Daytona redevelopment board backs request to increase city reimbursement for Riverfront Esplanade capital costs

The Daytona Downtown Redevelopment Board voted to forward a request to the Daytona Beach City Commission asking the commission to consider increasing the city's annual capital reimbursement to the Brown Riverfront Esplanade Foundation.

The board's endorsement followed a presentation by Joe Yarbrough, manager of the Riverfront Esplanade, who described rising operating costs, private capital investment in downtown parcels and visitor use of the park. Yarbrough asked the board for an endorsement to send to the Daytona Beach City Commission; he did not ask the board to set a specific appropriation amount.

Yarbrough told the board the existing agreement channels an annual appropriation of $800,000 through the redevelopment district to a fund that ultimately reimburses capital expenditures for the Esplanade. He said Brown and Brown, the insurance company that led private construction and capital investment in the park, then signs the check back and those funds are used for operations. "Our operational revenue…