Northpinellas: Linchpin in Tarpon revival plan okayed

The County Commission on Tuesday unanimously supported a key aspect of Tarpon Springs' downtown redevelopment plan that would allow the city to reinvest tax dollars to make improvements in the downtown district.

County commissioners voted to allow the city to create a community redevelopment agency throughout downtown and the Alt. U.S. 19 business district. Within the redevelopment district, the city can raise money for improvements to roads and sidewalks, apply for grant money to further improve the region and encourage developers and businesses to come into the area.

City and county officials said a redevelopment agency is important to the revitalization of Tarpon Springs. The overall redevelopment plan would link the city's Main Street -- Tarpon Avenue -- with the Sponge Docks and is designed to make tourism more appealing in the city.

People throughout the county "look at Tarpon Springs as the next best tourist destination," said Calvin Harris, chairman of the Pinellas County Commission.

"It's a very exciting time for Tarpon Springs," Mayor Frank DiDonato said. "I believe that the County Commission . . . understands the importance of Tarpon Springs to Pinellas County."

The city must still get county approval a second time. The city hopes to have the entire plan prepared by Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, said Walter Fufidio, Tarpon Springs' director of planning and zoning.

To institute the tax financing plan under the redevelopment agency, officials first would add up the assessed value of all the property inside the district, which runs from Meres Boulevard to the Anclote River and from a half-block west of Pinellas Avenue (Alt. U.S. 19) to Safford Avenue. In the future, tax revenues generated by that base value would continue to go to the local governments that have collected them.

As the assessed value of property in the 225-acre district grew, the additional property tax revenue generated by the increased value would be directed into a redevelopment fund.

City officials have been quick to point out that this is not a tax increase. Taxes would not go up on properties and structures as they currently exist. As improvements are made throughout the redevelopment district, taxes would go up along with the increased assessed value on the property.

Money would come in slowly at first, officials said, and County Commissioner Bob Stewart suggested that the agency be created for a 30-year span.

"The real benefit of this comes in the years 25 to 30," he said.

County commissioners will decide the duration of the plan at a meeting later this summer.

The redevelopment district is one portion of the city's far-reaching downtown plan, which would be implemented over the next 20 years. The plan calls for landscaping improvements throughout the district, particularly along Pinellas Avenue, which the city wants to make more pedestrian-friendly.

The proposal also includes a hotel along the Anclote River, a parking garage on Pinellas Avenue, the re-creation of the old Central Park at the southeast corner of Tarpon and Pinellas avenues and the creation of attractive entryways at the gateways into the city. The plan also suggests the creation of an art walk, in which artists' work would be on display and artists would work in studios, on Hibiscus Avenue.

The plan relies heavily on investment from the private sector. City officials have said that once the city begins investing in infrastructure improvements, they anticipate that developers and business owners will be more inclined to come into the city.

In order to create the redevelopment district, the city had to label the area "blighted." The area makes up 6 percent of the city's land but produces only 5 percent of the ad valorem taxes in the city, DiDonato pointed out in a recent letter to Harris in which he called the area "an economically under-performing region."

"What makes this finding more troubling is the fact that most downtown areas produce ad valorem taxes in a proportion greater than their size because of the commercial enterprise associated with such areas," DiDonato wrote.

A few residents, including former mayoral candidate Costa Vatikiotis, have expressed skepticism about some portions of the plan. In general, though, people who have attended public meetings about the issue have supported the proposal.

That is in sharp contrast to the reaction last year to Clearwater's redevelopment plan. There, the plan caused wide divisions in the city, and voters soundly rejected it in a referendum.

- Staff writer Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182.

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