Last week, the City of Kissimmee held two open houses encouraging the public to help shape the future of the Vine Street Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). The open houses were held at the Orange Gardens Community Center and the Osceola County Welcome Center.
“We are in the process of updating our 2012 Vine Street Community Development Agency’s Master Plan,” said CRA manager Samia Singleton. The plan is being updated, “Just to make sure we have a good finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the area, that we’re fulfilling all the needs of the community. We want to make sure that we look at the surrounding environment, the changing environment, what we’ve already done, and how we can build up on these improvements for the next ten years or so.”
The Vine Street CRA was established in 2012 and spans over 1,300 acres along five miles of U.S. Highway 192, where it’s named Vine Street, from the Shingle Creek area east to Valencia College next to NeoCity. The Redevelopment Area extends about a quartermile north and south of that highway.
The city has divided the plan into further neighborhoodbased sub-areas, including Orange Gardens, Gateway, Shingle Creek, Novi, NeoVine, the former K-Mart site and a mixed use/medical area.
“We’re right now in the assessment and evaluation phase of our plan update,” Singleton said. The public’s input is being sought through focus groups, open houses and survey giving the public the opportunity to “provide their input, their feedback, and let us know what they’d like to see in this area.”
The public is being asked to suggest areas of investment, such as housing, hotels or commercial establishments, input as to appearance issues, such as signage, open spaces and landscapes, and public art, and help identify safety concerns such as sidewalks, drainage, intersections, bike lanes and bus shelters. The goal is to have a plan finalized by January or February of 2025.
So far community input “has been fantastic,” Singleton said.
“We have a great steering committee that includes many of the stakeholders of the community. We’ve held a series of focus groups that were very well attended and are pleased by the turnout today at these open houses.” One further public meeting will be scheduled in the near future.
For those who did not attend the open houses, the city is still looking for feedback through a survey which can be taken through Dec. 11 by going to kissimmeee.gov and clicking on the Vine Street Plan Update to find the link to the community survey.
