| Today's Feature 71A Agreement to be Altered.
Darrell
Gross, a representative of the 71A Partnership,
appeared before the Public Works Committee
Tuesday afternoon to request an alteration in the
contract which the Partnership has with the City.
The City
entered into an agreement with the Partnership
last summer which allows the Partnership to be
reimbursed for infrastructure improvements to the
land they are developing in the area of HH
Highway and Alternate 71. The Partnership would
be reimbursed for actual costs of the
improvements not to exceed $900,000 from sales
tax generated by the development.
Under
the agreement, the City will reimburse the
Partnership 50% of the City’s portion of the
sales taxes generated by the development minus
the previous year’s taxes of any business
which relocates from another part of the City to
the development. Payments will be made quarterly
after the improvements have been completed and
accepted by the City. Payments will last for 15
years or until the expenses incurred by the
Partnership have been met.
Gross’s
request concerned the timetable for completing
improvements in the development, specifically
roads, but the request would not affect the
overall nature of the agreement. He asked that
the Partnership be allowed to put in only a base
rock road initially and to asphalt in stages as
buildings along the roads are completed.
Gross
said it has come to the Partnership’s
attention that "if we go ahead and put the
roads in, the asphalt, curbs and everything else,
and we have any major construction we’re
going to be wearing the roads down and then
delivering the system to City with a lot of wear
and tear."
Gross
stressed that under his proposal the Partnership
would put the base rock road in and still be
obligated to asphalt, curb and gutter the roads
to the City’s standard, but they could
asphalt and finish the roads incrementally and
keep construction traffic off the completed
roads.
"I
see this as perhaps a good business deal for
everybody," said Gross. "We save
interest costs to the City because the interest
clock starts ticking when it’s built even
though there may not be money to pay, so we save
that. Save the wear and tear on the streets, and
the base and the road will probably be better
prepared after using it for a while."
"The
City is not obligated to take anything from them
until it is all done," Gross emphasized.
"We don’t want to change that concept
at all. The City would not be accepting a road
until it was all done."
"The
Department doesn’t have a problem with the
proposal, but we do need to make a couple of
things clear," said City Engineering
Department Head Joe Butler.
Butler
stressed that in any circumstances where the City
is paying a developer under an agreement such as
the Partnership’s or other incentives no
payments would be made until the streets are
asphalted, utilities are in and the streets are
curbed and guttered along both sides. He also
made clear that no business in the development
located on a base rock road would be issued a
certificate of occupancy. The road to the
business would have to be asphalted before the
business could operate. Currently the Partnership
has a contract with a major fast food company.
"It’ll
be all or none," Gross stressed. "They
may be accruing the possibility of getting paid,
but unless they deliver the whole package in
accordance to City specs they would never draw a
penny. That way I think the City is protected,
and everybody saves money."
"As long
as there’s no change in the reimbursement, I
don’t know why anyone would have any big
objection if this makes sense for both parties
like it sounds," said Committee Chair Bill
Fortune.
Fortune asked
Economic Development Director Max McKnight to
draft new language to amend the agreement with
the Partnership and then come back to the
Committee for approval & request for a
Council bill.
Parking Lot Sale Possible.
Members of
the Public Works Committee voted to recommend to
the full Council that the City consider selling
the parking lot east of the post office to the
post office.
Committee
Chair Bill Fortune said this possibility was
raised a year or two ago but had died while the
post office was pursing permission to consider
such a transaction. City Engineering Department
Head Joe Butler reported that post office
officials had recently spoken to the Mayor about
their continued interest in the lot.
The lot in
question consists of 32 public parking spaces and
was developed by the City at a cost of probably
$40,000 to 50,000 according to Butler. Butler is
not aware of any current asking price, the Mayor
just asked that the possibility of selling be run
through Committee for feedback.
Lujene Clark,
former Council member and current Council
candidate, spoke to the Committee saying when the
question of selling arose the first time they
estimated the cost to the City of developing the
parking lot to be about $55,000 and that on
average 15 spaces a day in the lot were used by
postal employees. Clark said since then the lot
south of the police department has opened and
spaces have been made available in the lot on
Lyon behind the old police department, more than
replacing the 32 spaces in the lot by the post
office.
"Basically,
in previous discussion the Committee was in favor
of proceeding with it," said Fortune.
"One, we didn’t really see that we
needed it, and two it seemed a good idea to help
the post office out and maybe keep them
downtown."
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