Welcome, 2021!
January 29, 2021 at 12:59 p.m.
Welcome, 2021!
The one lesson that stands out was coined by Hollywood years ago in a Jurassic Park film, “life will find a way”. Personally, I was not a fan of the glib quote then, but the writer’s thought has persistently proven to be valid. Life does tend to work things out long term, with or without our help, probably because it must.
Downtown Englewood examples would include, the Old Englewood Village Association (OEVA), car shows continue despite any official OEVA sponsorship. Without an OEVA funded disk jockey, there is music on Dearborn Street. Without the CRA, the farmers markets and events continue. Despite both County’s partial hibernation, Englewood’s downtown has not only survived, it has prospered.
Of course there are tons of other personal, societal, political and economic factors at play, but the story’s point would be that well intended collective services and promotions, publicly or privately sponsored, may not be the sole guardians of prosperity as believed. The likely reality is that private dollars, taking private risk, for private rewards, is the true benefactor of small communities like ours. Thank you all for your efforts!
Another lesson learned over 2020 was that there will always be things that the community needs public funding and governmental help with. Past examples would include our Community Redevelopment Area Advisory Board (CRA), projects like the fishing and pedestrian piers, sidewalks, parks, plaza’s, parking, street beautification and various capital improvements.
One of those projects, near and dear to OEVA is called the Residential Commercial Transition Overlay District, (RCTOD) which is a zoning overlay that allows defined and limited commercial activities in several blocks of our downtown residential neighborhoods. The zoning was intended to create a Walking Arts District that would enhance and expand the Dearborn Street experience, which not compete with it.
If you are a regular reader of the Review, you might remember that about a year ago, OEVA introduced this topic with the paragraph below.
Purpose and intent, language from Article 7, Special Zoning District; RCTOD. This district is intended to encourage activities such as home-based office, art gallery, artist studio, and bed and breakfast establishments, as well as low-intensity office, professional and institutional uses. The adopted standards are designed to permit and encourage the coordinated development of mixed land uses and activities in a concentrated area to attract both residents and visitors. Internal sidewalks and pathways are encouraged between separate activities or establishments. The mixed-use component will allow office spaces in residences and residential dwellings above or behind shops.
It sounds great, but too few residents, owners, Realtors, artisans, performers, craftsmen know about the exiting protentional that our RCTOD zoning offers, much less where it is located. If you simply search for Englewood RCTOD Map you can find it with ease or type: https://www.scgov.net/Home/ShowDocument?id=33766.
Not long ago the CRA formed a sub-committee to organize and summarize the issues that the community considered important enough to review within the RCTOD. A copy of the committee report can be found on the OEVA website; www.EnglewoodFL.org. The report was written to help the CRA Board understand the zoning issues that seem to conflict with the zoning’s intent.
To promote the RCTOD zoning update and encourage our local CRA to resume its activities, this year OEVA will be hosting monthly Town Hall meetings. They will be held at 380 Old Englewood Road on the third Monday of each month at 3:30 pm. This is the campus of The Open Studio, Englewood’s first multiparcel RCTOD user. Some chairs will be provided, but bring your own if you can.
At the Town Halls, held outside in the edible gardens of The Open Studio, the public will be encouraged to share their ideas and goals for our community. There will be an agenda published for the meetings on the OEVA web site. The format will be flexible and informal so please join us. OEVA’s intent is to meet, greet, listen, and learn. No one intends to restrict your thoughts to three minutes, but Town Halls are not intended to be endless griping platforms either.
This is just one of the projects your OEVA will be undertaking soon. There are many more, some far more exciting, so, stay tuned, visit the web site and please attend the Town Halls because your ideas are just as important as ours.