Good news - things are moving in Palmetto Bay - we are now first in line for recaptured money for County Grant

We were late to the process, yet we are the first municipality to seek a portion of the county’s Building Better Communities Bond Program. Under re-newed leadership as of December 1, the Village of Parks is back to being a unified forward thinking village looking to maximize its opportunities and seek funding through grants. And now, through fast movement, planning that started back in 2004, as well as a great partnership with our District 8 County Commissioner, we are first in line for recovered monies through a grant program aimed at spurring private sector development through public infrastructure improvements.

As reported by Lola Duffort in the Miami Herald in Palmetto Bay in line for county grant to revitalize Franjo Road: Palmetto Bay has been eyeing the Franjo Triangle — the area delineated by Franjo Road, U.S. 1 and Southwest 184 Street — as prime for redevelopment basically since incorporation. A community-wide charette in the village’s early years put Village Hall there, and a downtown redevelopment task force at work since 2013 has been studying the area for infrastructure updates and code rewrites. The hope is to diversify the village’s tax base by revitalizing the village’s depressed commercial corridor along U.S. 1 into a walkable, transit-connected and vibrant mixed-use downtown.

The $7.5 million grant will be money well spent in improvements benefiting all in the area. We will not be reaching into Palmetto Bay tax coffers to fund these stimulus infrastructure improvements.

In Palmetto Bay – it’s about smart-transit oriented growth. Thank you Daniella Levine Cava for your partnering, assistance and sponsorship. Thank you to the entire Board of County Commissioners for the unanimous vote – a strong indicator of the strength of the grant application.