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DDA outlines TIF-funded facade grants, $450K pedestrian-lighting project and activation plaza
Summary
The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) presented a tax-increment finance plan and outlined initiatives including a 50% matching façade grant (up to $5,000 per project; $25,000 allocated initially), $450,000 for phase 1 pedestrian lighting replacement and a $25,000 contribution to a Portside activation plaza.
Julian Iguarra, the city’s economic development coordinator and DDA director, briefed the Planning Commission on the Downtown Development Authority’s tax-increment financing efforts and near-term initiatives to support the 28th Street corridor.
Iguarra explained how a TIF district captures growth above a base taxable value and channels the increment into projects within the district. For the coming fiscal year he projected revenues of $478,000 and expenditures just over $700,000, leaving a projected fund balance of $1,684,000. Priority initiatives include a façade improvement grant program (50% match up to $5,000 with $25,000 initially allocated), a $450,000 phase‑1 pedestrian-lighting replacement along Burlingame Avenue to Division Avenue, and a $25,000 public-private contribution to an activation plaza labeled Portside by Home Flats.
Commissioners asked about vacancy rates along 28th Street (staff did not have exact figures), sidewalk and corridor-improvement authority possibilities for other corridors, and ways to recruit DDA board members. Iguarra said corridor improvement authorities are in staff planning for other corridors with a 2027 target and encouraged commissioners to help recruit board members from local business groups. The DDA presentation framed several near-term capital and grant initiatives designed to catalyze redevelopment and corridor improvements.
