Water Logged

I’m not sure of how much water we’ve gotten in the last couple of weeks, but friends just east of Rowan report they have recorded over 25″ in the last two weeks.  Most of the city is doing okay, with some isolated street flooding at the usual problem locations.  The storm water improvements the city did over the past few years appear to be working as designed.  The founding fathers of our city picked a relatively high area to lay out the city’s grid back near the turn of the last century.  What we have seen is the equivalent to a very large tropical storm, just without the wind.

Back when Carolyn and I were in college, we took an economics course from a former realtor who, rumor had it, had done quite well selling “well irrigated” Florida land to unsuspecting Yankees, generally sight unseen. What was a bit of a joke in south Florida in the 60’s and 70’s has moved in our direction.

Unfortunately, as the Tampa / St. Petersburg urban sprawl moved north, there was a temptation to “drain the swamp” and sell the resulting property to newcomers.  This is quite apparent in the subdivisions west of US 19. If you fill in tidal flats to make land, that land is not going to drain well.

More recently, developers have converted the ranch land south of us into subdivisions as well.  Mercifully, the developers wanted to distinguish themselves by calling their area “Trinity” instead of New Port Richey.  We get enough bad press for “New Port Richey” stuff that is actually outside of the city as it is.

Some examples:

• Bay News 9 shows a flooded Carrabbas at the 10000 block in New Port Richey… That is unincorporated Pasco County north of Port Richey.
• Bay News 9 reports that Veterans Village is swamped with water Monday morning.  Contrary to the report, this is ALSO not in New Port Richey.
• The rain flooded Walmart Neighborhood Market on Little Road?  Yep, also NOT in the city.

It comes as no surprise that homes with cypress knees in the back yard are prone to flooding.

There is a silver lining to all of this rain.  Believe it or not, this is the perfect time to scout out your next home.  You can safely rule out any of the underwater locations in Trinity unless you actually like using a kayak to get in and out of your home.  We have quite a few homes in the city that would be perfect for you to consider.  They are high, dry, and typically available for less than the soggy places south of us.  Many of them also have the benefit of being within walking distance of our historic downtown once the sun comes out.

On a brighter note, the city council will continue its initial budget review Tuesday evening.  We will sit as the Board of Directors of the Community Redevelopment Agency for a 6pm meeting to review the CRA budget.  There are some nuggets in the proposed budget:

• Funding for a Business Incentive Grant Program
• Continued funding for the New Port Richey Business Incubator
• Increased support for the Greater New Port Richey Main Street Program
• Completion of the Hacienda Rehabilitation
• Completion of a Main Street Landing Agreement
• Revitalization of the Marine District

The incentive programs include:  Commercial property facade grants, business facade grants, commercial leasehold improvement grants, and upper floor residential grants.  This last one would encourage the conversion of upper story spaces downtown back into residential uses like they were early in the city’s history.

Staff is proposing that the city continue its partnership with the Pasco Economic Development Council to operate the New Port Richey Business Incubator.  The PEDC is going through some leadership changes this year and staff is optimistic that we can smooth out some of the rough edges surrounding last year’s opening of the Incubator.

Funding of Greater New Port Richey Main Street has been a bit contentious over the years.  The recent resignation of Greater New Port Richey Main Street, Inc.’s executive director provides an opportunity for the city to re-think its relationship with the organization and the Main Street Program.  There is a proposal on the table to eliminate the grant that went to the organization.  We would use that money and additional funds to hire a city staff member to coordinate Main Street activities and move us beyond just throwing special events.  You can learn how much more there can be to a Main Street program by visiting:  http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/about-main-street/the-approach/

Completion of the Hacienda Rehabilitation, seeing Main Street Landing finally completed, and revitalizing the Marine District (the area around the old Community Hospital) offer an aggressive set of goals for the coming year.

Please note that the CRA meeting will start at 6pm Tuesday night.  This is a change from the originally published 5pm start time.

 

Rob Marlowe, Mayor