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Council refers blight and substandard study for proposed CRA area 41 to planning commission
Summary
The council voted to refer a developer-submitted blight and substandard study for a roughly 49-acre area at Capitol and North Road (proposed CRA area 41) to the Hall County Regional Planning Commission; the designation could enable future tax-increment financing applications.
The Grand Island City Council on March 11 voted to refer a blight and substandard study for a proposed Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) — called area 41 by staff — to the Hall County Regional Planning Commission for review.
Planning staff said the study was prepared on behalf of Straska Development and SGRE Communities and covers roughly 49 acres at the northwest corner of Capitol Avenue and North Road. Chad Nabody summarized the process: referral to the regional planning commission would prompt a public hearing and recommendation; the council would later decide whether to declare the area blighted and substandard. A declaration could lead to tax-increment financing (TIF) applications for housing development.
Keith Marvin of Marvin Planning, who helped prepare the study, told the council he and his firm found several criteria that could meet the definition of blighted and substandard but that the area did not meet a majority of the criteria. Developer representatives — David and Jordan Storatska of Straska Development and Yov Gershaney and Deborah Klein from SGRE Communities — said they had presented the concept to affected neighbors and held a public meeting, and they expect potential TIF applications to focus on single-family and multifamily housing.
During public comment, Gerald Pools asked whether there is a statutory limit on the share of area that may be designated extremely blighted. Nabody replied that under current statutes there is no maximum for extremely blighted property and that the city is limited to 35% of municipal limits as blighted overall; extremely blighted acreage reduces that 35% cap. He said the current totals in staff materials put the city at about 26% overall, about 20% when extremely blighted acreage is removed, and that this project would add roughly 0.17 percentage points to the total (about 49 acres ≈ 0.17% of the municipal total).
Council Member Pollack moved to refer the study to the Hall County Regional Planning Commission; Council Member Stelk seconded. The motion carried. The referral advances the review process but is not a declaration of blight or a commitment to TIF.
