The Sturgeon Bay City Council did a little subtraction & addition Tuesday evening in order to spur development on the city’s west side waterfront. The council amended the project plan & district boundaries for tax incremental district two in order to create the city’s fourth such district. Sturgeon Bay currently has three tax incremental finance districts, areas encompassing the industrial park, the downtown & waterfront, the former Wiretech property & soon, the west side waterfront. But, in order to create the new district, a half a dozen parcels had to be removed from tax incremental district two. Jolena Presti of the consulting firm of Vandewalle & Associates, talked about the six parcels that will form the new district…[audio:http://wdor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/N428.mp3|titles=Jolena Presti]
The plan calls for market rate residential housing at the corner of Madison Avenue & Larch Street. Presti also listed some of the infrastructure work that could be completed in tax incremental district four…[audio:http://wdor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/N429.mp3|titles=Jolena Presti]
Street improvements & work up to a half a mile away could qualify for funding within the district. It was estimated that the work needed to upgrade the area slated for development could cost as much as $4.9 million, accomplished in a couple of phases. Brad Viegut of Baird & Associates provided an overview of the financials related to the change in one district & the creation of another. Basing his assessment on conservative numbers, Viegut said both districts should be able to capture enough taxes to pay off any city investment, district two in 2027 & district four nine years later. A local review committee must approve the new district before the process can move forward.
