Thankfully for us, the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is a current fixture in the day-to-day and long-term operations of the City, but how and when did it come about?
The Delray CRA was established in 1985 by the City Commission to aid in eliminating blight in the City and guide the City in its redevelopment efforts. While that might seem like only two main points for the CRA team, it includes a tremendous amount of effort and vision to help guide the City!
The purpose of the CRA is to revitalize the physical environment and the economy of the Community Redevelopment Area. The CRA’s activities are designed to solve the underlying problems of slum and blighted conditions through planning, redevelopment, historic preservation, economic development and affordable housing so that the tax base can be protected and enhanced by these mutually supportive activities.
The mission of the CRA is to foster and directly assist in the redevelopment of the Community Redevelopment Area, thus improving the attractiveness and quality of life for the benefit of the CRA District and the City of Delray Beach as a whole. To achieve these goals, the CRA collaborates with the community to foster redevelopment, creates a sustainable downtown and encourages economic growth, improves the quality of life for residents and visitors, and grows the City’s local businesses.
The CRA district includes a total of 1.961 acres, approximately 20% of the City, and includes the entire Central Business District; the adjacent neighborhoods east of I-95 between Lake Ida Road and Southwest 10th Street; and much of the area north of downtown, east of Seacrest Boulevard, and along the U.S. 1 corridor to the Boynton Beach city limits.
The CRA contributes to many projects in these subareas and through the District to meet the redevelopment goals. Projects includes street beautification and infrastructure improvements, affordable housing, public transportation and land development.
Funding for these projects comes through tax increment revenues that come from a portion of the annual City and County taxes that are collected in the redevelopment areas. The more the property values increase, the greater the incremental increases that are transferred to the CRA to fund their City-wide purposes. Additional sources of funding come from grants, sale or lease of property, and the issuance of taxable and non-taxable bonds.
In Delray Beach, there are seven members of the governing body of the Community Redevelopment Agency that consists of five members of the City Commission plus two individuals appointed by the City Commission.
These seven individuals work hard to make sure that our City is headed in the right place, and what a job they have on their hands! We encourage you to make your voice heard so you can be part of the improvements and change that you’d like to see in Delray Beach. For more information on some of the team members that make up the Delray Beach CRA, check out profiles in the “Who We Are” Series found on the Stories page on the CRA website.
