A Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is a dependent taxing district established by the Town and County for the purpose of carrying out redevelopment activities that include reducing or eliminating blight, improving the tax base, and encouraging public and private investments in the CRA area. CRAs are created to assist the Town in pursuing the redevelopment in targeted areas, such as the Riverwalk.

Blight" as it pertains to a Community Redevelopment Agency can be defined to include an area with a substantial number of deteriorating buildings and other unsafe or inadequate facilities and/or conditions. For a more detailed definition of blight, please refer to Section 163.340(8), Florida Statutes, available at the Florida Senate website (www.flsenate.gov/Welcome/index.cfm).

Lakeland has four CRA target areas, or CRA districts. They are Downtown (www.ldda.org) which was established in 1977, Dixieland and Mid Town which were created in 2001 (see maps), and Williams which was created in 2002.

In most cities, the city council members are also the governing board for the redevelopment agency, however, the council and the agency are two separate, distinct legal entities. The agency members hire staff to carry out the day-to-day operations and its redevelopment plans.

A CRA is a company that gathers and sells information on how a consumer pays rent and bills, whether or not the consumer has a criminal or civil court record, or has filed for bankruptcy. For additional information on what a CRA does, see our Glossary of Terms.

This is an agency formed to increase assessed value in a defined area. After formation, the RDA receives taxes on increased assessed value over a beginning assessed value.

Redevelopment activities are outlined in each of the CRA district Redevelopment Plans. The Redevelopment Plan is a document that is approved by both the City and County at the time that the CRA district is created. The Redevelopment Plan outlines the goals and objectives for the district, but more importantly, it outlines programs that allow the goals to be reached.

In July 2003 the Capitola City Council sold the Rispin property to the City of Capitola Redevelopment Agency. The sale of the property to the Redevelopment allows Redevelopment funds to be spent on making the property safe and secure. The City during its 18 plus years of ownership has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars on maintaining the property with limited success. It is hoped that the increased availability of Redevelopment dollars will better keep the property secure and safe.

Communities around the country have realized that responsible brownfield redevelopment can transform environmentally impaired property into productive uses and can bring the following community benefits:

The CRA is designed to be given during a Sunday morning service to maximize the validity and effectiveness of the assessment. Giving the CRA in worship is an efficient way to take a snapshot of your congregation including regular worshipers, those who come less often, and visitors. If your congregation has more than one weekly service, the survey should be given in each.

CRA's position is that they, after taking appropriate steps, can register as a secured creditor against real property (real estate) or personal property (furniture or a vehicle, etc.) of a debtor.

A CRA does not gather or maintain credit information. There are several hundred independently owned CRAs nationwide. Through unique and advanced technology, a CRA allows lenders/creditors the ability to access the credit files from all three national credit bureaus. The information is then merged into one file and the duplicate trades deleted; providing the lender/creditor with one easy-to-read credit report which contains the information from all three bureaus.

A complete copy of the "IT85R2 Health & Welfare Trusts" can be obtained through Tax Free Health's offices.

The redevelopment process provides for a change in the distribution of property tax revenues collected on property within a redevelopment project area. An agency will retain a portion of the tax dollars paid as a result of the increase in property values caused by improvements, reassessments, inflation or property sales.

Redevelopment is a process created by State of California statutes to identify and allow certain public monies to be invested into blighted properties so that those properties can be improved and made productive to the local jurisdiction in which that property resides. Blight is perhaps an unfortunate word chosen and defined by the Sate of California to mean property for which the free market place is unable to develop to its highest and best use.