Historic Area CRA

Established on December 11, 2000, by the City of St. Augustine City Commission (Ordinance No. 2000-46), the St. Augustine Historic Area Community Redevelopment Area (HACRA) had a centralized goal of addressing transportation and parking blight.

The conditions and needs of the land parcels incorporated into the HACRA included a poor relationship between the HACRA streets with those of the other parts of the City, inadequate parking facilities, and a transportation network that didn’t have the capacity to accommodate the area’s traffic flow.

The 2024 St. Augustine Historic Area Community Redevelopment Plan amends and restates the 2000 redevelopment plan and continues to address statutory conditions identified in the HACRA by focusing on transportation and parking needs while concentrating on mobility and support of a multimodal transportation system.

Purpose & History

The Historic Area Community Redevelopment Area  (HACRA) and the Redevelopment Trust Fund was established on December 28, 2000 to address parking and transportation blight in the downtown area.

Total acreage for the Historic Area CRA is 216.6 acres.

Goals

The primary goals of the HACRA are to reduce traffic congestion and provide ample parking at strategic locations. By allowing visitors to park in convenient locations and directing traffic accordingly, the HACRA seeks to create a walkable downtown environment that encourages pedestrian and non-motorized movement.

Recommended Activities

Activities recommended in the HACRA plan include:

• Constructing and maintaining a municipal parking garage
• Encouraging bicycle usage
• Enhancing pedestrian areas and streetscapes
• Implementing a heritage tourism signage wayfinding system
• Improving traffic patterns

Governance

The HACRA is governed by the St. Augustine Community Redevelopment Agency and Board consisting of the members of the St. Augustine City Commission. They are enabled by the Community Redevelopment Act (1969) to implement redevelopment activities at the local level.

Legislature

Under Florida Statute (Chapter 163, Part III), local governments can designate targeted areas as Community Redevelopment Areas (CRAs) to address conditions of “slum” and “blight” within that area. To establish a CRA, a formal "Finding of Necessity" (FON) study must be conducted to assess conditions of blight in a proposed area. A technical term defined in the Florida Statutes, "blight" is an area that exhibits signs of physical and economic distress. CRAs are dependent special districts that utilize Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to fund projects undertaken within the district. TIF revenue is generated by the increase of property values within the designated CRA. The St. Augustine CRA is a public agency overseen by a CRA Board consisting of the members of the St. Augustine City Commission, who are enabled by the Community Redevelopment Act (1969) to implement redevelopment activities at the local level.