Mayor's master plan

PINECREST GOVERNMENT | GROWTH MANAGEMENT

Matzner to address the village’s drainage, water and sewage issues

By Ani Martinez | [email protected]

During the next few years in office, Pinecrest Mayor Gary C. Matzner hopes to maintain a community feel while focusing on the creation of an engineering master plan for the village.

“At the 10th anniversary celebration, I felt what it really symbolizes to be part of Pinecrest,” Matzner said of the village, which was incorporated on March 12, 1996. “Incorporation really brings a sense of community.”

Matzner, who was one of the co-founders of Pinecrest, was elected the village’s second mayor in November 2004. He succeeded Evelyn Greer, who retired due to term limits and is now a School Board member.

Matzner said most residents complain about flooding problems during severe storms, which is why a master engineering plan is in the works.

“Water is number one,” he said. “We want to put a backbone down the main streets that don’t have it. That’s my main focus now.”

Besides implementing the village’s comprehensive development master plan, Matzner will also have water and sewer facilities installed in new areas.

The master plan is a blueprint for zoning and land development regulations. State law requires municipalities to review their plans every seven years to address changing conditions and state policies and set new goals.

The village’s goals include adding more park land, building a park-and-ride lot, resurfacing the roads, expanding the drinking water system and annexing land.

The mayor’s efforts will also be directed at Pinecrest Gardens, where a 30,000-square-foot library and community center will be built.

“We are reenergizing the village,” Matzner said. “We are getting a library and redoing Bird Bowl as a state-of-the-art theater. We’ll also have an indoor gymnasium.”

The gym would be designed with the library and community center. “We are looking to have financing for that,” he said.

Matzner is proud of the village’s smooth hurricane recovery in 2005, despite the absence of electricity. “We executed our plan really close to perfection,” he said.

Portrait Label

MATZNER

Pull Quote

‘At the 10th anniversary celebration, I felt what it really symbolizes to be part of Pinecrest.’

— GARY C. MATZNER, Pinecrest mayor