Title
Review of the Transformational Projects Incentive Program (B)
Explanation
At the March 14, 2005 City Commission meeting, it was suggested that the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) review the Transformational Incentives program. There has been some concern discussed that the program may be too generous and does not provide enough increment to the CRA districts.
The history of the program is as follows. At the December 2003 CRA meeting, the Board directed staff to prepare an incentive program for projects that were transformational in nature. Staff was asked to create a program that met several goals: to provide incentives that were performance based; to provide the CRA with a clear way to evaluate which projects would have the largest impact on redevelopment; and to assure that the District receive some of the financial benefits from the increased tax increment immediately. This new program is targeted towards those projects that are so large in scope, or are in such prominent locations, that they would have a significant impact on the district in which they are built. Because these projects are more comprehensive, the development gap is greater. The goal of the program is to help the developer bridge the gap and bring the project to fruition, thereby transforming the area in which they are located. Because the City is no longer in a position to lend the CRA funds for upfront payments to the developers, the incentive program was required to have payments to the developers after the project was completed on fully on the tax rolls
In February 2004, the CRA approved the concept of a scoring system that could be used to evaluate the projects and to determine the level of incentives that a project would be eligible to receive.
The point system was developed so that the more desired items a project provides, the greater the incentives offered. There are enough categories so that projects would not have to provide everything to rec...
Click here for full text