ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1 .
FOSTERING A POSITIVE ECONOMIC
CLIMATE
Upon being selected as Port St . Lucie City Manager in November 2016 , Russ Blackburn initiated efforts to move the organization toward recognition as a highperforming organization . High among the City Manager ’ s goals is for the City to be proactive in improving its business climate . Mr . Blackburn implemented key organizational changes in 2017 to further that goal .
LAND DEVELOPMENT FUNCTIONAL GROUP
ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER / CITY ENGINEER
UTILITY SYSTEMS & SPECIAL PROJECTS
A cross-functional team of department directors whose departments have a role in the development , review and approval process meets bi-weekly to collaborate , trouble-shoot and identify process improvements and bottlenecks . The Land Development Functional Group – or “ The Cloud ” as staff refers to it -- has significantly broken down silos and increased collaboration and group ownership of the development process and outcomes .
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PLANNING & ZONING
CRA
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PUBLIC WORKS |
BUILDING
BUSINESS NAVIGATOR
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Mr . Blackburn also gained City Council approval and retained a Business Navigator in 2017 . The Business Navigator reports directly to the City Manager and helps facilitate economic development and priority development projects through approved economic incentives , land development entitlement and building permit processes .
As the City works to make it easier and more streamlined to do business here , the City Manager ’ s Office is working to add a personal touch with an open-door policy and strives to be personally accessible to the business community .
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IMPACT FEE CHANGES FOR TARGETED INDUSTRIES
In making the City more attractive for economic development , City staff recommended the Council in 2017 establish an impact fee mitigation program . An impact fee is imposed by a government on new or proposed development to help pay for the costs of providing public services to that development . Staff determined that the imposition of impact fees may place PSL in a non-competitive position with other communities that have chosen not to require growth to pay its fair share of needed capital facilities . The charging of impact fees could hinder the City ’ s efforts to encourage economic development opportunities . In November 2017 , City Council adopted revisions to its impact fee ordinances that created an economic development impact fee mitigation program for Qualified Targeted Industries as determined by the state of Florida ’ s Department of Economic Opportunity . To qualify for the impact fee waiver , an applicant must create at least 10 or more new jobs paying at or above the average wage or invest at least $ 10 million in capital improvements . To read more about the specifics , visit wwww . cityofpsl . com .
CITY OF PORT ST . LUCIE A N N U A L R E P O R T 2017