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The $35,000 grant could be used for streetlights, landscaping and an overall plan for the community.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 14, 2001
INVERNESS -- County officials received word Friday afternoon that Old Homosassa will get a $35,000 Waterfronts Florida grant for redevelopment projects.
The money could go toward community improvements such as streetlights, landscaping or signs to help visitors find their way along Homosassa's winding roads.
Some of the money must go toward creating a "waterfront revitalization plan," in which "shareholders" with a stake in Homosassa will chart the course for growth in the former fishing village.
"What it basically does is gives us a unique opportunity for the Old Homosassa community, a planning tool to plan for the future of how we want the Homosassa waterfront area to look 10, 15, 20 years from now," said County Commissioner Gary Bartell, whose district includes Homosassa.
In the coming months, the county will schedule public meetings to bring together the "shareholders" and assemble a waterfront advisory group, which will decide how to spend the grant money and pursue other grants, said Gary Maidhof, the county's director of development services.
That advisory group also could create special development standards for Old Homosassa, such as limiting the types of buildings or businesses that could come in, Bartell said.
"This is not a traditional grant, in which you're given X amount of money and you do a project and it's done," Maidhof said. "This is more of a community recognition and a long-term project, and the money they're provided is more like seed money to get started."
As a Waterfronts Florida community, Homosassa will get special assistance from the state Department of Community Affairs in holding workshops, applying for grants and networking with others who can help with redevelopment efforts, Maidhof said.
"The technical expertise will be welcome and ties in very nicely with the infrastructure improvements in the Homosassa area," Maidhof said, referring to the county's central sewer lines that will replace septic tanks along the river. "I think, for once, we'll actually be able to get ahead of the game."
Ten communities applied for the Waterfronts Florida grant this year; Homosassa is one of three areas that will receive the money.
The $35,000 will come over a two-year period. The county will receive $10,000 in the first year to make a "visible change to the waterfront area," Maidhof said. The county must provide a 20 percent match, either in cash or in-kind services.
The remaining $25,000 will come in the second year to help Homosassa create and implement its "waterfront revitalization plan." The county must provide a 100 percent match in money or services.
The revitalization plan should help preserve Homosassa's character as an old waterfront community so that it grows more like Cedar Key, not Daytona Beach, Maidhof said.
"Unfortunately so much of the Florida coastline has been altered to the point where it is no longer recognized as a coastal community and there's no pattern to it," Maidhof said.
"But Homosassa certainly has the aesthetics, the cultural history and the citizenry to make this a very special program."