Alpena council approves TIF plan to support Gardens of Alpena senior-living project

Alpena City Council on March 3 adopted a resolution approving the US 23 North Corridor Improvement Authority development plan and tax increment financing plan to support a proposed senior-living project acquired by the Gardens of Alpena.

The plan would limit tax capture to the roughly 10-acre parcel the Gardens of Alpena acquired for an independent-living, assisted-living and memory-care campus and would use a portion of future incremental property taxes to reimburse eligible development costs. Mac McClellan, the Corridor Improvement Authority consultant, told the council the project represents an estimated investment of “over $47,000,000” and that “the project couldn't be built without some sort of community financial support, in this case ... property tax relief.”

The TIF arrangement described in the presentation confines tax capture to taxes generated on the Gardens parcel; the speaker said about 90% of future incremental taxes on that parcel would be captured for the development and about 10% would be returned to local taxing jurisdictions. McClellan and city staff emphasized that, as described in the development agreement the…