The Beachside Redevelopment Committee likely won't make final decisions on its recommendations until February or March.
DAYTONA BEACH — The Beachside Redevelopment Committee will be making decisions Monday on specific recommendations to improve struggling areas of the oceanfront from Granada Boulevard down to Dunlawton Avenue.
The committee, formed in May after a News-Journal series of stories on Daytona's struggling beachside, probably won't make final decisions at their 5:30 p.m. meeting at Daytona Beach City Hall. They will, however, work toward a general outline of their suggestions that will likely be filled in with an action plan and timeline in the weeks ahead.
The 14-member committee of local leaders is shooting to have its final recommendations together by February or March.
County government staff working with the committee put together a 20-page guide committee members will use as a road map to navigate their discussion tonight. The guide includes some ideas committee members discussed during their seven months of meetings.
The guide highlights 13 heavily traveled roadway segments in the beachside study area, and asks committee members if they want any of those thoroughfares to include improvements to landscaping, hardscaping, medians, lighting, crosswalks, signals, undergrounding of utilities as well as enhanced code enforcement, facade grants, enhanced policing, incentives for residential redevelopment and quarterly meetings with neighborhood groups.
The second part of the guide lists some redevelopment projects committee members have discussed. One idea contemplates putting out a request for proposals for a public-private partnership to create a mixed-use development of homes and a convention hotel, parking garage and public space on the Ocean Center's surface parking lot.
Another proposed project involves improvements to the streetscapes of Seabreeze and Oakridge bouelvards. The guide also lists enhanced code enforcement to improve marketability of those corridors and incentives for residential development.
There are also recommendations to increase the code enforcement presence within the beachside core area, coordinate efforts to ensure homestead exemptions are properly awarded and strictly enforced, improve code enforcement processing time to reduce the lag for improvements and prohibit suspension of code enforcement during special events.
Here are more ideas in the guide:
Improve pedestrian safety with crosswalks, lighting and sidewalks.
Increase the law enforcement presence.
Create a mechanism to allow for universal communication among all municipalities.
Create a comprehensive planning board among all cities and the county.
Provide a single point of contact among cities and the county to ensure coordinated redevelopment efforts.
Coordinate code enforcement issues with the property appraiser's homestead compliance activity.
Support property appraiser efforts to change homestead law wording to include "reside there on."
Establish unanimity among local governments in the pursuit of state and federal funds.
Identify the requirements in a state law focused on public private partnerships to solicit redevelopment projects within the designated target areas.
Research opportunities to help the Ocean Center, Peabody and other similar venues become utilized to their fullest ability.
Determine methods to expedite redevelopment of public lands that are viable candidate for public-private projects.
Offer matching grants to encourage property improvements for both residential and commercial areas.
Incentivize those who want to purchase and reside in homes.
Establish a "local heroes" program offering incentives for those in public service such as law enforcement officers, firefighters and teachers to live in beachside homes.
Provide incentives for investors to renovate, redevelop and construct residential and commercial projects.
Establish a transportation system between International Speedway and Seabreeze boulevards to encourage visitors and patronage in core areas.
Reduce the speed limit on Atlantic Avenue to make a safe, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare.