It occurs to me that the city of Ark City SHOULD pursue TIF incentives to redevelop our blighted areas. If nothing else, this controversy has opened our eyes to a redevelopment tool that we should consider.
Redeveloping blighted or brownfield areas is in fact what TIF originally started for — to defray costs of building where it would otherwise be prohibitive.
South Summit seems a perfect example.
Imagine a Lowe's or some new shopping plaza on South Summit where empty lots and decaying buildings sit now. Imagine the transformation that could take place on a long neglected part of town that is only five to 10 minutes from the site Lowe's wanted to go.
No new roads would have to be built or widened. Of course the costs of buying and demolishing certain property would be high. But this is where the city comes in: through an aggressive TIF and/or development package that could help with infrastructure costs.
I'm certainly no expert on development, and I know that everybody wants to build on vacant land because it's easier and cheaper. But REAL redevelopment takes an active local government — like the downtown streetscape – and means, yes, spending taxpayer money.
But the benefits would be great if something like this could
1) Bring in more shopping options
2) Spruce up an eyesore corridor
There would still be the fairness debate, but I think it would be less powerful because such a project would rebuild a deteriorated part of the city. Heck, it doesn't have to be retail. Industry would be even better.
This is what Wichita has done in Old Town and downtown Kansas City is doing now. This is what these type of tools were really meant for ....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
As I understand it 61st Road and Skyline both have to be fixed or upgraded anyway. This was just going to be a benefit of the TIF.
As for the south end of town, who are you going to evict to make enough room? Or is the city going to pay the expense of buying out each of those people?
The north end also gives a more central location for drawing from Winfield and the northern part of the county.
It would be nice to fix up the south end, but we blew off our chance for the right place and the right time to bring in a shopping center.
I don't believe there was ever a fairness debate. I believe that the downtown businesses did not want the competition and they got their way. The people that live here have no rights for what they want. We can only suffer the will of the downtown merchants and make Ponca City and Wichita that much happier to see us.
Oh, is that their taxes we're paying? Ask a commissioner
Has anyone checked to see how PONCA got their Lowe's? I'd be interested to find out what kind of incentives they may have given. It doesn't really matter. They went to Ponca first so our Commissioners wouldn't want them anyway.
Maybe if all the whiners with all their negativity would move out to all the places they like shopping so much, we could start over and really get something done for the good of the rest of us. Are you getting something good from continually licking your wounds or is the rot setting in deeper? It amazes me that you complain complain complain but that this was your only hope for the town. Was there and is there no other effort underway to grow? Oh, guess not. It is all the commission's fault for killing our only hope. If THAT deal was our only hope, we really are in sorry shape. Can't we do better than having a retail savior? Even if we don't see things happen as quickly, won't it be better to not have to worry about who you stepped on trying to get there?
How about for the old refinery? That would be an ideal location for a tif. What could we put there?
If you're going to talk about big boxes, has anyone addressed the effect Wal-Mart has had on Ark City for the past 20 years) Has it been good or bad for Ark City?
For the person that was concerned that this was our only hope:
This is the first big box wanting to come in since Wal-Mart 20 years ago. After the way the commissioners treated those people it will be another 20 years before anyone gives us a chance. You don't think they will spread the word? No worries, we survived the last 20 years, we'll survive the next. Oh wait, that line was stolen from the downtown merchants... or something like.
We could get lucky. It seems all the studies say a big box can make money here. If they smell it they will come. Let's just hope the commission doesn't chase them out of town again.
Everyone says they'll come on their own within a matter of 5 years or less. If that is the case, why pay them to come? No future developers other than these are "run off." If they see a chance to make money, that's what they'll do. They speak dollars and that makes sense.
I still don't understand where people get the idea we were going to PAY Lowe's to come here. I've seen it listed over and over and over but people just don't want to see it. Lowe's is coming. Here, Winfield, the county, somewhere. The devloper wanted to use the tax money from Lowe's to pay for a whole shopping center. Lowe's wasn't going to get anything. They would have had to buy the property from the developer, pay full taxes and not get anything in return. The developer was going to make sure Lowe's was inside the city limits to make sure the city could use the taxes. The taxes from just Lowes would have paid to build everything but the structures for the whole shopping center, plus improve the roads and utilities. Lowes wasn't being bought except to come inside the city limits. No problem. We've already proven their is plenty of business for them here and they won't pass up on the chance to make money. Let them come outside the city limits. No benefits to the city at all. Better yet, let them go to Winfield. We don't pay nearly enough of their taxes... yet.
I'm thinking that buying up 33 acres of housing would be very expensive. Especially when you go to evicting the current residents. The south needs some improvements, mostly in housing. Something smaller could well fit, but where would all of the displaced homeowners go? There isn't any chance they could get enough for their homes to buy another.
I like the idea that so many people KNOW what TIF was developed for. Why is it these people that KNOW everything aren't millionaires?
Anything out there that fits our purpose and allows for its use should be taken adavantage of. Or we could just sit around and wait for everything to die off and just say we knew it would happen.
Post a Comment