TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Greater Frenchtown/Southside Community Redevelopment Area Citizens Advisory Committee held a meeting Monday night, looking at upcoming projects and letting the community weigh in on how they'll be impacted.
"I think a lot of these projects are really going to change the face of your community," said one presenter.
A changing Frenchtown is exciting for some, but discouraging for others.
One major development discussed Monday night: the Airport Gateway project. It's a partnership between the City of Tallahassee, Leon County, and Florida State University.
Millions will be spent creating a network of roads, improving access to FSU's Southwest Campus. As the project has grown, people who live in the area say they're glad they've gotten a say in the changes.
"We had many concerns," said Rahni Spencer Wright, a Southside Citizen's Advisory Committee member. "You all were able to use the information we had already created, which was our neighborhood plan [...] To bring that back up and use that and to make it reflective of the things we wanted already for our community was very important to us."
One big issue for people in Frenchtown has been the future of student housing. A major student housing project right across from the Renaissance Center on Macomb Street was hotly contested in 2017, mostly because of it's size.
"We've got these five story high-rises covering whole blocks and then right across the street you have single family homes. It's encroachment and gentrification at it's best," said Delaitre Hollinger, Frenchtown historian & resident.
While some of the more sizable student housing projects have caused concern, a proposal for a smaller, 10-unit development near Cleveland and Gamble Streets was discussed with little push back at Monday night's meeting. If approved, developer Rhettro Development says construction on the three-story apartments will start this May.
Folks in Frenchtown say they're not against development; they just want to make sure new projects are helping current residents.
"We want to make sure that we aren't paying so much attention to student housing that we miss the opportunity for development of new businesses coming into the area, that we foster entrepreneurship for the neighborhood," said Hollinger.
If approve, funding for the Airport Gateway project would become available in 2020.
