City, county clarify issues

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City, county clarify issues

County News

Thursday, 12 August 2010 07:01

By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor
Osceola County and city of Kissimmee officials met Monday evening to clarify positions on several issues, including funding for Lakefront Park improvements and the future of the county-owned Beaumont site.
The joint county-city meeting, held at Kissimmee City Hall, included city and county commissioners, the city and county managers and city and county attorneys. While no final decisions were made, officials agreed to continue discussions on all issues.
Lakefront Park financing help
Mayor Jim Swan asked county commissioners point blank whether there was any interest in the county helping the city finance completion of Lakefront Park, possibly using tourist development tax revenue or some other source of funding.
“We need to find out if you are able to let the city and county managers sit down and figure out some kind of long-term financing,” Swan said.
According to City Manager Mark Durbin, the city is $5 million short of being able to finance all phases of lakefront improvements and is looking for a commitment of $500,000 a year from the county for 10 years. That commitment, Durbin said, would allow the city to keep work going until the project is completed, taking advantage of lower construction and bond financing costs due to the recession.
Durbin also said the city would get the project completed eventually whether the county helped out or not, but could not provide all the financing now because of a drop in sales tax revenue due to the recession.
The rationale for using tourist taxes is that the city hosts a number of events at the park and at the lakefront, including professional fishing tournaments, which generate a significant number of overnight stays in the county and thus tourist tax revenue.
County commissioners generally said using tourist tax revenue for certain improvements at the park would be appropriate but that there isn't much money left in the tourist tax pot – about $7.5 million that isn't committed. In addition, county officials said they are considering spending the $7.5 million as seed money for development of additional amateur sports playing fields.
“The lakefront is an asset of both the city and Osceola County,” County Commission Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. said, adding that he could not support any general fund money going for such improvements. “I’m just not going to burden taxpayers anymore.”
County Commissioner Ken Smith, a former Kissimmee mayor and city commissioner, said he would support use of tourist tax money if it were available.
“It would be an authorized use and I believe the economy will turn around,” Smith said. “The park is an asset to the county; someday we'll have a commuter rail station downtown. I see it as something that would promote tourism.”
Kissimmee Commissioner Jerry Gemskie said once lakefront improvements are completed, the city would be sponsoring more fishing tournaments at the lakefront and also eventually would have airboat tours launching from the area.
“The lakefront will be a destination for people from other states and other countries,” Gemskie said, adding that he envisions development of a restaurant, microbrewery or a small hotel in an area adjacent to the park.
County and city officials agreed to continue talks on the financing issue.
Beaumont site
City Commissioner Cheryl Grieb said both residential and retail development of the 21-acre county-owned Beaumont site could spur further development in downtown Kissimmee.
“We’re missing a huge opportunity for mixed-use there,” Grieb said, adding that employees at the nearby Osceola Regional Medical Center could live there as well as city and county employees – and that they could walk to work.
Development of the Beaumont site, Grieb said, would be key to helping downtown Kissimmee “get its legs” as far as spurring additional development.
“We need more people living closer to downtown to promote downtown businesses,” she said. “Beaumont’s development would change the demographics of the area.”
Commissioner Smith said it would be a mistake for the county to sell the property, which is still home to some county offices.
“You would never be able to replace it for the price we paid for it,” Smith said, adding that the county paid $2 million for the property. “If we intend to stay downtown (county administration), then there may come a day when we are going to need this property.”
Smith said that when residential growth resumes, the county will need to build a new facility for county administrative staff, as the current plan is for the court system to expand into the existing administration building at Courthouse Square.
Hawkins said the county had tentatively decided on a building site adjacent to the current Courthouse Square complex so that the Beaumont site might not be needed.
“It would be good for both Kissimmee and Osceola County if the site were developed,” he said.
Talks on this issue will continue as well.
County parking garage
County officials said no final decision has been made on whether a fee would be charged to park in the county parking garage planned for a site east of the county administrative building.
Charging for parking, city officials said, could mean courthouse employees and visitors would park on downtown city streets instead, which could impact downtown merchants.
Gemskie said the Downtown Business Association is worried about courthouse and administrative building visitors using merchant parking. He also said parking is limited now to three hours and that merchants don’t want parking meters.
The county also is now conducting a traffic study of the downtown area to determine what streets might need to be closed or changed to accommodate traffic flow once the parking garage is built.
New CRAs
County officials tentatively agreed to allow the city to pursue three new community development districts, which requires county permission under state law. New development districts, officials said, would be the only way to fund certain improvements along the Vine Street corridor. Funding generated under such a district eventually also could provide incentives for businesses to locate in the district.
The three districts would encompass the following areas: West Vine Street, from Main Street to Hoagland Boulevard; East Vine Street, from Main Street to the Florida’s Turnpike; and Orange Blossom Trail, from the Orange-Osceola County line to downtown Kissimmee.