Day 206 - State of the City

The Sanford Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sanford invited everyone to a luncheon titled “The State of City”, so naturally I signed up because I want to stay and keep you updated on anything new happening in Sanford.

In no particular order and without going further into detail here are some of my notes taken at the luncheon…

The city is operating on a 90 million budget, biggest percentage is spent on public safety
Imagine Sanford – initiative to let Sanford citizens be part of the decision of future projects and developments. Read the final reports here, it’s very interesting to hear the real voices of Sanford!
Update on Riverwalk Phase 2: Everything is going according to plan. Much progress has been made as you can see when driving along Lake Monroe on 17/92.
Sanford Streetscape on Sanford Avenue is also progressing nicely. The streetscape will draw in a lot of new business and is expected to be completed by August (I SO can’t wait!!)
Ft Mellon Park might soon have an amphitheater! The city is just waiting for a State of Florida grand. Design proposals have been submitted and one was shown. This will be a great venue for events like concerts. I am excited 🙂
Mellonville Property: At Mellonville & 13th there is an open lighted field. The plan is to make it a soccer & football field to fill the need for open space activities and sports.
Lots of development right by East Lake Mary Blvd. Lots of new homes being built there too! The area will also be very close to the new baseball complex of Seminole County and there will be lots of commercial type of development in this area.
The Sanford Airport is shining with great new numbers year to date. 2 million passengers came through the airport in 2013 (that’s an increase of 11% compared to the previous year). Time to get on Allegiant Airs email list for news and specials (and I did)
SunRail Station: mayor Triplett says something huge for tourism is coming soon, in fact something very special and quite unique. He did not offer any more than that though. I am disappointed (not to know right now) but double excited (to know hopefully soon AND to enjoy whatever huge is coming to the area!)
Economic Development Activity: Consolidated Labels is a company that has offered lots of employment in the area and they have completed a 10 million dollar renovation. Earnest Products is another company that has done much for economic development.
The 11 Marina Day slips are a great success, and there is more and more activity of boats coming in and docking for the day to visit beautiful Sanford (this was a 3-4 year project so kudos to the city for getting it done and having the vision!)
Paw Park Village: Judy’s Pet Rescue and Paw Park Place are just 2 of the businesses that came in, there will be more and more animal centered businesses coming soon!
Recreation Department: Celebrate Sanford was a big hit and is planned again for this year. Just as last year, the event will take place one day in historic Goldsboro and one day in historic downtown Sanford.
The Central Florida Zoo had 300,000 people come through in 2013.
Sanford won the Tourism of the Year award of Seminole County and was voted best downtown by Orlando magazine in 2013
The Sanford Citizens Academy just had their third class graduate. As you may remember, I was in the second class which graduated in November 2013.
Commissioner Brenda Carey then talked about the proposed in crease of the sales tax. The date to vote for or against it is May 20, 2014.
Superintendent Walt Griffin then talked about the public schools of Seminole County, the success of a program called “Great Start” and that over $50 million were given out in scholarships to students of Seminole County’s public schools.Seminole County has premier magnet schools with waiting lists. One of the many projects is to expand pre-k programs in order to have at least 2 at each school. The excellent school system of Seminole County is the reason people AND companies move here!!