Top Ten Florida Redevelopment Best Practices?
Jeff Burton PhD
Academic Leader & Research Scholar | Expert in Sustainability, Redevelopment, and Public Administration
By Dr. Jeff Burton, Florida Redevelopment Association Past President
Taking a que from David Letterman (Millennials search “Letterman top 10 list” on your phones), this session will cover the top ten best practices for Florida Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs). There are many more, it’s just that these 10 in my opinion, are foundational, and should be considered, prior to any others. You might ask, “what happens if we don’t follow these rules?” That’s a good question. The answer isn’t that the redevelopment police will arrest and haul you away to CRA jail. ?But the Florida Auditor General has been known to audit questionable CRAs activities, and these practices may help you stay out of trouble. There have been 3 of these audits since 2019. [1], [2], [3] When this happens, ignorance is not a defense in the eyes of the law. [4] ?These investigations are long, hard, and usually end with unhappy financial outcomes for the CRA’s governing body. One CRA was even investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation! [5]
PRACTICE 10: If the City or County is already doing it in the rest of the jurisdiction, the CRA probably shouldn’t be!
CRAs should not pay for activities covered by general government operating expenses unrelated to the planning and carrying out of a community redevelopment plan. [6] This means that if the governing body is responsible for paving roads in the entire jurisdiction and then asks the CRA to pave the roads in its redevelopment area, the CRA may be off setting that general fund expense. The same goes for repairing sidewalks or maintaining parks and recreational areas.
You might ask, “what if the activity is in the Redevelopment Plan?” I would argue that, in this case, the statute supersedes the plan and that the governing body should continue to provide the CRA area with the same services it provides in the rest of the jurisdiction. ?Now, if the CRA wishes to intensify [7] and [8] the governing body services above and beyond the norm, that should be encouraged, but an interlocal agreement should be required to account for the added services versus the existing ones, and the activity is required to be in the redevelopment plan.
Also, if the questionable activity is listed in the governing body’s capital improvement plan (CIP), the activity must be removed and the CRA is required to wait 3 years before it can address it. [9] This statutory verbiage was an attempt by the legislature to keep CRAs from becoming “slush funds” for locally elected officials wanting to have the CRA pay for general fund expenses.
PRACTICE 9: Government does not create Increment Revenue, the private sector does!
If I had a dollar for every elected official that argued “all the developer wants is our CRA money!” Normally redevelopment areas are economically distressed and liable [10] and do not have the market gravity to attract private investment. That is one of the reasons that they are “slums” and “blighted”. [11] So, a change in that market dynamic must occur for the private sector to decide to invest there. Usually that change comes in the form of a financial incentive, not a tax rebate! (CRAs do not spend taxes [12]) Smart CRAs use the incremental revenue generated from the developer’s own investment to incentivize the same development. This is “self-funding” and does not come from the existing CRA trust fund dollars.
In fact, except for inflationary increment revenue that normally comes over time from market growth, all the new increment revenue in the CRA trust fund is created by the private sector. These incentive agreements are called public private partnerships or P3s. Without the incentive, the developer might not invest, and the increment revenue would not be created. Also, for every year that the developer does not invest in the CRA, the lost trust fund increment is an opportunity cost to the CRA. Money that might have been collected every year, until the CRA sunsets.
PRACTICE 8: Local government equals lowest bid/CRA equals “above and beyond”.
Do not get caught up in being an elected municipal or county official while on your CRA Board. Remember to be accountable and transparent in your redevelopment dealings but use your CRA as the creative, entrepreneurial machine that it is! The CRA works to lift its redevelopment area out of the blight, making it more attractive to private investment and “public profit”. Managing your CRA with government practices is like using SPAM, when a Porterhouse will work wonders!
A few legislative sessions ago, Chapter 163 Part III was amended to force CRAs to use the same purchasing regulations as their city or county. Florida Statute 163.370 now states “A community redevelopment agency shall procure all commodities and services under the same purchasing processes and requirements that apply to the county or municipality that created the agency.” First, this does not include the selling of land. Second, why not amend the city purchasing policy to allow the flexibility within the redevelopment area in that code.
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There is no “value engineering” in Community Redevelopment!
Value engineering is the formal technique by which contractors may (1) voluntarily suggest methods for performing more economically and share in any resulting savings or (2) be required to establish a program to identify and submit to the government, methods for performing more economically. [13]
Many city councils or commissions consider their Community Redevelopment Agency to be a part of the city. This could not be further from the truth. Yes, CRAs are dependent upon their governing bodies but are completely different. CRAs are a public body corporate and politic. [14] So, what does this have to do with value engineering? Good question.
Government, in general, provides services to the public at the lowest cost. Costs are developed from competitive markets and then “value engineered” to further reduce them. This is a standard operating procedure. CRAs are the opposite. Think about it. First, if a CRA acted like its governing body, why would it be needed! The intention of the CRA is to lift its area up to and possibly above the standards of the rest of the city or county’s jurisdiction. [15] Value engineering is counter intuitive to that CRA intention. In other words, quality over quantity.
PRACTICE 7: Either the Plan runs the money, or the money runs the Plan!
I have run across CRA Redevelopment Plans that were written in 1983 and are still active! How can that Plan be relevant today? This is a sure sign that that Redevelopment Plan has little value to the CRA and is probably never consulted. When that happens, “the money runs the Plan”. This is not how the State intended CRAs to function.
Also, the question has been asked, “where can we find a copy of our redevelopment plan?”. How can the Agency be managed without it! Finally, the Redevelopment Board asks to spend increment on some project or program and staff pulls specific words from the “Existing Conditions” section, or the “Introduction” of an outdated Plan to validate that activity. This type of management leads to mission drift, resource inefficiency and misappropriation, discontinuity of programs and projects, and general disfunction, a true syndemic!
When the Plan runs the money, the mission is the focus of the journey, and the vision is long term. Programs and projects support and synergize each other. Consistency, efficiency, and sustainability are natural outcomes of organizational investment. It is also ethical, which means doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason! Unfortunately, in my opinion, most redevelopment agencies are run by the money, with little regard to the redevelopment plan.
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PRACTICE 6: Politics is the short game and redevelopment is the long.
Let’s face it, the life of an elected official may be short. It may last one political term or many. With this potentially limited lifespan comes a need to deliver quick accomplishments. There is a “what have you done lately for me” mentality. This does not mix well with the redevelopment’s long game. ?Remember, the areas didn’t’ become slums or blighted overnight, and it won’t be redeveloped properly overnight either. To be honest, with the right planning, there is no reason that your CRA cannot play the short and long game at the same time!
When CRAs are politically driven, the redevelopment outcomes are usually easy, quick, and unsustainable. Not that easy, quick, and unsustainable are bad, sometimes, something can be better than nothing. but do you want the best for your city or the mediocre? Also remember that this redevelopment area was designated by your city or county as a blighted or slums, do not shortchange it! (Go back and read Practice 8) The best redevelopment is planned, collaborative, and addresses multiple blight issues in concert. This type of holistic redevelopment tends to be sustainable. Look at your project through an economic, environmental, and social framework. [16]
Redevelopment is not just about paying to build a capital project, but long-term maintenance as well. If your city/county struggles to maintain the existing portfolio of government properties, you can bet they will not take care of an “above and beyond” CRA project to the standards it deserves. Can your project generate revenue to pay for this type of maintenance? This is not to say that your CRA should not build beautiful assets, it’s to say that you should work harder to make them financially sustainable.
Can your project address brownfield remediation, stormwater pretreatment, public art, resiliency, or climate change? These are a few of the environmental issues that can be listed in the redevelopment plan and addressed in a redevelopment project. These types of elements are also tied to grants and great financing. What if your streetscape included bioswales and low impact development (LID) that pretreats stormwater before it enters a natural body of water like a lake, river, gulf, or ocean. Remember to solve multiple economic, environmental, and social problems by layering your investments.
Social benefits can be defined as historic preservation, public art, inclusiveness, gentrification mitigation, or recreation. There are so many opportunities to take that extra step to engage your community in ways that have not been exercised before. I love talking about the Seahorse in Palmetto Florida! ?Is it art? Is it history? Is it environmental? Or is it economic? It’s all the above! That public art tells a story both old and new, it also educates the community on the Manatee River’s ecology, its piazza includes bioswales and storm pavers to catch pollution before entering the Manatee River, and it is a tourist destination that encourages indirect economic spending in the City’s downtown.
PRACTICE 5: CRA “Public Profit” is healthy, legal, and is measurable over the CRA’s lifespan.
So many times, elected officials and city professionals have look at CRAs and proclaimed, “that’s not the way we do that”, “Cities shouldn’t do that”, “our CRA money should be spent on public projects”, or “those private developers always want our money!” ?I have news for you, your CRA is a “public profit” engine! ?Public profit fuels CRA activities, especially those that do not have an economic return on investment. It’s okay to not let your CRA run at full speed! If you do not, it’s like owning a 1967 Corvette Stingray and driving it like a golf cart. I guess you still look good behind the wheel, but you never get anywhere. Remember CRAs are finite, they will sunset! This is a follow up to Practice 9. Public Private Partnerships (P3s) generate public profit, those funds are then used to redevelop sites that the private sector would pass by. Maybe the land needs remediation, or maybe there is a need for more affordable or workforce housing. These are perfect roles for CRAs and P3s.
Why wouldn’t you want your CRA to be profitable, in the end, all the improvements made by that income returns to the taxing authorities that created the Agency in the first place! ?Make sure your CRA staff is trained properly to run your public profit engine legally, efficiently, and professionally. The first place to start is the Florida Redevelopment Association’s Academy!
Finally, the ability to perform a general return-on-investment on your P3s is the best way to guarantee you are making the right profitable decisions. These types of analysis are real and learnable. They help you calculate how much the CRA will profit from a P3 over the agency’s lifespan, how much the CRA will incentive the private partner and the net benefit that the CRA retains.
PRACTICE 4: Let the experts be the experts.
I am a Doctor of Philosophy, I study sustainable redevelopment, but do not ask me to prescribe medication for measles. I also know just enough about engineering and architecture to be dangerous. As elected officials, your job is to set policies and budgets, don’t throw monkey wrenches into your CRA works. If you don’t trust your staff, train them! Get them the help they need to get the job done right. When you find a good professional, hang on to them for dear life. Stop placing roadblocks in front of your redevelopment public profit machine.
Another mantra of mine, is “don’t be the bottle neck, get out of the way!” I can usually tell when I am the barrier that hinders momentum. I will ask myself, “is it me?”, or one of my coworkers will tell me, “Jeff, you’re doing it again!” I also surround myself with smart and talented hard workers that make me look good! I do not want to drive my classic corvette like a golf cart.
PRACTICE 3: “May” plus an action verb is the best redevelopment plan recipe.
Would you build your new home with a set of guidelines or a set of plans? I have written redevelopment plans and read many others. First, your plan should be updated every 7 years to stay relevant. I have worked with plans from the 1980’s, I was in high school in the 1980s! Why 7 years? It’s simple, your plan must comply with your governing body’s comprehensive plan. [17] By state law, that plan must be updated every 7 years. Try and have your CRA plan ready the year after that. ?Second, Understand the difference between plans and guidelines. Some CRA folks will tell you to be as vague as possible in writing your redevelopment plan. Those are guidelines and they sound like this:
1.??????Evaluate the underutilized park and open space within the redevelopment area, or
2.??????Consider the utilization of painted or imprinted crosswalks and consistent streetscaping, or?
3.??????Explore increasing transit connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods.
As a trained economist, I like to have a macro section and a micro to a plan. Macro deals with concepts like housing, transportation, safety, and commerce. These are usually policies. The Micro addresses specific projects within a 7-year period. These could be parks, streetscapes, land purchase and remediation. I like to use the verb “may” and strong verbs to set the plans in place and allow the CRA Board the ability to choose. ?Some sentences that I have used for Macro-Commerce include the following:
The Agency may assist the city:
1.??????Develop rent subsidies.
2.??????Incentivize City historic preservation policies, where applicable.
3.??????Exercise Agency zoning powers to align and incentivize existing land uses with the City Comprehensive Plan.
The “may” at the beginning of the verbiage gives the CRA Board the ability to pick and choose planning targets.
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PRACTICE 2: The law trumps politics every time!
Growing up in a small town, I followed the careers of a many local elections. There was one politician who started as a city councilman, them became Mayor, and then went on the Tallahassee as a House member. When I was elected to the City Council and he was in the Legislature, he told me not to “forget the golden rule”. I was a little surprised by that statement until he said, “whoever has the gold, rules!” It is a crass statement, but only because it’s true. Profit still drives the political bus, but our CRAs can use that profit momentum to guide developers into more sustainable developments. When you incentivize private developers, demand that they meet the requirements in your comprehensive plan. Make them invest in your CRA areas future and applaud them when they do well.
Remember, when the private developer makes a profit on a land sale, that sale goes to the property appraiser, who raises the value of the land. Then that appraisal goes to the tax collector, who collects the taxes. The taxing authorities calculate the increment revenue to the CRA, and the Agency makes more redevelopment increment revenue (not taxes). That profitability should create gravity in your CRA for other developers to invest!
PRACTICE 1: If it’s not in the Plan, you can’t do it!
Jeff Oris, a friend, and colleague engrained this mantra in many CRA professionals’ heads! He helped me climb the CRA ladder by generously sharing his redevelopment knowledge. This is not “best practice”, it’s the law! Without this rule, the other nine cannot work. Simply, if you want to redevelop something in your CRA and it’s not in the plan, then you cannot do it!
Practice 1 is the law, and it will trump politics every time. (Practice 2)
Practice 1 requires that your redevelopment plan is kept relevant and actionable. (Practice 3)
Practice 1 will organically lead to using the best staff and consulting experts to maximize your redevelopment, while identifying and mitigating the “bottle necks”. (Practice 4)
Practice 1 emphasizes specific programs and projects that require more and more increment revenue and economic, environmental, and social profitability measurements. (Practice 5)
Practice 1 mitigates short-term politics by keeping the Agency on target! (Policy 6)
Practice 1 annihilates Practice 7! BOOM!
Practice 1 reminds redevelopers that we have a plan that is separate and distinct from government and encourages us to reach “above and beyond!” (Practice 8)
Practice 1 defines our P3s and reminds us that the Private Sector is our “public profit” partner. (Practice 9)
Practice 1 draws the line between our efforts and those of our governmental creators and also teaches us to partner with them. (Practice 10)
Thanks Jeff Oris!
[4] Paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson
[6] Florida Statute 163.370 (3) (c )
[7] “To become stronger or more extreme: to become more intense to make (something) stronger or more extreme: to make (something) more intense.” ?https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensify
[8] The term “intensify” is used by the Florida Legislature to define Community Policing Innovation in Florida Statute 163.340 (23).
[9] Florida statute 163.370 (b)
[10] Florida Statute 163.335 (1) and (4)
[11] Florida Statute 163.340 (7) and (8)
[12] https://supremecourt.flcourts.gov/content/download/346639/file/02-145_ans2.pdf
[13] acquisition.gov
[14] Florida Statute 163.356
[15] Florida Statute 163.356 (5)
[17] Florida Statute 163.360 (4)
City Planner (Retired)
1 年Love this, Jeff! Must reading for all redevelopment practitioners.