The Fayetteville Tax Allocation District (TAD) redevelopment plan designed to stimulate economic development in some of the city’s older commercial areas will be back on the agenda Thursday after being tabled Oct. 3. That was so meetings could be held with the Fayette County Commission and Fayette County Board of Education to further explain the plan.
Fayette County Commissioner Randy Ognio at the Oct. 3 meeting said he believed the county should have been more involved in the process prior to the council voting on the resolution. Ognio said county officials only received the TAD packet three days earlier.
The City Council subsequently put the redevelopment plan vote on hold for two weeks so city officials could meet with officials from Fayette County and the Fayette County School System to go over the specifics of the plan.
“Following comments and concerns raised by the county commissioners in attendance of the last City Council meeting, staff has scheduled to meet with the county and school board staff to provide additional information about the TAD process and address any concerns prior to City Council vote,” said Fayetteville Community Development Director Brian Wismer.
With county and school board officials informed about the specifics of the TAD, the next phase in the implementation process for the Tax Allocation District is the adoption of the redevelopment plan by the City Council, Wismer said.
“The plan includes the recommendations for the Tax Allocation District (TAD) map, which identifies (five) areas to be targeted for redevelopment and would have the greatest potential to benefit from this financial tool,” Wismer said.
Ognio’s concerns on Oct. 3 included the number of residential units which might be constructed, which he referred to as “high density,” and costs with build-out issues such as roads and water supplies.
Wismer said the redevelopment plan identifies the vision and goals for the TAD, provides an assessed valuation for the properties within the TAD, methods of financing and a school system impact analysis. The hypothetical scenarios that were presented earlier are also included to create a legitimate forecast of revenue streams. It is important to note, however, that these scenarios are used for modeling purposes, and do not limit or dictate how an actual site can be developed, said Wismer.
“The redevelopment plan is an integral step in the eventual creation of the TAD. It is important to adopt the plan in a timely manner so that it can become effective in the 2014 tax year,” Wismer said. “As this will further the city’s redevelopment efforts of aging commercial areas, staff recommends adoption of the resolution and redevelopment plan as proposed.”
The five TAD areas on the map include areas along Glynn Street and represent 3.68 percent of the city’s taxable digest. The largest number of TAD project areas are along North Glynn Street and include some of the city’s oldest commercial areas, many of which are sitting partially vacant and contributing fewer dollars to the tax digest than previously.
