Photo provided The proposed changes to Columbus’ TIF districts being considered by The Columbus Redevelopment Commission.
The Columbus Plan Commission has sent forward requests from the city’s redevelopment department to create a new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district and amend an existing district.
The commission voted to approve the commission’s declaratory resolutions and economic development plan supplements regarding changes to the the Central TIF district and plans to create a new TIF at Sixth Street and Washington Street.
A TIF district is a mechanism that allows the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to siphon off increasing property taxes in a selected area to fund projects intended to benefit the community.
Moving forward, the changes will need to be approved by Columbus City Council and will then return to the Columbus Redevelopment Commission for a confirmatory resolution, said Redevelopment Director Heather Pope. It is expected that these votes would occur on Sept. 5 and 18.
The plan commission’s vote on the Central Allocation Area was unanimous, but the vote on the Sixth and Washington TIF was 6-2, with Dennis Baute and Laura Garrett voting against the motion.
Board president Michael Kinder recused himself from both votes due to being a Cummins employee.
The company currently owns a parcel of land in front of its employee parking garage at Sixth and Washington, which is the proposed site for a potential redevelopment project.
Flaherty & Collins Properties, the developer on The Taylor, is proposing to build an apartment building with some first-floor commercial or retail space on this property.
In its economic development plan supplement, the redevelopment department described the potential project as a “four-to-five story mixed-use, multi-family development, including apartments and commercial retail space, with an estimated cost to the (Redevelopment) Commission of $5,800,000.”
Pope said at a previous meeting that the total project cost is estimated at $15.5 million, with a funding gap of about $5.4 to $5.8 million.
Creating a new TIF in the project area would allow the commission to capture the property’s increment and recoup its investment, she said.
However, the commission has not yet decided whether to pursue this project and tabled a resolution to pursue negotiations with Flaherty & Collins in June. Pope also said that if they resolve to contribute more than $500,000 to the project, the city council will need to approve the allocation.
City/county planning director Jeff Bergman said that while people might want to know about the specifics of the development — such as building design, the contribution of TIF dollars and price point of the proposed units — these factors were not relevant to the plan commission’s discussion.
The commission’s role in the TIF amendment process is to simply to determine whether the “general types of development” outlined in the redevelopment department’s economic development plans for the districts are consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan, he said.
Additionally, since the property at Sixth and Washington is in the downtown commercial zoning district, the plan commission would get to review the site plan in the event that a project moves forward, Bergman said.
During discussion of the Sixth and Washington TIF, Garrett questioned whether the proposed project would fit with the comprehensive plan’s downtown element. She also expressed concern about getting rid of a green space that helps activate downtown, in her opinion, and adding more residential to the area.
In the past, groups have used the site for live music performances, and it has also served as a temporary home for Exhibit Columbus installations. Garrett is the director of partnerships for Landmark Columbus, which operates Exhibit Columbus.
“I see more activity on that little, what would be considered non-value added green space than anywhere else in downtown,” she said. “I mean, you’ve got people popping from Nomad, the high school team and from all that, and I’m worried about the language not having anything or any value to the fact that this needs to be something really, really considered, because it is a blank slate on our main street.”
Baute’s concerns included the proposed level of contribution.
“It’s not a plan commission thing, but by pledging $5.8 million or whatever, that’s not what I envision as a Comprehensive Plan, to favor some things to that degree,” he said. “I don’t think our Comprehensive Plan includes anything like that kind of subsidy for the other businesses.”
Bergman replied that he does not believe this question is relevant to the Comprehensive Plan, which focuses on land use, though Baute disagreed.
Some members of the public also weighed in with concerns about the elimination of green space, potential price of the new apartments and the size of the potential subsidy.
However, Ed Curtin, who used to work for the city, said that he believes the benefits of completing such a project are worth the contribution. City Councilman Tom Dell also encouraged the plan commission to vote yes on the changes.
In addition to the creation of a new TIF district, Pope said that redevelopment is also proposing to absorb the Cummins and Cole TIFs back into the Central TIF, as the commission recently finished paying off bonds from projects that were tied to these areas.
They would also like to expand the Central TIF to include additional land that is zoned for commercial or industrial use, including certain properties along the State Street corridor, in the old Bartholomew County industrial park, near the AMC Theater, near Woodside and Walesboro, and in northeast Columbus.
Plans also include removing certain parcels near Tipton Lakes Boulevard from the Central TIF.
Pope explained that the land was zoned industrial when the TIF districts were first created in 2005. However, the area has changed since the time and now features uses that do not contribute to the TIF, such as a church and a parcel owned by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., which is considering building a new elementary school at the site.
“Allocation areas can only capture increment in industrial- and commercially-zoned areas,” she said.
