the monthly Meetup   cohort uh step which is the smallscale time  enhanced entrepreneurial purposeful seminar uh   small develop uh developer seminar uh timeline uh  implementation um from the time that we give them   the go-ahead uh they can begin in about 60 days  uh from contract execution um initial Outreach   and recruitment lecture is kind of month 1 through  two small scale development Workshop months three   and four and then boot camp enrollment training  months 5 through 7 so next steps to move forward   we'd want to identify local partners and funding  sources to assist with program fees or provide   grants or participant fees consider creating a  host committee for support Outreach and event   Logistics confirm training dates and secure  necessary venues and then begin marketing   efforts to attract participants so um you know  if we would like to uh you know they can um  

do a zoom meeting with the CRA board and staff  members if if we want not necessarily this   evening I don't believe uh but you know over  the next couple of weeks if uh if if one or   two you would like to have a meeting to ask more  questions uh and get down in the weeds a little   bit more so that's an overview of what they've  offered uh board member thank you I support uh   this bringing this education to our community  um as we've uh discussed with the do coal plan   uh making the uh opportunities for development uh  more accessible uh mixed use and so forth uh one   of the concerns I I often hear uh particularly  in War I is the need for uh development there   and there are many people who own uh property  uh but don't necessarily know the processes   for development and uh I find that that may be  true throughout the city as well so this gives   us uh the opportunity to make this uh available to  make information available uh to uh every one in   the city and to Spur even more uh development  of the uh of the properties in our um in our Wards so with that I would um move that we take  the recommendation to uh do the the lecture and   the second small uh scale development workshop  and uh identify the local partners and funding   sources and uh a host committee um for this uh for  this Venture um I think that we do have the funds   available to do that in the uh CRA and uh were we  to do uh more or if the community would want more   certainly uh after having the experiences they'  know more about uh what this process involves   thank you board member Lucas so just for clarity  uh for the small scale development Workshop would  

you prefer the virtual cost or the inperson cost  virtual okay I think we have um local assistance   with our staff and local uh folk who have been  through the process that could be uh in the   room uh and then operating virtually with the  um incremental development Alliance or IEP as   you called them right so we have a motion for uh  program offering number one introduction to the   acral development uh lecture and then uh program  number two small scale development Workshop uh   for a full day which uh would include the virtual  option is there a second to this motion and would   this just be INB for Downtown North to start off  with just for downtown north um unless others   would like start with it there I I would just  like to add one thing if that's okay Janice is   is can we also ask if sear and specifically Bay  Builders um Association would also co-sponsor the   event to cover some of the cost I think both  of those two entities would be ideal partners   I think my care concern would be the the  participation cost so if y'all feel that way   I think that um it'd be if we could partner with  somebody to kind of Maybe cover those costs it   would lower the participant cost yeah I mean they  can still have a cost but just lower it um but   also it'll be in downtown that is the participant  cost additional yes yes and it's a requirement   that they have yes okay um I think it's to  encourage the Buy in yeah which that's why I think   you should pay something I mean uh but I didn't  know if maybe there was you I it's not terrible   it's not the worst thing I've ever seen but what  what your purpose of driving this for is in that   and particularly in war two um what's great about  it being in war two is it's open there and that's   what you're starting with but it doesn't mean  that participants from downtown or St Andrews or   whatever so I definitely say we start with uh with  one my only thing would be concerned about virtual  

versus in person cuz I'm one of those people that  like to touch field and you do all that but it's   probably very successful you just like that and if  it's if we think we need another one and it's not   or we have a lot of participation we can go from  that feedback well we've got a great it division   that I think can can make a virtual option so  what's the motion then so the U well I think um   commissioner sorry commissioner uh board member  um Street were you seconding the motion with that   tweet to reach out to sear and and I don't think  that has to be a part of the motion but I do think   anyway I think so because the motion does include  identifi local partners and funding sources yes   all right so we have a motion in a second just  to clarify it's uh program offering number one   introduction to the incremental development  lecture which would be $4,000 that is free uh   to attendees and then also program option number  two the small scale development Workshop one day   uh the virtual option uh which is $115,000 and  then participation uh ticket fees are anywhere   from 150 to 190 so uh that is the motion  and the second is there any disc question or   deliberation on that so the the motion has the  the workshop being virtual correct yes at the 15,000 are you looking at the top of page  to board member grer y yeah I'm I'm are   you thinking the inperson would be worth the  additional money yeah I I I do I would support   that if the rest of the board would would wish  for it to be in person I would support that   I I also have been to many virtual courses and  uh they're hard to watch sometimes they are hard   to watch sometimes eight hours hours yeah it's  much better in person so I'll amend my motion   um would you accept the uh amending second all  right you'll second the second yes I'll second   the second so the motion has been amended and  accepted to uh go with program offering number one  

the introduction to the incremental development  Alliance lecture for 1.5 hours at $4,000 and then   the small scale development workshop for one day  8 hours and the in-person uh expense of 25,000   plus travel participant uh ticket fees will be  150 to 190 is there any further discussion or   deliberation all right Miss Sor please call the  role board member helas yes board member Lucas   yes board member Granger board member Street  motion passes thank you uh item number 10 is   uh a recommendation of adjustment to the CRA  board meeting dates for the month of March 2020   approval is requested to have the CRA board  consider canceling the March 18th 2025 regular   scheduled meeting relevant background information  is enclosed in your packet uh staff uh seeks board   consideration to cancel the March 18th 2025  CRA board meeting at this evening's meeting   and would entertain a motion to do so I'll  move a motion to approve second second is   there any discussion Miss s please call thisas yes  board member Lucas yes board member Granger yes   member Street motion passes anything else  from the board uh for the good of the order   motion weour second oh I really like to stay  here as long as possible I'm just kidding um   yeah I'll second to Motion in a second please  call the role storn board member hus yes board   member Lucas yes board member Granger yes board  member Street yes motion passes Mo meeting is adjourned you