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Committee forwards Mission Rock IFD resolutions after correcting cost estimate
Summary
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee voted to forward two resolutions initiating public notice for an Infrastructure Financing District (IFD) and bond authorization for Mission Rock, accepting a Port amendment that corrected a 2017-dollar cost estimate to $692 million and setting a Committee of the Whole hearing date.
San Francisco's Government Audit and Oversight Committee on Nov. 15 voted to forward two resolutions that begin the public-noticing process for an Infrastructure Financing District (IFD) and proposed bond issuance for the Mission Rock waterfront project.
Rebecca Benesini, assistant deputy director of waterfront development for the Port of San Francisco, told the committee the Mission Rock site (Lot A and Pier 48) is planned to include roughly 2,700,000 gross square feet of residential, office and retail space, eight acres of parks and 40 percent inclusionary below-market-rate housing across a broad AMI mix. She presented the Port's financing approach, saying the city intends to use an IFD to capture property-tax increment and a community facilities district for special taxes to support public infrastructure and shoreline resilience work.
The Port's initial materials listed an infrastructure hard-and-soft cost line in 2017 dollars and a separate total. During the hearing Port staff identified a typographic error in the resolution showing $355,100,020.17 and asked to amend the document to reflect the correct 2017-dollar total estimate of $692,000,000. Benesini said the $692 million figure "is the actual cost estimate" and the committee approved the amendment so the resolutions match the Port's financing plan to be developed.
Severn Campbell of the Budget and Legislative Analyst's office said the auditor's report projects Mission Rock could generate about $1 billion of property-tax increment over the term of an IFD and noted the report includes a proposed tax-increment cap and a requested tax-bond authorization. The office recommended the Port include a detailed account of the proposed tax-increment limit, an explicit list of projects to be financed and a cash-flow analysis in the Infrastructure Financing Plan before the board forms the project area.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin moved to forward both resolutions with a positive recommendation as amended; the committee approved the motion and recorded that the items will return to the full Board of Supervisors (the Committee of the Whole hearing date was administratively set to Jan. 23, 2018). The motions to amend and to forward were taken without recorded opposition.
The resolutions are a procedural step that trigger public notice and a formal financing-plan process; neither resolution obligates the Board to approve an IFD, a community facilities district, nor any bond issuance. The Port and the Budget Analyst said further details (project list, cash-flow, tax-increment limits) will be included in the financing plan that the Port will prepare for future Board action.
What happens next: The Port will prepare an Infrastructure Financing Plan that responds to the Budget Analyst's recommendations and return to the Board for formation of the project area and later the community facilities district and any bond authorizations.
Sources: Presentation and remarks by Rebecca Benesini and the Budget and Legislative Analyst on Nov. 15, 2017; committee motion to amend and to forward (committee record).
