2 council candidates, resident criticize TAD decision
More residents will soon call downtown Fayetteville home after the City Council agreed Thursday night to allow the proposal to derive the tax benefits from being located in the Tax Allocation District.
HearthSide Lafayette will feature 125 one- and two-bedroom rental apartments at the intersection of Meeting Place Drive and West Lanier Avenue.
Plans call for a 4-story building totaling 163,259 sq. ft. The building, constructed using EarthCraft standards, would be situated across from the Hampton Inn.
Landscaped and garden areas would be located in the rear of the building.
Included in the proposal is the installation of a street on the north side and a portion of the west of the building that extends to the west and intersects with Lafayette Avenue.
The Tax Allocation District is used to encourage development that would be more feasible with the tax breaks.
The developer is getting a 20-year “pay as you go model.” The developers are seeking $2.6 million in funds over 20 years, which represents 10 percent of the property’s estimated $26 million investment in the city.
Thursday night, developer Deke Rochester explained the site had some constraints, such as difficult topography, that allows the area to seek the TAD benefits.
City Council candidates Brett Nolan and Rich Hoffman, along with resident Tony Parrot decried giving extra tax benefits for the proposal and questioned whether the site was the right location for the development.
City Manager Ray Gibson told the City Council the roads being built to add connectivity to other properties would now be public roads.
In its letter to the city, the developers offered further explanation for the tax break.
“The project is proposing to undertake Class A design upgrades, and additional master infrastructure costs, despite being an affordable seniors housing community, which includes an innovative senior’s wellness program and limited rents for the majority of its residences. Consequently, the development’s rent structure will not support enough funding to pay for its added project costs, without utilizing the TAD funding it was designed to leverage. Thus, our request for TAD funding to achieve the quality of development that we both desire for the site,” wrote David Dixon, senior managing partner of developer One Street Residential.
The BOE should never agree to these as they diminish school funding! Perhaps they should ask citizens of promised amenities from developers are rather paid for than traded off unwisely.