July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Plan to fight blight pitched (12/20/05)
Portland City Council
By By RACHELLE HAUGHN-
A plan that could help reduce blight in downtown Portland and develop new areas of the city was presented to council members Monday.
Members of the city council learned some details Monday night of a plan to form a redevelopment commission, which would find ways to use or improve underdeveloped or blighted properties in Portland.
Redevelopment commissions are typically funded by tax increment financing (TIF), a system under which the tax rate for properties within a district is effectively frozen. As the assessed valuation rises, more taxes are collected on those properties with the revenues directed at improvements within the district. Commissions may also issue bonds, with the TIF revenues used to pay off the bond issue.
Setting up TIF districts and creating a redevelopment commission “Allows us to target undeveloped areas and set up funding sources,” Mayor Bruce Hosier said.
The council would have to pass an ordinance establishing a redevelopment commission. That ordinance would also specify the boundaries of the TIF district. City attorney Bill Hinkle said Monday night he would work on drafting the ordinance.
Hosier said the TIF districts could be in downtown Portland and other areas throughout the city.
Kristi Sturtz, principal planner with Sturtz Public Management Group of Fort Wayne, said if created, the commission would be made up of five members. Three would be appointed by Hosier and the other two would be appointed by the council. They would serve one-year terms, she said.
Hosier said two of the three people he has in mind for the commission have already agreed to serve, even though the council has not yet voted to establish the commission.
Hosier said city officials contacted Strutz about the possible creation of the commission and TIF districts because she has helped set up districts and commissions in other communities. He knew her through her work as the grant administrator for the funds awarded to the city to remodel the Weiler Building.
Hosier said city officials have been researching the idea for the last eight to 12 months by looking at other communities which have redevelopment commissions. The commissions have benefited those communities, he said.
Council members provided no input Monday night on the possible creation of the TIF districts or the redevelopment commission.
Hosier said a public meeting will be held sometime in January to help explain the TIF districts and the commission to local residents.
In other business, a battle by two rural Portland women and their neighbors to stop the rezoning of land located north of Portland for a proposed motel came to an unsuccessful end.
The council voted unanimously to rezone 60.92 acres of land to highway service. The land, which is located on the east side of U.S. 27 north of Oakwood Mobile Home Park, is earmarked for a Holiday Inn Express. The land had previously been zoned agricultural.
The ordinance rezoning the land includes stipulations suggested by the Portland Planning Commission.
The planning commission recommended on Dec. 1 that the council grant the rezoning request as long as the project’s drainage plans are approved by the Jay County Drainage Board and the developer, Scott Daniels, obtains the necessary permits within a year. After the year is up, if the construction has not begun, the lot will revert back to being zoned agricultural. Construction cannot begin without the necessary permits and the approval of the drainage plans.
Before council members voted, they heard Betty St. Myers and Sharon Pyle, who live near where the 73-room motel is expected to be built, state their objections to the project.
St. Myers showed council members a map of lots zoned highway service in and just outside of the city. She said there was no reason to rezone the lot located next to her property when the lot where Wal-Mart currently is located will soon be vacant. She also mentioned a lot located on the east side of Meridian Street — the current site of Community Home Improvement and several other businesses.
“If these properties are so readily available, why rezone?” she said.
Pyle said she was concerned that the lot would not be properly cared for, traffic and taxes would increase and that the motel would attract criminals to the area.
The council did not address these concerns before voting.
Also Monday council members:
•Voted to send a five-year tax abatement request by a Portland business to the Portland Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to review.
Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of the Portland Economic Development Corporation, said Glynn Barber, owner of Qualtech Tool and Engineering, is requesting an abatement to purchase a high-definition 3D printing system at a cost of $61,000. The printing system will produce small prototypes of products.
The new equipment would create two to three jobs with salaries totaling between $60,000 and $70,000.
A tax abatement allows companies to pay taxes in increasing increments over several years, phasing in the additional taxes due on the capital investment.
•Voted to transfer unused city funds from one account to another.
The transfer involves moving $900 from the council insurance fund to the council other supplies fund, and moving $3,200 from the fire buildings fund to the fire equipment fund. City clerk-treasurer Linda Kennedy said unused funds are transferred at the end of each year to make sure none of the city’s accounts have negative balances.
•Voted to change the real estate description in an ordinance.
Hinkle said when the ordinance of annexation for land located near Tyson Foods was submitted to the auditor for tax records, it was discovered that there was an error in the legal description of the land.
•Approved revisions to the Portland Zoning Ordinance as recommended by the planning commission.
Revisions include banning new billboards within the city and restricting where they can be erected in the two-mile area buffer area outside of the city limits, and adding massage therapy for both humans and animals to the list of authorized uses in areas zoned for similar businesses.[[In-content Ad]]
Members of the city council learned some details Monday night of a plan to form a redevelopment commission, which would find ways to use or improve underdeveloped or blighted properties in Portland.
Redevelopment commissions are typically funded by tax increment financing (TIF), a system under which the tax rate for properties within a district is effectively frozen. As the assessed valuation rises, more taxes are collected on those properties with the revenues directed at improvements within the district. Commissions may also issue bonds, with the TIF revenues used to pay off the bond issue.
Setting up TIF districts and creating a redevelopment commission “Allows us to target undeveloped areas and set up funding sources,” Mayor Bruce Hosier said.
The council would have to pass an ordinance establishing a redevelopment commission. That ordinance would also specify the boundaries of the TIF district. City attorney Bill Hinkle said Monday night he would work on drafting the ordinance.
Hosier said the TIF districts could be in downtown Portland and other areas throughout the city.
Kristi Sturtz, principal planner with Sturtz Public Management Group of Fort Wayne, said if created, the commission would be made up of five members. Three would be appointed by Hosier and the other two would be appointed by the council. They would serve one-year terms, she said.
Hosier said two of the three people he has in mind for the commission have already agreed to serve, even though the council has not yet voted to establish the commission.
Hosier said city officials contacted Strutz about the possible creation of the commission and TIF districts because she has helped set up districts and commissions in other communities. He knew her through her work as the grant administrator for the funds awarded to the city to remodel the Weiler Building.
Hosier said city officials have been researching the idea for the last eight to 12 months by looking at other communities which have redevelopment commissions. The commissions have benefited those communities, he said.
Council members provided no input Monday night on the possible creation of the TIF districts or the redevelopment commission.
Hosier said a public meeting will be held sometime in January to help explain the TIF districts and the commission to local residents.
In other business, a battle by two rural Portland women and their neighbors to stop the rezoning of land located north of Portland for a proposed motel came to an unsuccessful end.
The council voted unanimously to rezone 60.92 acres of land to highway service. The land, which is located on the east side of U.S. 27 north of Oakwood Mobile Home Park, is earmarked for a Holiday Inn Express. The land had previously been zoned agricultural.
The ordinance rezoning the land includes stipulations suggested by the Portland Planning Commission.
The planning commission recommended on Dec. 1 that the council grant the rezoning request as long as the project’s drainage plans are approved by the Jay County Drainage Board and the developer, Scott Daniels, obtains the necessary permits within a year. After the year is up, if the construction has not begun, the lot will revert back to being zoned agricultural. Construction cannot begin without the necessary permits and the approval of the drainage plans.
Before council members voted, they heard Betty St. Myers and Sharon Pyle, who live near where the 73-room motel is expected to be built, state their objections to the project.
St. Myers showed council members a map of lots zoned highway service in and just outside of the city. She said there was no reason to rezone the lot located next to her property when the lot where Wal-Mart currently is located will soon be vacant. She also mentioned a lot located on the east side of Meridian Street — the current site of Community Home Improvement and several other businesses.
“If these properties are so readily available, why rezone?” she said.
Pyle said she was concerned that the lot would not be properly cared for, traffic and taxes would increase and that the motel would attract criminals to the area.
The council did not address these concerns before voting.
Also Monday council members:
•Voted to send a five-year tax abatement request by a Portland business to the Portland Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to review.
Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of the Portland Economic Development Corporation, said Glynn Barber, owner of Qualtech Tool and Engineering, is requesting an abatement to purchase a high-definition 3D printing system at a cost of $61,000. The printing system will produce small prototypes of products.
The new equipment would create two to three jobs with salaries totaling between $60,000 and $70,000.
A tax abatement allows companies to pay taxes in increasing increments over several years, phasing in the additional taxes due on the capital investment.
•Voted to transfer unused city funds from one account to another.
The transfer involves moving $900 from the council insurance fund to the council other supplies fund, and moving $3,200 from the fire buildings fund to the fire equipment fund. City clerk-treasurer Linda Kennedy said unused funds are transferred at the end of each year to make sure none of the city’s accounts have negative balances.
•Voted to change the real estate description in an ordinance.
Hinkle said when the ordinance of annexation for land located near Tyson Foods was submitted to the auditor for tax records, it was discovered that there was an error in the legal description of the land.
•Approved revisions to the Portland Zoning Ordinance as recommended by the planning commission.
Revisions include banning new billboards within the city and restricting where they can be erected in the two-mile area buffer area outside of the city limits, and adding massage therapy for both humans and animals to the list of authorized uses in areas zoned for similar businesses.[[In-content Ad]]
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