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.