New Bradenton planner says affordable housing a 'must' within the city

BRADENTON -- Bradenton's new Planning and Community Development Director Catherine Hartley has had a little more than a month to settle into her new job. She has immediately identified a lack of affordable housing in the area as a major obstacle to the city's future growth.

"We can't ignore the housing problem we have here," said Hartley. "I was here maybe two weeks and got a call from the chamber and Manatee County wanting me to be involved in their millennial project, but it's not just millennials. I had a hard time finding affordable housing here, too. It's absolutely something we need to tackle."

Hartley said it can be achieved.

"We'll work with the county to come up with different ways," she said. "The city's form base codes have done a good job in select areas of the city to lift certain restrictions, but we need to look outside those areas."

Hartley made city officials who hired her appear genius-like when she won the 2015 Planner of the Year Award from the American Planning Association Florida Chapter-Suncoast, just a couple of weeks after joining the city staff. Working for the Hillsborough County zoning department at the time, Hartley, "along with a handful of others," she noted, did a special project in the Tampa Heights area to bring attention to the area, which proved successful.

Hartley is the daughter of a Vietnam Navy veteran who served in combat search and rescue. She spent some of her childhood in San Diego and then most of her school years in Florida. It was while she was in high school that she attended a YMCA program that taught students how to write ordinances that the students would try to debate and get passed at city council meetings.

"I'm such a nerd," she said with a laugh. "I wrote a zoning ordinance and that's how I got interested in what I do. I worked for the state of Florida in my final year of graduate school at Florida State and after that got a great job with Fernandina Beach where I got about 10 years of experience in two years."

Hartley went into the private sector before taking a job at St. Pete Beach where she remained before taking on her new position with Bradenton. She faces some big challenges that have gone unresolved for years, including redevelopment of the 14th Street West corridor and the stagnant Ninth Street West entertainment district.

"Both of those will depend on heads and beds and that goes back to affordable housing," said Hartley. "You've got to get a population living someplace to get commercial going. I can't stress enough the need for more housing and commercial will follow."

Bradenton's not in a great position to build out in large areas, but the potential to fill vacant buildings and conduct more infill projects is there. Hartley said the problem with infill projects is finding the financial investors. She said small property owners have a lot of potential for their properties if they know what to do with them. She said there is a small developer boot camp program for these types of property owners and teaches "you how to get financing and how to meet code." She plans to implement a local program by this summer.

In the meantime, Hartley is pushing forward an update of the city's codes, noting, "They need to be reorganized, more user friendly and it shouldn't be an arduous project for someone coming in for a permit."

Carl Callahan, city administrator hired Hartley. Upon introducing her to the city council last month, Callahan said, "She brings experience and will do a lot of good for the city."

Mark Young, Herald urban affairs reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7041 or follow him on Twitter@urbanmark2014.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 3:04 PM with the headline "New Bradenton planner says affordable housing a 'must' within the city ."