Draft downtown TERS plan totals roughly $27 million; DRC delays formal recommendation to allow review

Josh Armstrong presented the draft downtown tax increment reinvestment zone (TERS) project plan and said the consolidated project list tallied to roughly $27,000,000. Armstrong noted that if projects are financed through debt the interest component materially reduces the amount of projects that can be paid for — he estimated debt/interest at roughly $6,900,000 — and recommended holding a contingency amount from the TERS allocation to cover unforeseen costs.

Armstrong described that some line items (for example, the Van Alley extension and the Myrtle & Maine crosswalk) had been discussed earlier and that the current draft compacts certain items; he recommended grouping projects by order of operations (doing utilities before paving) to avoid rework and advised creating information sheets for each project with scope, costs and sequencing.

Board members discussed timing and requested the full downtown master plan and the consultant materials; several members said the packet should be reviewed digitally before voting. Speaker 2 proposed postponing a recommendation to council until November so members can review the documents; other members suggested waiting until after the holidays and having P3 Works present in January. The chair and presenter agreed to provide digital copies and the master plan and to schedule further review before making a formal recommendation.

No formal council recommendation was approved at this meeting; the committee discussed next steps and asked staff and consultants to return with a more complete package and a recommended order of operations.