Port Charlotte

Port Charlotte is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. The population was 54,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Punta Gorda, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Port Charlotte was named to the "10 Best Places to Retire", in the United States for the year 2012 by U.S. News & World Report. The first people to call the Port Charlotte area home were the nomadic Paleo-Indians as they chased big game such as woolly mammoth southward during the last ice age around 10,000 BC. The Calusa thrived on the southwest Florida coast and numbered over 50,000 when the first Spaniards reached the peninsula in the 16th century. The arrival of the Europeans was devastating to the Calusa, as diseases such as smallpox and measles decimated the population. Eventually the Seminole would arrive from points to the north and establish themselves on the peninsula. In the 1950s, the now defunct General Development Corporation led by the Mackle brothers decided to take advantage of the Florida land boom and developed land primarily on both of Florida's coastlines. Ultimately, Port Charlotte became the most populous community in Charlotte county. The area was severely impacted by Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004, when it made landfall near Charlotte Harbor and caused severe damage in the city of Punta. Gorda and in thePort Charlotte area. Since Port Charlotte is unincorporated, it is governed by the government of Charlotte County.

History

Port Charlotte is the primary city name, but also Pt Charlotte are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is Port Charlotte, Florida. The first people to call the Port Charlotte area home were the nomadic Paleo-Indians as they chased big game during the last ice age around 10,000 BC. The Calusa thrived on the southwest Florida coast and numbered over 50,000 when the first Spaniards reached the peninsula in the 16th century. The arrival of the Europeans was devastating to the Calusa, as diseases such as smallpox and measles decimated the population. In 1819, Florida was ceded by the Spanish and became a U.S. territory, and in 1845 Florida became the 27th state. For the first 100 years of statehood, the area around Port Charlotte was mostly undeveloped. In the 1950s, the now defunct General Development Corporation led by the Mackle brothers decided to take advantage of the Florida land boom and developed land primarily on both of Florida's coastlines. Ultimately, Port Charlotte became the most populous community in Charlotte County, although like most GDC developments, it remained an unincorporated community. The area was severely impacted by Hurricane Charley on August 13, 2004. The hurricane, predicted to hit Tampa as a Category 2 hurricane, took a last-minute right hand turn and intensified into a Category 4 storm as it made landfall near Charlotte Harbor. The storm's 145 miles per hour (233 km/h) maximum sustained winds destroyed almost half of the homes in the county and caused heavy ecological damage to sensitive wetlands in the area. It also caused severe damage in the city of Punta Gorda and in thePort Charlotte area.

Geography and climate

Port Charlotte is located at the north end of the Charlotte Harbor Estuary, northwest of the city of Punta Gorda. It is 100 miles (160 km) south of Tampa and 65 miles (105 km) north of Naples. The summers are long, hot and humid with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. The winters are mild to warm with a pronounced drop in precipitation. Year round, the diurnal temperature change averages around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) The area of northwestern Port Charlotte where State Road 776 intersects US 41 is also known as Murdock. It has a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) bordering on a tropical wet and dry climate. The CDP has a total area of 32.3 square miles (83.7 km²) According to the United States Census Bureau, of which 28.4square miles (73.6 km²), is land and 3.9 square miles (10.1 km 2) (12.01%) is water. The city has a population of 2,816. It was the site of the World War II-era Battle of the Bulge, which saw the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use the Battle as a training ground for the Army National Guard in World War I. The town is located in the Florida panhandle, at the northern tip of the Florida Panhandle, and is located on the Florida Turnpike, which was built in 1854.

Government

Port Charlotte is unincorporated and governed by Charlotte County. The county is governed by a 5-person county commission. They take turns rotating into the commission chair position every year. County commissioners frequently sit on other regional boards involving other municipalities and counties.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 46,451 people, 20,453 households, and 13,601 families residing in the CDP. As of July 2015 the family median income in Port Charlotte was $48,911, and household income was $40,049. Port Charlotte's unemployment rate was 5.50%, compared to 6.30% for the United States overall. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean. The population of Port Charlotte is expected to grow to 46,000 by the end of the decade. It is the largest city in the state. The CDP has a population density of 2,085.9/sq mi (805.3/km²) with 23,315 housing units at an average density of 1,047.0 per square mile (404.2/ km²) The racial makeup of the CPD was 89.23% White, 6.53% African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.14% Asian, 0,05% Pacific Islander, 1,18% from other races, and 1.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.16% of the population. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was2.71. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females, there are 87.7 males. For each 100 females age 18 and over,there are 84.2 males.

Sports

The Port Charlotte Invitational was a golf tournament held in 1969 at the Port Charlotte Golf & Country Club on the LPGA Tour. Kathy Whitworth won the event. Port Charlotte was home to the Charlotte Stone Crabs, which is a member of the Florida State League and Class High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays also hold extended spring training in Port Charlotte, and have a Florida Complex League team which began to play in June 2009. The team is known as the Charlotte Rays and is based at Charlotte Sports Park, which the Rays will continue to use until 2020. The club has a team which is called the Charlotte Crabs and plays in the Florida State League. The Crabs are a Class High A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, which also hold its spring training at Charlotte Sports Park until 2020, and also have an extended spring training team which began playing in June 2009. They are a member of the Florida State League and play in the Class High-A Class A level. They also have a team which plays in the Florida Complex League, which began playing in June 2009, and a team that plays in the Florida State League, which also plays in the Class High-B level. The Charlotte Stone Crabs have a player who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays, who also hold their spring training at Charlotte Sports Park.

Education

Port Charlotte is home to three small higher education facilities, including Charlotte Technical College, Southern Technical College's Port Charlotte campus, and Southwest Florida Bible Institute. For the 2007-08 school year, all schools in Port Charlotte received A's from the Florida Department of Education. Port Charlotte High School is the only traditional public high school located in the city. Students have the option to attend Charlotte Virtual School, a charter school, a special needs school, or a different traditional high school through school choice. There are numerous private schools, including Family Christian Academy (formerly known as Community Christian School), Genesis Christian School, Joyful Noise Learning Center, Port Charlotte Adventist School, and St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School. Charlotte County Public Schools operate the public schools in the area. The school district has a budget of $1.2 billion. The district has an enrollment of 1,856,000. The city has a population of 2,788,000, making it one of the largest cities in Florida. The population of Port Charlotte was 1,938,000 in the year 2000. The largest city in the state was Tampa, with 1,961,000 people in the same year. The most populous city in Florida was Tallahassee, with 2,836,000 residents. The biggest city in South Florida was Orlando, with 3,816,000 inhabitants. The state's largest city, Tampa, has 1,716,500 residents.

Library

The Mid-County Regional Library and the Port Charlotte Library are located in Port Charlotte. They are included in the Charlotte County Library System. The library system was established in 1961. The Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and Englewood Public Libraries joined the system in 1963. The Murdock Library was established as the library system administrative facility in 1985. In 2005, the Murdock Public Library moved to the new Mid- County Regional Library facility. The Mid- county Regional Library is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is part of the Mid-county Library System, which also includes the Charlotte City Public Library, which is based in Charlotte. The Charlotte County Public Library System was formed in 1961 and includes the following libraries: Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda Public Libraries, and the Murdock Public Library. It was formed as part of a larger system that included the Charlotte City Libraries, which were formed in 1968. It also includes Englewood Public Libraries, which are based in the city of Englewoods. The Port Charlotte Library is the only one of the three public libraries in the system to have an automated catalog system. The system also has an automated circulation system, which was introduced in 1996. It has been updated in 2005 with the introduction of automated catalogs. The new catalog system is called automated catalog cataloging. It uses a computerized catalog system that is based on a mobile phone app.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Port Charlotte, Charlotte County, Florida = 82. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 50. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 100. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Port Charlotte = 6.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 60,625 individuals with a median age of 45.4 age the population grows by 1.61% in Port Charlotte, Charlotte County, Florida population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,128.69 residents per square mile of area (821.88/km²). There are average 2.23 people per household in the 20,981 households with an average household income of $41,974 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 12.70% of the available work force and has dropped -4.33% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 18.64%. The number of physicians in Port Charlotte per 100,000 population = 204.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Port Charlotte = 51.7 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 97. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 262. 91 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 54.3 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 28, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Port Charlotte, Charlotte County, Florida which are owned by the occupant = 67.63%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 27 years with median home cost = $78,310 and home appreciation of -20.27%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $12.15 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,359 per student. There are 18.5 students for each teacher in the school, 617 students for each Librarian and 459 students for each Counselor. 6.03% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 8.86% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 5.96% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).