Inspirato developers propose LID to speed infrastructure; council asks for details and safeguards

Developers of the Inspirato project presented a preliminary plan at the March 11 Star City Council workshop to form a local improvement district (LID) to finance major on-site and near-site infrastructure, and council members asked for more detail before committing to any action.

Tony, developer for Inspirato, told the council the proposed LID would help fund public infrastructure that includes bridges, traffic signals, an extension of Inspirato Drive, a water campus (well/booster/tank) and upsized wet and dry utilities that the commercial portion of the project will require. Taylor, a developer representative, explained the financing mechanics: the LID would allow bonds to be sold using the development land as collateral to obtain lower-cost, longer-term borrowing than typical construction loans. "LID stands for local improvement district," Taylor said in his opening description.

Developers said the LID would be limited to the Inspirato project area and that they would structure the financing to avoid increasing residential property taxes across the city. "We would agree and guarantee that there is no increase to residential tax bills across the board," Taylor said. He described typical market financing spreads and said bond-market financing for an LID is…