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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-15-13 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes / Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board Meeting Minutes October 15, 2013 Attending: Bobby Bear, Bob Hietala, Bob Lashaway, Bill Stoddart, Carson Taylor, Chris Naumann Absent: Shannon Haish, Vonda Laird, Scott Lee Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bo b Lashaway moved to approve the September minutes as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report as of October 15, 2013. The only new expense was $24,625.00 for the second quarter Partnership management fee. Chris said that he was still communicating with the City of Bozeman Finance Department to answer the three questions posed by the board in August: 1) explain the difference in the year-end/year-begin account balance; 2) does the FD uses a cash or accrual basis when they provide TIF financial figures; and 3) what is the approximate tax increment per $1million of new development. There was no further discussion regarding finances. Executive Director’s Report Technical Assistance Program Update **no new activity** The chart below lists the 8 remaining grants from FY2013 that have not been completed. No grants have been issued in FY2014, therefore $0 of the $100,000 budget has been allocated. Keep in mind that the committed grant amounts are only tentative since the actual reimbursement amount will be determined as a one to one match upon completion of the grant work. As a reminder, the Planning grants have a $7500 cap and the Façade grants are capped at $3000. Grants listed in bold have been completed as the applicant has submitted all materials and been reimbursed (0 of 8 projects) FY2014 Downtown Technical Assistance Program        Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional  Grant Type  SWN Creekside 317 East Mendenhall Susan Neubauer Weirich & Greenspace Facade  Block G--North 25 East Lamme Block M, LLC Intrinsik Planning  Block G--South 25 East Mendenhall Block M, LLC Intrinsik Planning   Bozeman Spirits 121 West Main Jim Harris Locati Planning  Thrive Headquarters 404 E Babcock Scott Dehlendorf Intrinsik Planning  Osborn Block 229 East Main Chris Pope Intrinsik Planni ng  Imperial Inn 122 West Main Eric Nelson ThinkTank Planning  101 E Mendenhall 101 E Mendenhall Big Sky Beverage Intrinsik Planning   COB UDC Manufacturing Revisions The City will be publishing proposed new definitions for manufacturing this week. The current definitions and zoning designations for manufacturing are over 20 years old. One new definition will be for “artisan manufacturing” where in addition to other restrictions the building square footage for manufacturing would be limited to 3500. The City staff will be recommending that “artisan manufacturing” be an allowable use in the B3 zone. The new definitions and zoning allowances will be open for public comment and a public hearing will be held by the City Commission. I plan to review the proposed changes and provide the downtown boards with a summary and my thoughts regarding the appropriateness for the downtown district. Possible Tax Abatement Opportunities The question has been raised about whether the TIF board would consider and/or support some type of tax abatement for the redevelopment of the East Willson School. The historic school is currently being considered for redevelopment as housing project by a private company. If this redevelopment proceeds the property would be put on the tax rolls, but the developer may ask for an abatement to further incentivize the privatization and proposed improvements. Downtown Parking Update The summer upward trend of increased use in the garage tailed off in September. Entries were up and revenue was flat over September 2012. Year to date both entries and revenue are up 13% and 10% respectively. / / Discussion and Decision Items Long-Term Financial Projections Per the board’s request in September, Chris presented updated financial projections for the TIF District through the year 2020. The update contained two scenarios: “Conservative” which projected status-quo investments; and “Aggressive” which proposed considerable new investments. Bob Lashaway suggested focusing on the “Aggressive” scenario. Potential investments include contributions to projects like: future parking demand study; financial incentive program for implementation of alley improvements; public parking lot improvements; streetlamps for DURT-Mendenhall project; preliminary engineering for DURT-Babcock project; next Downtown Improvement Plan. The board unanimously agreed that it seemed in the best interest of the district by putting more TIF funds to work as soon as possible. Bobby Bear suggested that Chris further develop a plan detailing the proposed TIF investments for the board to consider further at future meetings. Bob Hietala asked that as part of that funding plan, Chris include the 5 or 6 general categories that TIFs typically invest in using communities comparable to Bozeman as examples. Chris agreed that taking the ideas presented in the spreadsheet and drafting a more comprehensive plan would be the best next step. B3 Project Updates and Bogert Pool Overview discussions were postponed until November. At 1:10pm Bobby adjourned the meeting.