- July 12, 2025
A bill that would eliminate all Community Redevelopment Districts by 2045 was passed by the Florida House on Friday, April 25, by a 69-42 vote.
Originally HB 991, the bill was substituted by Senate Bill 110, which was amended a couple days prior by Florida Rep. Mike Giallombardo R-Cape Coral to include the elimination of CRAs. The bill also proposes local governments be barred from beginning any new projects or issuing any new debt within an existing CRA after Oct. 1, unless the project will be completed or the new debt issued matures by the time the CRA sunsets.
If passed, what would that mean for the cities of Ormond Beach and Palm Coast?
"We're still looking at the bill and seeing what gets passed, and what the true meaning of the bill is," Ormond Beach City Planning Director Steven Spraker said. "We do have projects that are in our capital improvement plan that are in process, so we're still waiting to see what the final resolution of the legislation is, and then once they pass it, we'll comply and adjust accordingly."
The CRAs in Ormond and Palm Coast are both due to expire long before the 2045 deadline that could be created by the bill. But, in Palm Coast at least, Chief of Staff Jason DeLorenzo said it could impact some projects that haven't started yet but could benefit from CRA dollars, like the proposed Palm Coast YMCA in Town Center.
"Maybe some CRA dollars could go to that if they're not interrupted by this bill," DeLorenzo said. "It would limit some opportunity, depending on what the final bill looks like."
The City of Ormond Beach has two CRAs: one in the downtown and one in Ormond Crossings.
The Ormond Crossings CRA's scope is limited. It was created in 2004, and amended in 2010 for the sole purpose of financing the construction of the flyover of the main road, Ormond Crossings Boulevard.
"My understanding, historically, is that this CRA was created at a time in which CRAs were under scrutiny for how monies were being spent, and this one was designated to promote a project that would readily facilitate relocation or expansion of target industries, thereby creating jobs, which is one of the primary goals of CRA or TIF districts," Ormond Beach Economic Development Director Brian Rademacher said.
CRAs are funded by Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, which allow local governments to utilize tax revenues above a certain baseline for redevelopment purposes. Those dollars must stay within the CRA; the taxing authority still receives property tax revenues generated below the baseline for its general fund.
The Ormond Crossings CRA will sunset by 2034, or by the completion of the road.
Ormond Beach's downtown CRA is vastly different. It was created in 1985 and later extended in 2016 for another 20 years via an agreement with Volusia County. It spans the area along the Granada Boulevard corridor, from Orchard Street to A1A.
It's purpose? To address blight.
Spraker said the downtown corridor in the early 2000s had empty buildings and wasn't a place frequently visited by residents or visitors.
"I think that's really the key and why this area was created, and a lot of it has to do with this area is not like the rest of the city," he said. "There's smaller lots, there's fragmented ownership. So if you try to apply a standard land development code, nothing would ever work."
Restaurants like The Grind, or the former Lulu's Oceanside Grill would not have been permitted under the city's traditional code. So the CRA was aimed at creating a sense of place, promoting economic development and creating jobs for residents, Spraker said.
The City of Palm Coast only has one CRA, which is the State Road 100 CRA, created in 2004 to encourage redevelopment in that corridor. It encompasses 2,964 acres, located east of Belle Terre Parkway, north of SR 100, south of Royal Palms Parkway and about 0.75 miles east of Interstate 95.
It expires in 2034.
Prior to the creation of the CRA, DeLorenzo said, there was a need to encourage investment and economic development in Palm Coast.
Town Center was a big part of that. But development didn't really start until the 2010s within the CRA. DeLorenzo said the timing of the CRAs creation was bad, because the country faced a recession a few years later.
"That really lost a lot of momentum in the project right there," he said.
In June 2018, the city reevaluated Town Center, which had been infrastructure-ready for several years, but hadn't seen many major projects. That led to the creation of the Innovation Kick Start program, which provided help toward utility impact fees to property owners, developers and business owners to incentivize development in the core area of Town Center.
According to the city's 2023/2024 CRA annual report, residential projects including The Gables, The Haven, The Retreat, Central Landings Apartments and The Palms at Town Center all received incentives.
CRA dollars have helped fund the creation of Central Park, Southern Recreation Center and the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center.
Palm Coast has acquired many properties along the SR 100 corridor in the Midway and Whispering Pines community, which the city's annual report states are antiquated subdivisions with no existing infrastructure except for dirt driveways. The acquisitions were made to reduce blight and aggregate property for future redevelopment.
"I think everyone would agree that you wouldn't want to have small, individual residential lots on State Road 100," DeLorenzo said. "That's not a very good place for them. ... At some point in time, we'll package them together for redevelopment."
If CRAs are eliminated, local governments wouldn't lose any tax revenue — those dollars would just not be dictated to remain within the CRA.
DeLorenzo said it would be interesting to understand why the Legislature feels its necessary to change CRAs now.
"The Legislature has been really focused on taxes this session, with many different ideas on how to lower taxes or provide tax relief ... I'm not sure what they're thinking about this," he said.
CRA dollars, and particularly the master plan, have created the redevelopment of downtown Ormond Beach, Spraker said — through legislation, changes in the land development code, grants and capital projects.
The primary objective of a CRA is economic development in an area that is not seeing investment, Rademacher said.
"By using Tax Increment Financing, it's a vehicle by with which it can reinvest the growth of that area, that district, back into itself, without leaning in or requiring other sources of revenue from the city" Rademacher said. "So it's sort of a self-serving, in a good way, incentive to drive development of a particular area for the purposes that the city of Ormond Beach has for both downtown as well as Ormond Crossings."
The CRA elimination is just a portion of SB 110. Prior to the amendment last week, the bill's scope focused on measures to help develop rural communities, including the creation of an "Office of Rural Prosperity" at the Florida Department of Commerce.
The Senate voted to approve the bill 39-0 on March 19. Because the bill was amended, it will head back to the Senate for a vote.
Local representatives, including former Ormond Beach Mayor and now District 28 Rep. Bill Partington, District 27 Rep. Richard Gentry, District 30 Rep. Chase Tramont, and District 19 Rep. Sam Greco all voted in favor of SB 110. District 29 Rep. Webster Barnaby did not vote.
