Council advances citywide Community Reinvestment Area discussion, seeks flexibility on affordability tiers

Delaware City Council on April 14 held a public hearing on an ordinance to amend and reestablish the city's Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) and expand its boundaries to the city limits, and asked staff to return with language giving council more flexibility on affordability targets.

City planning staff said the ordinance would make the CRA citywide and remove the need for repeated housing surveys and legal work for each new project. "Essentially this is just an area where you can perform tax abatements, to essentially attract commercial, industrial, residential development," said Nick Langford, a staff member, during the presentation.

The proposal would replace piecemeal expansions and offer the same core incentives as the current CRA, with one addition: a new 10-year, 70%…