Florida Senate - 2013 SB 348
By Senator Soto
14-00405-13 2013348__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Urban Infill and Redevelopment
3 Assistance Grant Program; creating s. 163.2524, F.S.;
4 establishing the Urban Infill and Redevelopment
5 Assistance Grant Program; providing a program for
6 grants to counties and municipalities with urban
7 infill and redevelopment areas; authorizing transfer
8 of unused funds between grant categories under the
9 program; requiring the Department of Economic
10 Opportunity to administer the program; requiring the
11 department to adopt rules establishing grant review
12 criteria; amending ss. 163.065, 163.2511, and
13 163.2514, F.S.; conforming cross-references; providing
14 an effective date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Section 163.2524, Florida Statutes, is created
19 to read:
20 163.2524 Grant program.-An Urban Infill and Redevelopment
21 Assistance Grant Program is created for local governments. A
22 local government may allocate grant money to special districts,
23 including community redevelopment agencies, and nonprofit
24 community development organizations to implement projects
25 consistent with an adopted urban infill and redevelopment plan
26 or plan employed in lieu thereof. Thirty percent of the general
27 revenue appropriated for this program shall be available for
28 planning grants to be used by local governments for the
29 development of an urban infill and redevelopment plan, including
30 community participation processes for the plan. Sixty percent of
31 the general revenue appropriated for this program shall be
32 available for fifty/fifty matching grants for implementing urban
33 infill and redevelopment projects that further the objectives
34 set forth in the local government’s adopted urban infill and
35 redevelopment plan or plan employed in lieu thereof. The
36 remaining 10 percent of the revenue must be used for outright
37 grants for implementing projects requiring an expenditure of
38 less than $50,000. If the volume of fundable applications under
39 any of the allocations specified in this section does not fully
40 obligate the amount of the allocation, the Department of
41 Economic Opportunity may transfer the unused balance to the
42 category having the highest dollar value of applications
43 eligible but unfunded. However, in no event may the percentage
44 of dollars allocated to outright grants for implementing
45 projects exceed 20 percent in any given fiscal year. Projects
46 that provide employment opportunities for clients of the
47 Temporary Cash Assistance Program and projects within urban
48 infill and redevelopment areas that include a community
49 redevelopment area, Florida Main Street program, Front Porch
50 Florida Community, sustainable community, enterprise zone,
51 federal enterprise zone, enterprise community, or neighborhood
52 improvement district must be given an elevated priority in the
53 scoring of competing grant applications. The Department of
54 Economic Opportunity shall administer the grant program. The
55 Department of Economic Opportunity shall adopt rules
56 establishing grant review criteria consistent with this section.
57 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
58 163.065, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
59 163.065 Miami River Improvement Act.—
60 (4) PLAN.—The Miami River Commission, working with the City
61 of Miami and Miami-Dade County, shall consider the merits of the
62 following:
63 (a) Development and adoption of an urban infill and
64 redevelopment plan, under ss. 163.2511-163.2524 163.2511
65 163.2520, which participating state and regional agencies shall
66 review for the purposes of determining consistency with
67 applicable law.
68 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 163.2511, Florida
69 Statutes, is amended to read:
70 163.2511 Urban infill and redevelopment.—
71 (1) Sections 163.2511-163.2524 163.2511-163.2520 may be
72 cited as the “Growth Policy Act.”
73 Section 4. Section 163.2514, Florida Statutes, is amended
74 to read:
75 163.2514 Growth Policy Act; definitions.—As used in ss.
76 163.2511-163.2524 163.2511-163.2520, the term:
77 (1) “Local government” means any county or municipality.
78 (2) “Urban infill and redevelopment area” means an area or
79 areas designated by a local government where:
80 (a) Public services such as water and wastewater,
81 transportation, schools, and recreation are already available or
82 are scheduled to be provided in an adopted 5-year schedule of
83 capital improvements;
84 (b) The area, or one or more neighborhoods within the area,
85 suffers from pervasive poverty, unemployment, and general
86 distress as defined by s. 290.0058;
87 (c) The area exhibits a proportion of properties that are
88 substandard, overcrowded, dilapidated, vacant or abandoned, or
89 functionally obsolete which is higher than the average for the
90 local government;
91 (d) More than 50 percent of the area is within 1/4 mile of
92 a transit stop, or a sufficient number of transit stops will be
93 made available concurrent with the designation; and
94 (e) The area includes or is adjacent to community
95 redevelopment areas, brownfields, enterprise zones, or Main
96 Street programs, or has been designated by the state or Federal
97 Government as an urban redevelopment, revitalization, or infill
98 area under empowerment zone, enterprise community, or brownfield
99 showcase community programs or similar programs.
100 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.