By ALICIA LEONARD
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS – Representatives from Florida Division of Historical Resources Main Street program as well as the West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC) visited the DeFuniak Springs Economic Development Committee during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting July 14, 2016 with news of revitalization, support, and possible grant funds, to breathe new life into the historic district, and support downtown merchants.
Ronnie Wood, coordinator for the state of Florida Main Street program spoke with the board as well as Mayor Bob Campbell and assorted Council members in attendance. The program he described helps small towns bring business back to their downtown areas using a combination of grants, private funding, volunteers, city funds, and business funding to make the program work.
Wood said many other towns have actually met their goals within a 10-year period of joining the program, and decided to discontinue the free service the state has made available.
Wood showed the board and audience before and after photos of small towns in more southern parts of Florida that had been able to get the right combination to make the program work for them. Streets were renewed, buildings got a face-lift, and more professional and private services had moved into the once-barren areas. Some even boasted living spaces in some buildings as the towns embraced the idea of residents walking or biking to work.
One idea Wood hit upon was bringing city hall back into the the heart of the Historic District in an effort to improve foot traffic to shops and stores.
Campbell estimated that city hall has around 2,600 visitors per month, and Wood said that city hall as the center or “heart” of a downtown area was vital in many of the turnaround cases she had worked on.
Wood added that although the city had no control over the placement, she wasn’t surprised to learn the post office had once been in the downtown area as well.
The program has some requirements but Wood emphasized that those were well covered by the city, such as the need to have historical significance. “These are not available for strip malls or other areas like them,” she added.
Some of the programs Wood and the WFRPC discussed had already closed their application process for the upcoming year but would reopen in 2017 for the 2018 year.
Most of the assistance the WFRPC discussed covered technical assistance and city improvements like sidewalks, or extending services to areas to improve the chances of businesses choosing the area. Most were matching grants, but due to it being a rural area, DeFuniak Springs could have anywhere from a 50-percent to a 10-percent match for some funding.
The St. Joe Foundation was mentioned as having a diversity of grants and funding for certain areas such as the arts or health care.
Both groups left the EDC and Council members with packets and information outlining some possible funding sources or ideas to assistant funding for future projects.
Some discussion centered around the age-old chicken versus egg quandary. In order for the city to have matching funds, they would need to qualify for other grants or funding first before they would be able to match those needed funds without too much strain on the city’s budget.
Being an information-only meeting the EDC took the information under advisement, and seemed eager to get the ball rolling on the possible funding sources that had not already closed out their application deadlines for the near future, or getting ahead of the curve for the next time the grants opened for applications.
The DeFuniak Springs EDC meets once a month at city hall. To see more on meetings and events for the city go to www.defuniaksprings.net.