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TIF board fails to recommend tax-increment exemption for 2492 South Main (Overlook at Cook Pond), 3-1
Summary
A proposed 22-unit townhouse development at 2492 South Main Street (Overlook at Cook Pond) did not receive the four votes needed for the TIF board to recommend a tax-increment exemption, failing 3-1. The project would have been a 10-year TIF with 80%/20% terms and all-electric units with garage EV chargers.
The Fall River City Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Board on April 8 failed to recommend a tax-increment financing agreement for the Overlook at Cook Pond at 2492 South Main Street after the motion received three yes votes and one no; four affirmative votes were required to advance the recommendation to the City Council.
The proposed development would have been 22 three-bedroom rental units arranged across eight townhouse buildings, with a cited rent of $2,900 per unit. Project representatives described the units as three stories with garages on the first floor and said they plan to include electric vehicle chargers and make the units all-electric. "There'll be 2 or 3 townhouses per building, 3 different floors. And on the first floor, there'll be a garage," a developer representative told the board, adding that "the units will be all electric as well." The project was described as ground-up construction on a vacant lot near the water tower and overlooking a pond.
City staff and the board discussed site-development costs and geotechnical conditions that have kept the lot vacant, including significant ledge and premium site-development costs for bringing in water, sewer and gas. Staff noted that ground-up construction lacks historic tax-credit offsets available to mill conversions and therefore faces higher up-front costs. The staff presentation and board discussion referenced that the developer expects the project's inclusion in an amended HDIP (Housing Development Incentive Program) application; the TIF board motion was described as contingent upon expansion and inclusion in the HDIP.
Roll call on the motion recorded three yes votes and one no: the motion received affirmative votes from Miss Ferreira (yes), Richard Gonzales (yes) and Mayor Coogan (yes) and a no vote from Councilor Sean Kadeem. The chair noted the tally as "3 to 1" and observed that four votes were required for the recommendation, so the motion failed.
Board members compared this ground-up proposal with recent mill conversions that benefited from historic tax credits and said those conversions have lower effective development costs than new construction. With the motion defeated, the item did not advance to the City Council. The board then moved to adjourn the meeting.
