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Council conditionally approves $1.5M TIF for NorthPark affordable apartments with prevailing‑wage and local‑hire conditions
Summary
The council conditionally approved up to $1.5 million in East Billings Urban Renewal District TIF assistance for NorthPark Apartments (152 deed-restricted units at 60% AMI), attaching conditions on prevailing wages, payout flexibility and minimum local subcontractor participation.
Billings City Council voted to approve up to $1,500,000 in tax-increment financing assistance to DRG NorthPark Apartments LLC (DevCo Residential Group) for NorthPark Apartments, a planned 152-unit deed-restricted affordable-housing project in the East Billings Urban Renewal District. The approval was conditioned on adherence to the city’s TIF policy including prevailing-wage requirements, flexibility to extend payout to five years (300,000 per year), and a minimum local-subcontractor participation target of 50%.
Heather Doty, representing the East Billings Urban Renewal District (EBIRD), described the project as "a $40,000,000 plus project in deed restricted affordable housing" that will redevelop a long-vacant industrial site and create 152 units deed‑restricted for 50 years. Developer Chase Huber said DevCo has committed $4,000,000 of its own funds, that tax-credit rules cap developer fees and that TIF is the "but-for" funding needed to close the gap and allow the project to proceed to a proposed November ground-breaking.
Public comment included sharp disagreement: Jeff Kettleson warned the TIF could overly favor developers and estimated large long-term costs, saying the nonprofit "is gonna walk out of here with somewhere close to 50,000,000," a claim DevCo disputed in the hearing. Council members pressed about local labor, prevailing wages and whether nonprofit ownership reduces incremental tax receipts; DevCo said land purchase using TIF avoids prevailing-wage triggers on construction, and the council required language in the development agreement to address prevailing wages and subcontractor participation.
Council member Kendra Shaw moved the conditional approval; Amy Aguirre seconded and the motion carried after debate and amendments that set the payout structure and labor/subcontracting conditions. Staff and EBIRD officials said the district’s recommended structure was a multi-year reimbursement that would leave limited annual capacity for other projects while DevCo’s payout schedule would start in 2029 under the proposed plan.
The approved conditions seek to balance the council’s desire for local economic benefit with the financing constraints of Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects; the development agreement will contain the specific compliance and reporting measures and will return to the consent calendar for execution.
