Committee debates sales-tax exemption for TapIns mini-golf at 90 Fifth and Metcalf; no motion advanced

Developers and city staff presented competing analyses of a request for an economic development revenue bond (EDRB) limited to a sales-tax exemption for construction materials and furniture/fixtures/equipment for a proposed TapIns indoor/outdoor putting-golf and food-and-beverage venue on a vacant parcel at 90 Fifth and Metcalf (part of the former Metcalf South Mall). Committee members voiced mixed views and did not advance a motion; the item will not move forward from the committee at this meeting.

Staff overview and policy question Assistant City Manager Jack Messer and staff briefed the committee that the request asks only for an EDRB sales-tax exemption rather than a package of incentives typically applied together (for example, TIF, CID or other tools). Staff's analysis concluded the parcel and the request do not align with the city's historical application of EDRBs, which have generally been bundled with other redevelopment tools and applied as part of broader reinvestment plans. Messer noted the parcel is an infill site developed as part of a "box and pad" pattern by earlier developers and that, in staff's view, the project is not part of a broader reinvestment plan for the site and therefore does not meet the historic intent of EDRB use.

Project description…