Apopka Mayor Nick Nesta.
By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Editor's Note: This is the third and final installment of a three-part series examining Mayor Nick Nesta's first month in office. After discussing culture change in City Hall and upcoming budget reforms, Nesta turns his attention to the future. From public safety facilities and economic development to redevelopment strategies and South Apopka annexation, the mayor outlines how he hopes to position Apopka for continued growth while preserving the quality of life for existing residents.
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After spending his first month learning how City Hall operates and preparing for budget season, Mayor Nick Nesta says the city's biggest challenges still lie ahead. Many of them, he says, center on a single question: how Apopka will manage the growth already underway while preparing for the growth still to come.
Related: Nesta begins reshaping Apopka City Hall.
How should Apopka accommodate new residents? Where should future investment occur? What public infrastructure will be needed five, ten, or twenty years from now? And how can City leaders avoid making decisions today that create bigger problems tomorrow?
“We're focusing a lot on infrastructure,” Nesta said. “What do we need to be prioritizing? What doesn't need to be prioritized right now?”
For Nesta, growth is not simply a development issue. It is a public safety issue. A transportation issue. An economic development issue. And ultimately, a quality-of-life issue. His challenge, he says, is ensuring that the city's infrastructure keeps pace with the development already underway.
“We need to be prioritizing where we need to be and making sure that with the development that's coming in, we're providing the necessary resources to service our current residents and our new ones,” he said.
Few projects better illustrate that challenge than the City's long-discussed public safety complex.
For years, City officials have explored plans to create a shared public safety headquarters for the Apopka Police Department and Apopka Fire Department. The project has evolved through multiple concepts and cost estimates, eventually becoming one of the largest capital projects under consideration by the City.
But Nesta says the project is undergoing renewed scrutiny.
“We need to be prioritizing where we need to be and making sure that with the development that's coming in, we're providing the necessary resources to service our current residents and our new ones."
“When I first saw the plan for the public safety complex, I immediately thought that it was going to be built functionally obsolete on a site that's too small and a building that doesn't work,” he said. I thought that as soon as both of those departments move into it, they're going to be frustrated, and they're going to need more space.”
Today, he believes the city must carefully reevaluate whether a combined facility remains the best option. According to Nesta, both departments are already experiencing significant space constraints.
“Both are busting at the seams, and both need new buildings,” he said.
Rather than continuing with a single facility, the administration is examining alternatives that would allow police and fire operations to grow independently.
“When I first saw the plan for the public safety complex, I immediately thought that it was going to be built functionally obsolete on a site that's too small and a building that doesn't work. I thought that as soon as both of those departments move into it, they're going to be frustrated, and they're going to need more space.”
“What we're doing is taking an aggressive look at stopping that in its tracks,” Nesta said, referring to the current concept. “And really looking at the options to keep them separate, as they should because they run separately, they function separately.”
Related: A budget isn't a spreadsheet, it's a mirror.
The review is already underway.
While public safety represents one side of the growth equation, economic development represents another.
Nesta said the city must take a far more proactive role in recruiting businesses and investment.
“We've got to do economic development a lot more aggressively than what we're doing,” he said.
He believes the city has often approached economic development reactively rather than proactively. Instead of simply responding to opportunities as they arise, he wants the city to take a more strategic role in shaping commercial growth.
“We're trying to redefine what that looks like and what true metrics we want to see moving forward with that,” he said.
Part of that effort could involve expanding resources dedicated to the Economic Development Department.
“I think there needs to be a little more support on the economic development side with additional employees and things of that nature,” Nesta said.
The goal, he said, is not simply to attract businesses but to create a more coordinated strategy that benefits existing businesses, future employers, and residents alike. He also sees a connection between economic development and the city's Community Redevelopment Agency.
“Let's stick to the core of what a CRA is supposed to do,” he said. “It's supposed to improve the property values in the area, the taxable base.”
Rather than focusing on isolated projects, Nesta said he wants to see a more comprehensive approach that encourages investment throughout redevelopment areas.
“Is that synergistic to what's going on in the area?” he asked. “What do we want there? How do we want it there? What's complementary to the residents?”
The emphasis on long-term planning extends beyond commercial development and public infrastructure.
“Let's stick to the core of what a CRA is supposed to do. It's supposed to improve the property values in the area, the taxable base.”
Helping the administration navigate many of these issues is a volunteer transition team that Nesta assembled shortly after taking office. The group consists of roughly ten volunteers who have been meeting with department heads and evaluating operations across the City government. Because of the size and complexity of Apopka's organization, Nesta said the team has provided valuable information during his first month in office.
“It's impossible to properly meet with every department head and get the information I need to be able to make quick decisions,” he said.
The transition team has been tasked with identifying operational challenges, resource needs, and opportunities for improvement. Rather than focusing on personnel issues, Nesta said the team is examining what departments need to become more effective.
“What resources do they need to make their department better?” he said. “What's a quick thing that we could do tomorrow that would make it easy, and what's something that we could put on the five-to-ten-year horizon that could make it incredible?”
The information gathered by the transition team is expected to influence many of the administration's future decisions. And according to Nesta, some of those decisions may become visible soon.
“We've got some big changes coming over the next probably 30 to 60 days that are going to be tangible changes for the residents,” he said.
Nesta declined to discuss several initiatives still under review but suggested at least one announcement could address a frequent source of frustration among residents.
“There’s a big one coming soon that’ll be announced that I’m excited about,” he said. “It's going to bring good relief to our residents who have been frustrated about one specific topic.”
For now, however, Nesta says much of his work remains focused on gathering information, evaluating options, and ensuring the city is positioned to handle future growth.
“This first month, I needed to get as much information as possible as quickly as possible,” he said.
The assessment phase, however, appears to be nearing its end.
Apopka is expected to continue growing regardless of who occupies the mayor's office. The question, Nesta believes, is whether city government will stay ahead of that growth or spend the next decade chasing it.
The projects under review today—from public safety facilities and economic development to infrastructure and redevelopment—may take years to fully materialize. But together they offer perhaps the clearest picture yet of Nesta's governing philosophy: plan early, think long-term, and avoid creating problems that future leaders will be forced to solve.
After a month spent gathering information, Nesta says the next phase is about execution.
Whether those changes fulfill the expectations of a campaign built around reform and accountability remains to be seen. But as Apopka continues to grow, the decisions made in the months ahead will help determine not only what the city becomes, but whether its leaders are shaping that future—or simply reacting to it.
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To read part one: Nesta says changing City Hall culture is his top priority - go here.
To read part two: Nesta wants a more transparent budget process - go here.
