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The triple loss of major employers and tax sources prompt New Port Richey to get busy finding ways to snap back.
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 11, 2002
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Commercial redevelopment efforts got under way Tuesday night in New Port Richey as council members agreed to study how to market the city for business users.
City Council members voted unanimously to hire Tampa Bay Engineering to conduct the study, which will cost $57,352. It will include a demographic analysis and be complete by June.
The study would help the city react to the loss of North Bay and Community hospitals, as well as All Children's Hospital Specialty Care Clinic, which all plan to leave city limits.
The moves will deplete the city of at least $245,000 in property tax revenues, 1,500 jobs, and leave large swaths of prime real estate vacant.
The council voted as the Community Redevelopment Agency.
Council members also gave city staffers the green light to start building a "demonstration" home on a city-owned lot at 6021 Missouri Ave. The home would cost $80,000 to $90,000 to build, and the city would sell it to recoup construction costs.
The purpose of the project would be to demonstrate to residents and developers what kind of home can be built in the downtown area, said redevelopment director Gerald Paradise.
The city is now having plans designed for three different demonstration home models. Paradise hopes that, eventually, local developers will use these plans to build homes throughout the city.
The program will "hopefully demonstrate to the community and the rest of Pasco that you don't have to go to Longleaf to have neo-urbanism," Paradise said. "You can walk from your front porch to the library here."
-- Jennifer Goldblatt covers the city of New Port Richey. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6229. Her e-mail address is goldblatt@sptimes.com .