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Council approves Aerotropolis LDFA to fund Inkster Road upgrades
Summary
Council voted to create an Aerotropolis LDFA/TIF district to capture incremental revenue streams (with state replacement for school capture) to fund upgrading Inkster Road from Class B to Class A as part of water main work, a multi‑year financing plan proponents say can generate millions for road improvements.
Chris Gerdwood, a representative of Aerotropolis, told the council the proposed LDFA/TIF would wrap a district around the Inkster Road corridor on Taylor’s west side to capture increment that could be used to upgrade Inkster Road to a Class A standard in coordination with a Great Lakes Water Authority water‑main project.
"By law, the Great Lakes Water Authority only has to rebuild Inkster Road to what it was before the water main was put in, which is a Class B road," Gerdwood said, and the LDFA plan aims to fund improvements above that baseline. He described prior Aerotropolis work in Romulus that delivered roughly $9.2 million to a corridor improvement over 15 years and argued the tool can provide locally directed funding here as well.
Legal counsel reminded the council that state law requires replacement funding when an LDFA captures school taxes and that final approval will require signoff by the Michigan Department of Treasury. "Under state law, when there is school capture ... it would be replaced by funds from the state," the counsel said.
Supporters said the upgrade would stimulate development along Inkster Road and could be combined with county, state or federal grants. Opponents asked questions about eligible property types and school funding impacts; presenters said eligible categories exclude retail and housing and that school revenues would be backfilled by the state.
The council voted to create the Aerotropolis LDFA/TIF district and move forward with the draft plan, a step proponents said begins a multi‑year financing effort to build out the roadway.
