Berrien County holds public hearing on Brownfield TIF for 120‑home Royalton Township subdivision

Berrien County commissioners convened a public hearing to consider a Brownfield tax‑increment financing plan for a proposed 120‑home subdivision at the southeast corner of Glen Lord and Hollywood Road in Royalton Township. Community development director Dan Fedde said the project, proposed by Allen Edward Homes, would include 12 income‑restricted rental units reserved at or below 120 percent of area median income and be financed by the developer with reimbursement through a Brownfield TIF plan.

The hearing matters because the plan would allow developer‑paid infrastructure and a capped rental subsidy to be reimbursed from new property tax revenue generated by the project rather than from general county funds. "The purpose of the public hearing…is to consider the adoption of the new Brownfield tax increment financing plan for a proposed housing development in Royalton Township," Dan Fedde said at the hearing.

Under the proposal, the 54‑acre site would contain 120 single‑family homes: about 90 for sale, 18 market‑rate rentals and 12 income‑restricted rental units. Fedde and the developer’s consultant described a total project investment of about $39 million, phased construction beginning possibly this fall and final units delivered by about 2032. Eligible brownfield activities in the plan include limited site investigation, roughly $1.6 million in site preparation, about $8.3 million in infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, storm, electric, gas), a housing subsidy reserve of $2.5 million over 10 years (roughly $250,000 per year), a $1.5 million contingency and modest plan and implementation costs; a simple 5 percent interest calculation is included in the reimbursement schedule.

Federal and state rent standards figure in the subsidy calculation. Fedde explained that the plan uses HUD‑certified control rents as a ceiling and local affordability calculations tied to households at 120 percent of AMI to calculate the monthly gap that becomes the subsidy. "HUD says a house this size should rent for $3,800. . . . MSHA says the family . . . at 120 AMI can afford about $2,000 a month in rent. So that gap becomes the subsidy," Fedde said. The plan caps the developer’s potential reimbursement for the rental gap at $2,500,000 over 10 years.

The county presentation noted tax capture estimates over a 25‑year plan period. Fedde summarized that school taxes (other than school debt, which cannot be captured) and other taxing units’ incremental taxes would be captured and used first to reimburse project costs, with the plan’s total captured amount estimated at about $19 million over 25 years. Fedde said there would be no public debt issued for the plan and that all up‑front costs would be financed by the developer; no county advances are contemplated. The anticipated start of capture is January 2027 because the new value will first appear on 2027 tax rolls after the 2026 construction cycle.

Commissioners and others asked detailed questions during the hearing. Commissioners raised whether the 12 income‑restricted rentals could be sold later or converted; Fedde said the 10‑year affordability period for those units would expire after the subsidy term and the developer would then be free to sell units at market rate. A commissioner asked whether Section 8 vouchers would be accepted; a county official answered that voucher holders are eligible to rent but the project is not structured as a Section 8 contract and the developer is not specifically targeting voucher holders.

Commissioners also asked about local impacts and road maintenance. Fedde said the interior subdivision roads will be built to county Class A standards with 66‑foot rights of way and the intention is for those roads to be incorporated into the county roadway system so residents are not subject to duplicated township road millage. The presenter noted the proposed use is consistent with Royalton Township’s master plan and that the township’s board of trustees passed a resolution concurring with the plan on Sept. 8; the county Brownfield Authority had unanimously recommended approval.

No adoption vote on the Brownfield TIF plan was taken at the meeting. The public hearing was opened and closed during the session and the board resumed its regular meeting after discussion. Township site plan approval is scheduled later this fall, and other Brownfield or local approvals will be required before reimbursements begin.

The developer’s representative emphasized how the program reduces per‑lot infrastructure burdens. "It rounds out to about a little over $80,000 per unit per lot," Mike West of Allen Edward Homes said, adding that the TIF reimbursement for infrastructure and limited subsidies can lower development costs for market‑rate units and thereby lower sale prices to help market absorption.

Speakers at the hearing repeatedly cited local housing need studies, and the county presentation referenced a Southwest Michigan Planning Commission housing diagnostic showing a demand for new units and a regional shortage of "missing middle" housing. The hearing record shows the plan remains subject to final township site plan approval and later county actions before any reimbursements or tax capture occur.