called the NBEDZ, the investments that are made in North Brevard ripple out throughout the
entire County; the name can be changed, that is fine; but he would humbly submit to the Board
that the City of Titusville would love to be partners and continue the relationship as they look to
grow Brevard County, so that they have economic development to pay firefighters tp work on
infrastructure, and these things go hand-in-hand. He stated while he understands challenges of
the Board looking at budgets, trying to figure out where to cut, how to balance the budget, and
if it is putting the burden on its residents, he is a big fan of just trying to get new revenue; he
thinks that can be done through economic development, and that will come, but it has to be
worked on every day; it is like working out; he does not work out, he just tries to do economic
development; the one day he went to the YMCA, he ended up on the board, and now he raises
money for them; he expressed his appreciation to the Board for what it does for the County and
community; and he pointed out the City is here to be a partner.
Holly Carver commented she has lived in Brevard County for over 35 years, and she has
worked most of her career in nonprofit, government relations, economic development, and
even as a legislative aid to the Commission office, so she has the inside scoop on all of the
ways the Board has to manage money in the budget; she now works as a commercial real
estate broker, and a long with her partner, their mission is to improve the community; they have
tackled a lot of blighted properties in the north end of the County, and brought in new business
and development; and some of those clients have used Zone funding. She went on to say for
the past several years, they have started to see some consistent growth and positive changes;
she agreed with Mr. Gaetjens that they are just starting to get their feet under them; large
companies have opened and relocated, and created thousands of jobs and headquarters, but
for the Zone funding, it would not likely be in North Brevard, so the funding the Board is talking
about possibly transferring would not have even been there if the Zone had not incentivized
those businesses to come in; they have seen blighted properties replaced with new
development; the first project of the Zone was the redevelopment of Miracle City Mall; and
since 1981, many years before that happened, they had tried multiple times to get developers
or someone to invest and redevelop that property, and without that public/private partnership
that would not have happened. She stated that was a huge environmental project; like Mr.
Wright mentioned, that was 32 acres that went directly into the Lagoon with all of the toxins
every time it rained; it now has a stormwater capture system, a mile of underground pipe, 12
baffle boxes, and it went from being about a $4 million property on the tax rolls to now in the
multi-millions on the tax roll that is creating new, future tax revenue coming in; the public/private
partnership, in what she has seen in her career, is that it is an effective machine; new
development, commercial development, increases the value, increases tax revenue, and
improves infrastructure, creates jobs, the need for new housing, crates new revenue, new
impact fees, and it is just a cycle of development in that process; the return is solid; she has
heard all morning that the County has a revenue problem, which is not new; the Zone is a
proven, long-term revenue generator that will continue to multiply tax revenue in the long term,
and will pay for itself many times over; and instead of dismantling that progress and what has
been seen happening in the north end of the County where they live and raise their families.
She asked the Board tp not dissolve the Zone, to come up with another solution, and at least
keep it active in some way so they can create that legacy for going into the future.
Edna Wilson stated she does serve on the Zone board and she is very excited to do that; she
has lived in Titusville her whole life, and she has never lived anywhere else; her daughter
wanted to open an indoor play place, so they looked all over Titusville, everywhere, for a decent
place for little toddlers to come and play; they ended up at Titus Landing because it was the
only decent place that there was; there was no mold going on the walls, it was beautiful, it was
well done, and the day they handed her the keys she thought that this is NBEDZ right here;
now they have four employees that they get to hire; they have people come into their place
play, they spend money at Fire House Sub, the movie theatre, and at Salsa’s; and she just
looks around and says, thanks to former Commissioner Robin Fisher for really charging this,
