PENSACOLA COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Map indicating the Pensacola CRA’s three distinct districts targeted for redevelopment.
Working to Make Pensacola’s Core Urban Areas Thrive
While 2020 was a year of uncertainty in business, and the larger world as a whole, the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) continued to build upon decades of progress in supporting the city’s at-risk core urban neighborhoods. The Pensacola CRA was established by Pensacola City Council in 1984 to battle inner-city blight, enhance public safety, facilitate construction of affordable housing and encourage positive redevelopment. Under Florida law, local governments may establish CRAs to address redevelopment goals in blighted areas. In Pensacola, members of City Council also serve as the Community Redevelopment Agency, with the authority to set development standards, negotiate with property owners and undertake beautification projects, among other duties. Since its creation, the Pensacola CRA has provided a means for the investment of public funds in tandem with private enterprise to carry out its mission. Originally encompassing one Inner City Community Redevelopment Area–– Pensacola’s CRA now includes three defined areas of redevelopment including the Urban Core district and the Eastside and Westside redevelopment districts.
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HOW DOES THE CRA WORK? All of the work of the CRA is guided by a comprehensive master plan— which is the culmination of years of community feedback, public workshops, surveys, meetings, studies of traffic, engineering, habitat, density studies and more. Within the CRA’s Master Plan are individual plans for each Community Redevelopment Area. These plans provide guidelines and strategies for removing physical and economic blight in neighborhoods throughout our community and provide a vision with specified goals and timetables for generating growth and new opportunities, according to Helen Gibson, who serves as CRA administrator. The Community Redevelopment Agency’s staff of three works in collaboration with residents, property owners, businesses, developers and other community organizations to foster redevelopment within the CRA districts, executing the final, approved plans to re-energize and redefine Pensacola’s historically underserved areas and help them reach their full potential. More than thirty-odd years ago, one of the most pressing of these areas was downtown Pensacola—though it would be virtually impossible to fully grasp that fact when walking around
the downtown district today. Evidence of the CRA’s efforts is all around. “There’s been a remarkable transformation when you think of Palafox Street in the early 1980s compared to the beautiful, thriving, walkable downtown that we see now,” CRA Administrator, Helen Gibson said. Gibson is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University. The CRA Master Plan was a driving force behind the rehabilitation, which in turn was key to attracting private investment dollars. The plan envisioned pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, sidewalks, lighting, trees and plants, safety features, pavers, public benches, plazas, fountains and more. And now these same types of improvements are also moving forward on A Street, Reus Street and DeVilliers Street, where it is believed new private interest and investment will follow. WHERE DOES THE FUNDING COME FROM? CRAs are not taxing districts, like some fire or library districts. Instead, CRAs are funded based on the growth in property values within the designated district—a funding system called “tax increment financing” or “TIF.”
