Freeport Downtown
Freeport Downtown Development is committed to the ongoing enhancement of the city's central district, improving the quality of life and promoting the entire downtown Freeport community.
About Us
Freeport has for many years had an organization whose responsibility it is to continually improve the viability and appearance of the downtown area.
About ten years ago, the organization at that time was called Greater Downtown Freeport, or GDF. A planning process was undertaken with a planning/consulting firm, which resulted in changing that private, for-profit organization - into a public 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, with the name changed to Freeport Downtown Development Foundation.
At the same time, a downtown master planning document was produced to guide the overall ongoing programs and improvements to the downtown. A TIF district and a Historic District have since been created to assist in the funding and to maintain the historic character of the downtown. FDDF continually monitors and update the master plan, keeping its usefulness as a working document.
We work to help maintain and beautify the streetscape and other downtown amenities.
Our Maintenance and Beautification committee, chaired by Cal Wescott, is charged with cleanliness and having an aesthetically pleasing look to the downtown.
We do not have funds to undertake major infrastructure improvements, but we oversee the planting of flowers, placement of benches and trash containers, and other tasks to try and keep the downtown maintained. Again, many store owners and other volunteers step forward to undertake these tasks for the betterment of the entire downtown.
We work in partnership with the city to prioritize and implement the expenditure of downtown TIF district funds.
As property owners in the TIF district make improvements, the increase in real estate taxes are budgeted by city council to be spent for improvements in the downtown. FDDF gathers the desires and priorities of the downtown business community for expenditure of these funds and presents them to the city for approval and funding.
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