Planning board approves Saddle Creek Marketplace TIF and rezoning after extensive neighborhood debate

The City of Omaha Planning Board voted 6–0 to recommend approval of the Saddle Creek Marketplace TIF redevelopment project and a rezoning to community commercial with an expanded Major Commercial Corridor (MCC) overlay, advancing a multi-phase plan to remake the worn Family Fare/strip-mall site into mixed-use development.

Don Seaton, city planning, told the board the project covers multiple parcels near 46th and California streets and would be carried out in five phases, starting with a 138-unit apartment building and including reconstruction of the existing big-box retail and additional apartment and commercial buildings. He summarized the financing request: TIF support, enhanced employment assistance and private investment. "The TIF dollars ... are generated by the project itself," Seaton said, describing tax-increment financing as a rebate of new taxes produced by the development.

Neighbors packed the hearing and raised a range of concerns. Jessica McCallie, representing a local neighborhood association, said outreach was insufficient and asked the board to lay the item over for fuller engagement. "We are requesting minimum a layover," she said, arguing tenants and long‑standing businesses were caught off guard by fast deadlines. Other residents warned about traffic on steep California Street, loss of locally owned storefronts such as China Palace, and the visual character of new buildings.

Developer Mitch Holland and attorney Bob Griffith described the plan as an effort to re‑invest in a worn site and said they hoped to attract a grocery tenant while improving landscaping, lighting and circulation. "We would really like to have a grocery component as part of this," Holland said. Project representatives said the plan assumes structured parking and that valuations used in TIF materials are conservative; civil engineers told the board stormwater and floodplain issues would be addressed in design.

City staff recommended approval and emphasized that rezoning to CC and the MCC overlay align the site with the city’s future land use map and higher-design standards. The board approved the TIF plan and separately approved the rezoning and overlay expansion, each by 6–0, while several board members urged the developer to continue community outreach during the long, multi‑phase approval and design process.

Next steps: the recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council for final action; developers and neighbors were encouraged to continue design conversations and neighborhood coordination during detailed plan review.