Fort Walton Beach residents invited to share input on downtown redevelopment at new CRA forums set to take place each month
Fort Walton Beach, Florida – Fort Walton Beach residents will soon have an additional opportunity every month to talk directly with municipal authorities about the future of their community. Starting on July 16, 2025, the city will hold regular meetings to get feedback from residents on the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) projects. The Growth Management offices at City Hall, 105 Miracle Strip Parkway SW, will host these sessions on the third Wednesday of every month from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The new forum is meant to give locals a place to talk about their thoughts, ask questions, and get updates on both current and future CRA projects. City officials claim that this monthly meeting is meant to promote openness, get people involved in their community, and help the CRA make investments that are in accordance with what the community needs and wants.
The Fort Walton Beach CRA is a special district that works to bring new life to the city’s downtown area. The CRA district covers about 607 acres, which represents about 12 percent of the city. It goes from downtown up Eglin Parkway to Hughes Street and then west along U.S. Highway 98 to Wright Parkway.
The CRA was set up by the city to fight blight and encourage economic growth. It sends some of the tax money it collects in the district back into projects that make the area better. These include fixing up public parks, making the region safer, preserving old structures, and improving the infrastructure to make the downtown area livelier and easier to get to.
Some of the most important things that the CRA has helped with so far are fixing up the historic Gulfview Center, painting a mural at the Fort Walton Beach Public Library, making Sound Park and Chester Pruitt Park better, and renting out more public parking spaces to help downtown activity. The CRA has also helped pay for community policing programs and given matching grants for property improvements including getting rid of asbestos and fixing up the outside of buildings.
The monthly input meetings will provide people in the community a chance to learn more about these initiatives and push for future ones that fit with what the area wants. The CRA’s Board of Directors is made up of all seven members of the Fort Walton Beach City Council. This means that the people who make decisions about the agency’s direction will hear residents’ views directly.
City officials hope that this new program will help the CRA interact with the people it serves better, creating a sense of shared responsibility in making Fort Walton Beach a better place to live.
