Crawfordville, Florida: The Wakulla Board of County Commissioners, On August 4th, directed County staff to work with the Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council on a plan to implement, an already approved, Our Town vision plan for a Downtown Crawfordville in Wakulla County, Florida. The Vision Plan developed by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., one of the country's premier design consulting firms, was a result of numerous public meetings with area businesses, residents and citizens since 2005. The plan defines the look and feel (vision) of Crawfordville as Wakulla County’s Downtown.
“We are excited to work together with County government, area businesses and the citizens of Wakulla County on this project” said John Shuff, President of the Wakulla Chamber of Commerce. “The County’s Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council has gotten involved in this shared vision because of the many opportunities it provides to existing and new businesses and residents to the area”.
Primarily based on existing land use and developable areas, the plan will use existing and planned U.S. 319 improvements and an alternative construction strategy to meet the Chamber “Our Town project” goal. The plan would be managed and funded through a public/ private partnership similar to the Blueprint 2000 plan in Tallahassee. Though much smaller and different in scope, the “Our Town” initiative - as coined by the Chamber, will help provide the necessary management tools to take the politics out of planning and implementation of this major project.
“This approach will provide a step-by-step implementation and funding strategy to carry out this vision”, said John Shuff.
“It has become apparent with the continual resetting of timetables and budgets that neither the state nor the federal government will be able to provide funding for 4-laning Highway 319 without Wakulla County businesses and citizens getting involved”, said Kevin Vaughn, Chairman of the County’s Economic Development Council, an arm of the Chamber, “Without taking this project on ourselves we will not get the additional commercial development into our area that our demographics suggest we need.”, said Vaughn. “The project will expand our choices, thereby supplementing our quality of life, and helping to fund, through sales taxes, resolution of other problems we have throughout the county”.
The vision plan describes a Crawfordville Planning District from East Ivan Road (above Wall Mart) south on U.S. Highway 319 to the Lost Creek Bridge below Crawfordville. A smaller Core Area would capture and transform the Crawfordville parks, recreation, business and government areas into an interconnected, thriving downtown. Crawfordville is the only unincorporated County seat in Florida. A community gateway, improved signage and way-finding, community park improvements, bicycle and pedestrians’ facility improvements, regional storm water facilities and landscaping would coincide with the 4-laning of Highway 319, the major corridor through Crawfordville and Wakulla County. “The vision plan has met with public consensus for its “smart growth” principles and improvements”, said Paul Johnson, local environmental consultant and Past President of the Chamber, “that will aide in making Crawfordville an environmentally and business friendly destination for generations to come”.
The Chamber requested the Board of County Commissioners to allow them to work with staff on a proposed funding and implementation plan to make the downtown Crawfordville vision a reality. The plan would come back to the Board of County Commissioners for approval to move forward, but like Blueprint 2000, funds and implementation would be left to an, as-yet-defined entity, to manage the project. This would allow the leveraging of bonds, further augmented by various matching transportation grants that come available to communities, like Tallahassee, that have design work that is in place and funds to contribute to the project. Although this plan centers on Crawfordville, Wakulla county seat, it will improve the accessibility, shopping and business opportunities of Sopchoppy, Ochlockonee Bay, and Panacea residents on their way to and from Tallahassee, where many of them work.http://www.oysterradio.com e-mail manager@oysterradio.com with comments
No comments:
Post a Comment