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A new store downtown adds to improvement funds, which the City Council wants used to spruce up shops and landscaping.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2001
INVERNESS -- The $825,000 in renovations slated for this summer will change the face of downtown Inverness by adding brick-lined sidewalks, old-fashioned street lamps and more trees.
But officials do not want to stop there. Tuesday night, the Inverness City Council decided to ask the Inverness Community Redevelopment Agency to develop two grant programs that would help downtown merchants improve the appearance of their shops.
The programs would provide matching funds to merchants who want to renovate their shops' facades or add new signs that are more in keeping with the historic feel of downtown.
"We want to keep a constant momentum as far as downtown improvements are concerned," City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said.
The city also will ask the agency to propose a landscaping plan for the half-acre outdoor storage area, situated between Blondie's and Castaways, where Sprint keeps some vehicles and equipment. The city hopes to split the landscaping costs with Sprint.
The funding for the three projects will come from the downtown Tax Increment Financing district. Every year since the district's 1990 creation, the city has siphoned off a portion of the downtown property taxes and put the money in a TIF fund for downtown enhancements, such as park benches and the inscribed brick program.
Last year, the city raised $14,374, DiGiovanni said.
But the addition of the downtown Walgreens to the property tax rolls will boost the fund to $27,107 this year, he said.
How did one store make such a difference?
For years, the property at the southwest corner of Main Street and S Apopka Avenue was owned by the non-profit Key Training Center, which paid no property taxes. When Walgreens bought the corner and built a store there, the site suddenly appeared as a property worth $595,800 on this year's tax roll.
And as continued improvements to the downtown area increase the property values, the TIF fund will gain even more dollars to enhance the area, DiGiovanni said.
During an interview Wednesday, New Inverness Olde Towne Association president Winston Perry applauded the city for moving toward a joint effort to improve the appearance of the downtown shops, a need that has been discussed for years.
"With the ($825,000) renovation program, they're improving the streets and the area downtown," Perry said. "The merchants should follow that with improvements to their signs and the fronts of their buildings."
In other news, the City Council approved an agreement Tuesday evening allowing M.D. Partnership 2000 to place a telecommunications tower on 2 acres of city property behind the County Road 581 water plant.
The company will pay the city $15,000 in rent for the first year, with rent to increase in following years. During the 25-year agreement, the city expects to net $546,889.
"Seems like a no-brainer," council member John Sullivan said.
DiGiovanni said M.D. Partnership would still need a special conditions use permit from the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment, as well as the approval of the local aviation board, before the tower could be built.