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Council approves second reading of Imagine More TIF ordinance after extended public debate
Summary
After an hour of public comment and council discussion about blight findings, housing needs and timing under new Iowa law, Pella City Council approved the second reading of Ordinance 1090 that lays the legal framework for a potential tax-increment-financing district covering portions of Central College’s campus.
Pella City Council voted to approve the second reading of Ordinance 1090, establishing the tax-increment-financing (TIF) certification ordinance for the Imagine More Community Urban Renewal Area after extended public comment and council discussion.
The ordinance does not itself obligate the city to pay for or construct projects, staff and bond counsel said. Mike (speaker 12), who walked the council through the plan, said adoption “creates the legal mechanism to capture future incremental property taxes if taxable development ever occurs,” but stressed multiple future steps are required before TIF revenues could be used: an approved development agreement, council approval of any public improvements and county certification of debt.
Residents at the public forum raised questions about whether the project justifies public subsidy through TIF. Anna Rupert (speaker 9) said city documents and the Marion County housing assessment show Pella’s most pressing needs are senior housing and owner-occupied homes, not large amounts of rental housing, and asked how a proposal that could yield roughly 1,350 rental units aligns with local housing demand. Kathy Dow (speaker 6) challenged the blight assessment, noting many properties identified as blighted are owned by Central College and asking how expanded assessment boundaries were determined.
Bond counsel Nathan Overberg (speaker 17) and city staff repeatedly emphasized the procedural limits and timing: the ordinance only opens the city’s TIF “toolbox” under Iowa law, and any activation of incremental-tax capture would require a later certification after a discrete project is approved and debt is incurred. Overberg told the council, “You adopt an urban renewal plan; you open essentially the toolbox in chapter 403. It doesn’t mean you have to take a single tool out of that toolbox.”
Council members debated whether to delay action to allow more public outreach. Council member John Butler (speaker 15) urged a town hall meeting between Central College and residents; others said the ordinance is a standard, early planning step and does not accelerate construction. After those discussions, a motion to approve the second reading was made and carried by the council; the council announced the motion passed.
What happens next: Staff said adoption of the ordinance will allow the city to consider future development agreements or public-improvement financing linked to the plan, but each individual project and any use of TIF would require separate public hearings, votes and, if needed, certification to the county auditor before incremental taxes would be captured. Several council members and staff also said they would work with Central College to organize additional public meetings so residents can review plans and ask questions.
