PANAMA CITY — A surge in grant applications has the Panama City Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) reorganizing one district’s process of awarding projects with tax funds.
The CRA will establish one competitive grant cycle for the Downtown CRA district’s remaining fiscal year, which runs through September. Projects will be accepted for consideration until the close of business March 7. After the deadline, CRA board members will review and rank applications to prioritize.
But CRA Director William Whitson said grant decisions ultimately are up to commissioners, although projects with the most visibility from public rights of way and projects that improve the downtown’s appearance likely will warrant priority.
“The things that will assist new businesses and things that will be beneficial to the investment climate would be my suggestion,” Whitson said.
Officials took the new approach to awarding grants in the Downtown CRA district following a recent increase in grant applications, which were surpassing the funds available in the district’s $538,940 budget.
However, evolving to an open competition format is not a negative turn for the district, Whitson said.
“It shows the grant program has sparked a lot of interest in renovating downtown and other CRA areas,” he said. “We’re just hoping we get some good projects to finish what we think has been a strong year.”
