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Redevelopment Plan Approved For ‘Blighted’ Areas Of Cantonment
January 17, 2014
The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to approve the Cantonment Redevelopment Plan — a plan designed to address issues that need major improvement in a distressed area of Cantonment.
Just under 2,000 people live in the Cantonment Redevelopment Area in 533 family households. The median household income is $28,291, far below the Escambia County median income of $43,707. Over half of the homes in the area are worth less than $50,000, and a significant number are in need of some sort of repair.
West of Highway 29, the blighted area is generally bordered by Heaton Road to the south, Nowak Road and Hicks Street to the west and Well Line Road to the north. East of Highway 29, the blighted area is generally bordered by Becks Lake Road, Virecent Road, and Eden Lane. The blighted area does not include all properties on the listed roads. (For a detailed map in pdf format, click here.)
Crime and the perception of crime are major contributing factors to blight in the area. In a five-year data period, total crimes in the Cantonment CRA exceed the crime rate in Escambia County as whole. Residents and business owners in the Cantonment CRA are more likely to experience crime than the county average.
In four out of the five reporting years, citizens and businesses in the Cantonment CRA were twice as likely to be the victim of a burglary that a citizen outside of the CRA.
Through a series of workshops and public participation, seven focus areas needing improvement in the area were identified: Housing, Community Facilities and Services, Health and Safety, Workforce and Jobs.
The CRA will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the plan once it is approved by the Escambia County Commission. The Cantonment Improvement Committee will play a major role in the implementation of this plan, along with other neighborhood groups formed within this area. Other county agencies, such as Code Enforcement, will also be utilized.
The major needs identified in the Cantonment Redevelopment Plan were as follows:
Housing
Because over 50 percent of the homes within the redevelopment area are 45 years or older, there is a great need for housing repair or rehabilitation. Other identifiable needs included affordable mortgages and affordable rental homes and apartments.
The Community Redevelopment Agency will work with the Neighborhood Enterprise Foundation and other groups to assist residential property owners who need housing repairs and or rehabilitation assistance. The CRA will encourage public/private initiatives to make affordable mortgages available.
Community Facilities and Services
Residents of the area identified the need for a community center, job training center, library, adult education center, center for tutoring, a senior citizens center, recreation center and housing center.
The Sidney W. Nelson Community Learning Center (formerly known as old Ransom High School) has been identified by the community to possibly be converted to a community center. The CRA will collaborate with the Escambia County School Board, Community Affairs, and other agencies to determine if this is feasible and/or look at alternatives of building a new facility. Such a community center could be utilized to meet most of the other community facilities needs identified in the plan.
Health and Safety
The top two health and safety issues identified by the community are street lights and health care facilities. Additionally mosquito control and vacant and abandoned homes are important community issues as well as community policing and disaster shelters ranked very closely. Although they are lower priorities, overgrown trees and bushes and noise at the paper mill were also major concerns.
The CRA will work with Gulf Power and other departments to identify locations for street lights. The CRA will also collaborate with Escambia County Health Department, Sacred
Heart, Baptist and West Florida Hospitals and other agencies to provide or build a medical facility that provides 24 hour health care services in the local area.
The use of community policing, neighborhood watch groups and use of other agencies will be encouraged. The CRA staff will work closely with Escambia County Code Enforcement and
International Paper to ensure buffers is in place to reduce and control the paper mill noise.
Workforce and Jobs
Job training opportunities and more local jobs tied as the highest priority in this category. Many participants at the public meetings noted the long drive required to job training centers and areas were most job opportunities are available. Making job opportunities and training available locally will improve the lives of residents in Cantonment. Providing job opportunities for ex-convicts and voluntary pre-kindergarten programs were also identified as needs in the community.
Transportation and Infrastructure
Improving roads and improving drainage and ditches were the two highest priority transportation and infrastructure need identified by the community. Other high priority issues were
improving Muscogee Road, adding sidewalks and bike paths, creating a roadway plan for private roads, traffic calming and adding more bus stops and increasing bus frequency.
Opportunities identified by meeting participants included increasing transit and transport jobs, training and elderly services.
Business Generation
Creating more small business and retail shopping received the highest priority by the community. Improving commercial infrastructure and developing a local farmers market were also needs that could be addressed. The community identified several ideas for improving business generation opportunities: partner with major industries in the Cantonment and Greater Pensacola area to bring jobs to the community as well as reusing the Sidney W. Nelson Community Learning Center as a job training center.
Cultural/Natural Resources and Recreation
In the cultural/natural resources and recreation category, Cantonment citizens identified the greatest needs as a community pool, sports programs and the lack of identified historic buildings. The Community Redevelopment Agency will work to address the needs.
Pictured top: The First Baptist Church of Cantonment. Pictured below: A home at the corner of Booth Avenue and Mintz Lane in the Cantonment CRA. Picture insets: Areas around the Cantonment CRA as seen Thursday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
14 Responses to “Redevelopment Plan Approved For ‘Blighted’ Areas Of Cantonment”
I WORK AT THE MILL ALSO,AND FOR THE PEOPLE THAT DONT LIKE THE SMELL OR THE NOISE,ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO MOVE TO. NOONE IS KEEPING ANY OF YALL HERE,IVE LIVED HERE 52 YEARS AND IT DONT BOTHER ME, ITS HOME AND AS WE SAY IT THAT SMELL IS THE SMELL OF MONEY
I grew up in the Cantonment area, and have now returned to the area.. As far as a house being handed down to me, well I paid for my house and I keep my yard up.
I went to several of the meetings and everything I saw only catered to one group of people. As for all these yards not being keep up, most of that is laziness. My mother lives down the street from me and at 84 years old still keeps her yard looking good. I agree some people need help to maintain, and haven’t had the money to do so, but don’t just hand out money to them, if they are unwilling to do some of the work themselves. I am sick of our government handing out to people, black and white who think someone owes them something. I have worked since I was 15 years old and still maintained my place. Is it perfect NO, but it is clean. I don’t have a lot of money, and I sure don’t waste my money on things I don’t need, and I have severe arthritis and yet it may take me a little while to do the work, but I get it done. I do however agree, that instead of letting prisoners sit on their bottoms, make them get out and clean up these roadways. Let them know there is consequences for doing something wrong. Get back to the old days when if you do the crime, you do the time, and you work it off, not sit around waiting . If they don’t like that then let them move to another state that puts up with their garbage. One of the local churches puts out food once a week, and yet those who need some of it don’t even know about it, and some abuse it. I have seen one family, who I know gets money every month, food stamps and Medicaid, the house they live in doesn’t cost that much a month, so every week they go get food and use their extra money for the man to drink. THAT IS WRONG. What I am saying is help those that need it, and those who don’t DON”T. Investigate before handing out money. Not just let them fill out some paperwork, because some people know how to work the system.
PHEW! I’m moving here… because in Jacksonville if my house looks unsightly I have to pay for it myself. While that may sound extremely callous I have been struggling since the mortgage bubble burst to keep my residence afloat and the mortgage paid on time even when it’s upside-down more than what I made in Iraq in the whole year of 2009. Home ownership requires work; and sometimes costs a lot for the owner, not the taxpayers that already have their own mortgages and roofs, porches, foundations, plumbing, and A/C units to fix…
@ Gene– there are a few businesses in the park. It has been very slow in building up. The location is good– so there is not a good reason for the empty spaces there.
We lived in the village for 30 years, brick homes. Really sad to see it now because we raised our kids there, went to church and the ballfields there, Husband played golf (and still does) there, and he could ride a bike to work because he worked at the paper mill. And please..lay off the mill, it’s the only employer paying decent wages up there! YES, we need real employment and not just tourism. Judy Bense@UWF keeps pushing building motels/restaurants. I think a university president should be supporting something with better wages as maids and waiters dont make much. The people of the villages are going to have to get ouside and talk to their neighbors and watch out for the kids just like we used to.
as a small business owner (Cantonment Barber Shop) on Muscogee Rd., I’m glad to hear this, but will believe it when I see it :/ The COUNTY building next to my business always looks like crap in the front, leaves, trash, cig butts, etc. Prison crews clean it and trim bushes back, but not often enough, so I try to do it myself sometimes, it’s frustrating. Cantonment is a diamond in the rough in my opinion, I truly hope decisions will be made wisely to help all of the great people that live in this community!!!
@ Carolyn
Totally agree. Its not true in all cases, but I have seen run down homes, and junk filled yards, with a ‘tricked-out’ car or very nice Cadillac sitting in the front driveway.
Their money, the little that they earn is spent on other things.
What about the Cantonment football & baseball fields? That would be a great place to start improving the Cantonment area.
I was excited until I looked at the map. It stops short of a lot of homes of people who are working hard to better themselves and would love direction instead of a hand out. Just try getting a job at IP. You can’t even find a phone number. If you didn’t a family member high enough to get you a job, and if you haven’t had that job 20 or more years you don’t stand a chance. The reason there is a “perception of crime” in this area is because this is where the crime is coming from. The neighborhoods surrounding this have things being stolen all the time, and where do you think the items are being found. On the rare occasion they are found they are turning up in this neighborhood. There was a shooting just a few weeks ago. We need more police and support for the police. There are places in these areas they are even afraid to go into.
William, Do you know it the Industrial park (LOL) on HWY 29 just north of Cantonment, that was built many years ago has a single tenant?
I have lived in the cantonment area most all my life. played baseball at the old cantonment park. I like the idea of bettering the area for the good people that live here but no just free handouts. its the same in any area across the county. ROTATE the prison road crew and have them work like the rest of us. think how clean our community would be with round the clock maintenance. I’m just saying I work 10 hours a day. As for the old Ransom get rid of it. its been sitting there empty for what 20 years. For IP MILL have them support the local people ( THEY DO NOT BUY LOCAL) ask most supply houses and they will tell you they contract buy from out of state. come on local officials don’t waste time and money just do a good job!!!
Sounds like a great use of tax payer funds. At first, when reading through, I didnt like it. But if they are going to put assistance for the residents to better themselves through job training and such, Im all for it. The area west of 29, south of the RR tracks is scary, to me. One thing, the paper mill. Even if they put up noise abatement walls (or whatever they will do) that wont stop the stench of the place. But, its a start.
Maybe if the County Commissioners were interested in getting businesses into Escambia County and not just Pensacola (or tourism) there would be more money and less “blighted areas”.
This is what I hate about modern government. Most of these homes have people living in them that pay nothing because they’ve been passed down in the families. The homes are a wreck because the people do enough to get buy and spend their money on other things. So they don’t pay mortgages or homeowner’s insurance. Now they are going to receive extra help and benefits???