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Fort Lauderdale commissioners signal support to lengthen Central City CRA advisory terms, ask staff to update redevelopment plan
Summary
A former Central City Advisory Board member urged longer advisory terms and a timely update to the CRA redevelopment plan. Commissioners expressed general agreement and asked staff to pursue ordinance changes and a meeting with neighborhood leaders.
Troy Liggett, president of the Middle River Terrace Neighborhood Association, asked the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to lengthen advisory-board terms for the Central City Community Redevelopment Area and to direct the CRA staff to update a redevelopment plan that Liggett said is two years overdue.
Liggett told the commission he has served multiple terms on the Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board (commonly called the CRAB) and said the board’s current rule—one-year appointments limited to three consecutive terms—creates a continual learning curve and turnover that has undercut continuity on long-running projects. He cited the Fourth Avenue streetscape and a prolonged rezoning process as examples of work spanning multiple years and administrations. Liggett also asked to meet with the city manager to discuss what he described as management problems with the CRA.
Vice Mayor John Herbst and several commissioners responded favorably to Liggett’s requests. City staff and the city attorney explained the one-year term limit is contained in the CRA’s establishing ordinance; changing it will require an amendment. Commissioners said they prefer adopting a structure similar to other quasi‑judicial boards—two- or three‑year terms that allow continuity—rather than the current one-year cycle. Several commissioners said they support extending the total possible consecutive service to six years (e.g., two three‑year terms).
Commissioners also asked CRA staff to update the Central City redevelopment plan Liggett flagged, noting the plan still references a commuter rail station that no longer exists. CRA staff told the commission that updating periodic plan reviews and aligning the plan with current conditions is “best practice” and that they would evaluate the requested amendments.
The commission did not adopt a final ordinance at the meeting. Instead, members reached informal consensus to direct staff to prepare options to extend advisory-board terms (the discussion favored two three‑year terms) and to schedule a meeting between neighborhood representatives and the city manager to address the neighborhood association’s management concerns. The city attorney noted the statutory/ordinance language that must be amended is in the CRA’s enabling ordinance and that any change will come back to the commission for formal action.
Why it matters: CRAs typically run multi‑decade redevelopment programs; short consecutive advisory terms can make it hard to retain institutional knowledge needed to carry projects from design through construction. The commissioners’ direction to staff signals a near‑term policy change that would increase continuity on the Central City CRA advisory board and prompt overdue updates to the CRA redevelopment plan.
What’s next: Staff will prepare draft ordinance language and options for term lengths, and CRA staff agreed to begin work on the redevelopment‑plan update. Liggett also asked for a meeting with the city manager; commissioners directed staff to set up that meeting.
