Cra News200 8 Volume 4 October

City of Flagler Beach

Issue I V October, November, December 2008

Alice M. Baker Mayor Jane Mealy Chair John Feind Vice-Chair Joy McGrew Commissioner Ron Vath Commissioner Linda Provencher Commissioner Caryn Miller CRA Director CRA Offices located at: 800 South Daytona Avenue Moody-Wickline Center Flagler Beach Phone: 517-2040 Fax: 517-2048

Editor Caryn Miller

A NEW GENERATION OF CHILDREN REVIVE AN OLD SCHOOL Flagler Beach Montessori School Opens Their Doors. The Moody-Wickline Center housed the elementary school many years ago. It has been used by the Flagler County School Board to house the Adult Education classes for many years as well. The community uses the building for special occasions, classes and other activities and will continue to do so. Recently, the opportunity arose to have the building house a new generation of students and the City Commission accepted the Montessori School’s proposal to lease the Grand Room for their school. Doors opened on September 3, 2008 and the sounds of children laughing and carrying on have once again filled the hallway of this wonderful old building. Its history has come full circle as the school continues to provide services to the new generation of children passing through it. Soon you will see a small garden outside that the children will be tending to. Should you have any questions regarding the method of teaching or the school itself, contact the school at 793-9567.

Patiently Teetering for Final Decision The Florida Supreme Court on September 18, 2008 reversed the Strand v. Escambia County case making a decision that supports quality infill development and fights urban sprawl. The withdrawal of the Strand decision placed our CRA in a position that we were in one year ago when we decided to go for all the downtown improvements at once by leveraging the TIF dollars coming into the CRA on an annual basis. This was an exiting week or so for us until the bomb dropped again! On September 29th, just 11 days later, Dr. Strand filed a Motion for Rehearing of the Supreme Court’s decision on September 18th. The effect of this filing is to put the September 18th ruling on hold until the motion for rehearing is disposed of. Therefore, we are back to square one again and have to patiently wait as we teeter on the rollercoaster this case has placed all CRAs in. There is hope that this will be finalized by the end of this calendar year, and it will not affect our plans to move forward with the downtown improvements, it will just continue to take more time than we had hoped for.

Wickline Park Improvements Completed The $200,000 improvements to Wickline Park were completed in July and were made possible through a grant from the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program. While the basketball courts and restrooms were renovated, a new playground and volleyball court were installed. Lighting is now available throughout the park so you can play tennis, volleyball or basket ball at night if you so choose to. In addition, new benches and picnic tables along with grills were installed. The parking lot was re-graded, marked and rejuvenated as well. A lot of the cost to implement these things was reduced dramatically through the use of our own City crews. A big thank you is deserved by them for a job well done.

The Beachside Laundromat Drops Prices The Beachside Laundromat is located at 211 A South Flagler Avenue and they recently have been speaking with their regular customers and wondering why they do not see them as often as they used to. Customers indicated they were also having a hard time making ends meet therefore could not afford to do their laundry there. Well, the owners decided that they needed to help the community cope with the rising costs we are all experiencing, so they dropped their prices from $2.50 per load to $1.75 per load hoping it would help the community . They report that their business has increased and community members are very thankful for the effort to help in this economy. Please visit them when you have a chance and give them your support. They can be reached at 439-WASH (9274)

Tentative Event Schedule

10/3/2008

Fall Celebration & Pumpkin Decorating Contest Pine Wood Derby

11/1/2008 to 1/2/2008

Tommy Tant Memorial , Music, Competitions and much more Blue Grass and 2nd Annual Chili Cook Off/Antique cars cruise in

11/7/2008 12/5/2008 to 12/6/2008 12/31/2008

1/2/2009 (Sept 08 Redo) 2/6/2009

Holiday at the Beach sponsored by the FB Chamber, Flagler Beach Museum and the Rotary Club Flagler Beach “First Night”, Music, Fireworks, and other events 1 pm to 1 am Jazzin’ it Up at Flagler Beach Corvette Cruise In Hollywood at the Beach

A NEW LOOK AND A NEW NAME Grand OPENING!!!!! Finnegan's is now “Finns” and with the new name they are sporting a new look as well. The Mulvena brothers have done the first phase of what will constitute the new and improved corner of SR 100 and A1A. They have spent more than $150,000 in outside renovations, not to mention all the interior changes made as well. The CRA received an application from them for assistance through our Large Development Incentives Grant program and were awarded a $10,000 grant for those improvements. While the CRA has issued grants to property owners during the past few years in an effort to help them spruce up the look of their properties, this is truly the first large redevelopment effort within the CRA. Recently, Ken Aston, the new owner of the shopping center where the Dollar general store is located also applied for assistance as he too changes the look of the shopping center. The CRA Board awarded him a maximum of $10,000 as well and his new signage plan was just approved by the Planning and Architectural Review Board in October. So, he too is moving forward and reshaping our City. It will be interesting to see if other large business/property owners in the CRA will be interested in the next Fiscal Year. For now though, thank you to the Mulvenas and Mr. Aston for helping us achieve the community vision so many worked on so many years ago.

WELCOME!! Sandcastle Music and Arts Center 211 S. 3rd Street Unit Palm Coast Produce 216 S. 8th Street The WZ 819 N A1A Beyond Bliss Day Spa and Hair Design 211 S. 4th Street New York New York 511 N A1A Beachhouse Beanery 202 S Central Ave Sure Insurance 705 N A1A Café Cara Under new ownership Joseph’s Pizza and Bistro 308 S. A1A

SOME BUSINESSES ARE EXPANDING Recent economic downturns have hurt many businesses in our CRA, and that is truly a shame. However, some of them are actually expanding to larger locations and that is really good news!!! Bahama Mama’s located at 208 South Central Avenue is moving to larger location next door to where they are now. Although it has been tough for Emily, the owner of the unique shop, she reports that she is able to move and expand and is looking forward to another year here in Flagler Beach. Recently, Emily received an award from the Commission for all her help and dedication to the First Friday events and the CRA in general. We wish her all the success and look forward to viewing the new treasures she will offer as she fills the larger space. Another business that is moving is Almond Blossom Café. They will be relocating to South 2nd Street soon.

CRA BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE The CRA Board meets before the first Commission meeting of the month at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. This Information is also available on the website at www.cityofflaglerbeach.com