Downtown Development Begins To Take New Direction

Faced with the challenge of limited funds and the public backlash from a failed incentive deal, Bradenton officials are aiming for a new direction on development in the city.

Representatives from Bradenton's Community Redevelopment Areas met with the City Council on Wednesday to hear its ideas on how the entities can work together more efficiently to achieve common goals.

One overarching theme heard during the workshop was the need for better communication — between the individual CRAs and City Council, between the city and the county, and between government as a whole and the people it serves.

A communication breakdown helped sink a recent offered by the Downtown Development Authority to Ezra Cafe in an attempt to lure the West Bradenton restaurant to relocate downtown. The restaurant owner backed out of the deal after public outcry and confusion over what incentives are available and to whom.

"That leads to all sorts of aspersions being cast on the people that are asking for the money and the people that are making the decisions about who gets the money," Ward 2 Councilwoman Marianne Barnebey said.

The DDA — which oversees the downtown Bradenton and 14th Street CRAs — has sought to clarify its economic incentive programs, but it can't do so until it hires a new executive director. The position has been vacant since in January, and City Council has since flirted with the idea of or combining it with the Central CRA.

Council members gave the DDA a green light Wednesday to resume interviewing applicants for the job, acknowledging the challenges whoever takes the position will face. DDA board chairman Will Robinson said he has several promising candidates waiting for a call back.

One point of emphasis for the incoming director will be smoothing out inefficiences and getting everyone on the same page.

"The expectation is they will work very closely (with) the other CRAs to make sure that we're having common policies, common procedures, common expectations as to how those boards are going to operate," City Clerk Carl Callahan said.

Another conundrum for the CRAs that was discussed Wednesday: What to do with the multitude of local properties they have purchased in recent years whose values plummeted during the real estate crash. Many of the properties that were bought up by the CRAs in the hopes of eliminating neighborhood blight or turning them into something of value for the community are now draining the agencies' budgets.

"When you have a piece of property that exists between a crack house and a gang-bang house, what are you going to do with it other than let it sit?" Callahan said. "You're not going to put something right back in the middle of it."

Ward 4 Councilman Bemis Smith said it may be time to consider selling off some of the properties, even at a loss, and using the cash for new projects that may be more feasible and that fit the CRAs' mission.

Ward 3 Councilman Patrick Roff said he's ready to shift his focus toward the southern end of the 14th Street CRA, which stretches to 26th Avenue West, and the economic opportunities it holds.

"That area is prime for redevelopment," Roff said.

Council members agreed that whatever direction they take, more community involvement and collaboration will be key. To that end, they're taking their May 18 workshop on the road, as council members will also tour the new Harbour Isle at Anna Maria Sound development on Perico Island.

"Maybe we need to get back to that point where if you won't come to us, we'll come to you as best we can," Callahan said.