PSJRA News

North Port St. Joe United in Redevelopment Effort

Last week fifty-some people attended a meeting co-hosted by the Community Empowerment Council (CEC) and the PSJRA to celebrate the unity, enthusiasm, and hope of the North Port St. Joe community toward inclusion in the redevelopment area. The meeting was very capably led by the CEC council coordinator Pastor David Woods. Special guests included Gulf County commissioner Nathan Peters; Amy Rogers, President of the Gulf County NAACP Branch; school board member Billy Quinn; Pastors Shirley and Johnny Jenkins; Pastor Charles Gathers; Jessie Ball duPont senior program officer Rev. Edward King; Local Initiatives Support Corporation executive director, Joni Foster; Chuck Connerly, Ph.D. from FSU Urban Studies; Walter Miller from WIM Associates; EAN International's Ed Nelson; and Art Brown, who was in town at request of the PSJRA to host a seminar on procurement strategies. PSJRA directors Patrick Jones, Erin Searcy, Annie Sue Fields, and chair Troy White were also in attendance.
The PSJRA presented slides to take the audience through the redevelopment process, to discuss what CRA's can and cannot do, and how a CRA is organized. We also presented a detailed timeline, which translates into a several-month-long process. Currently the PSJRA consultant, Land Design Innovations, is putting the finishing touches on the first step, the Finding of Necessity Study Report. This report confirms through data and analysis that the area will qualify for inclusion due to conditions that are spelled out in Florida Statute. The next step is a resolution by the City of Port St. Joe to confirm the findings. At that point, a redevelopment plan (the blueprint for redevelopment over the next four or five years) will be created through public processes and in keeping with the Florida Statute that governs CRA's. Any and all programming and planning is developed only after the adoption of the redevelopment plan.
Pastor Woods stressed the vision already accomplished with the "Friends of North Port St. Joe Strategic Plan," (created with the help of FSU, Dr. Connerly, and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund) and affirmed it as the document that speaks for the entire community.
The attendees asked pointed questions, such as a re-visitation of questions relating to eminent domain. We had the opportunity to reaffirm that redevelopment agencies do not have the power of eminent domain. We also emphasized the importance of the public input and the consensus of the community in planning or implementing plans.
Soon, we will meet with the community to discuss the Finding of Necessity Study as well as the boundaries of the proposed expansion.
Commissioner Peters, Pastor Woods, and Amy Rogers also attended the PSJRA Board of Directors meeting last week. We were pleased with their reaction to the meeting. According to Commissioner Peters, the meeting was "super good," and the people were "pleased with everything." Pastor Woods added, "Thank you. We were very excited over the turnout, the enthusiasm, the community faces and smiles." He indicated the meeting was "right on point" and heading in a "perfect direction."
The PSJRA looks forward to working together with the CEC, the WIG/CAC, the Ministerial Alliance and with every single North Port St. Joe resident and stake-holder in this redevelopment process. Godspeed as the community moves toward its future to "Keep what we have; upgrade it; improve it-we are here to stay!"