The road will be long and the process is a little foggy right now but it seems that the implementation of a new, independent Boynton Beach CRA Board has begun.

The item was placed on the agenda for the Oct. 6 commission meeting at the request of Commissioner
 Jose Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said the need for an independent board mainly came from the goal of engaging the community in the CRA.

“The CRA is the Community Redevelopment Agency. That is what they do, community redevelopment,” he said. “The more we engage the citizens, the more this adds to the whole of the community.”

The City Commission, consisting of five members, has been also serving as the CRA Board for the past two years. Rodriguez alluded to the possibility of getting local citizens involved in the new board, hence connecting further with the community.

Lisa Bright, CRA executive director, said Rodriguez had a desire to put an independent board into place at the Oct. 6 meeting but was unable to since the board is not an advisory board but a separate legal entity.

This separate entity leaves the Commission and the CRA with a long journey ahead of them to implement a five- or seven-member CRA Board.

Vice Mayor Woodrow Hay suggested the idea of creating a committee to come up with and devise a new application for board members.

The CRA Board had been independent of the Commission until 2007, when it was disbanded. The original independent board was formed in 2000.

“So after nine years, we are back at square one,” Bright said.

The committee to create the new application will consist of Bright, City Manager Kurt Bressner and three others.

Read more about this story in the Oct. 21 issue of the Boynton Forum.

Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.