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Council approves Aerotropolis LDFA plan to help rebuild Inkster Road
Summary
The Taylor City Council approved creation of an Aerotropolis LDFA/TIF district to capture tax increment to help upgrade Inkster Road from Class B to Class A, with proponents saying the plan would leverage state backfill for school tax capture and spur development along the corridor.
The Taylor City Council voted to create an Aerotropolis local development finance authority (LDFA) district aimed at raising tax-increment dollars to rebuild Inkster Road as a Class A roadway.
Chris Gerdwood, representing Aerotropolis and its legal counsel, described the proposal as a way to wrap a tax-increment finance (TIF) district around the Inkster Road corridor on Taylor’s west side to generate funds over the next 5–15 years for road reconstruction tied to an upcoming Great Lakes Water Authority water-main project. He said Aerotropolis LDFAs have statutory authority to capture specified school-related tax increments and that state law provides for state replacement of captured school revenue, which requires Michigan Department of Treasury approval for any plan that captures school taxes.
Proponents told the council the road upgrade—moving the corridor from a Class B to Class A surface and adding four lanes of concrete where planned—would make the corridor more attractive to commercial and industrial development and could be combined with county, state and federal grant funding to cover the total project cost. Legal counsel reminded the council that school capture is replaced by the state and that the plan’s reliance on state backfill means the district also needs state approval.
No substantive opposition was recorded in the meeting. Supporters cited past Aerotropolis projects in neighboring communities that produced incremental revenue and matching road investments. After discussion, the motion to approve the creation of the Aerotropolis LDFA/TIF district carried.
The next steps identified by council and staff include preparing the detailed TIF plan for submission to the Michigan Department of Treasury and coordinating with the Great Lakes Water Authority and county and state partners on timing and complementary funding opportunities.
