Commission recommends TIF plan, eliminates two developers

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After more than seven hours of debate in two meetings, the 11-member Tax Abatement and Tax Increment Financing Advisory Commission Sept. 25 voted 8-3 to recommend the TIF plan to City Council to fund phase I of Jordan Valley Park. |ret||ret||tab|

The commission also narrowed the choice of developers for the ice arena from four to two and declared the 250-acre downtown area the park will be located in a blighted area a necessary measure for the city to qualify for the TIF. |ret||ret||tab|

Revenue generated by the TIF, estimated at approximately $17 million, would be used for infrastructure needs in Jordan Valley Park, such as stormwater and traffic improvements and a parking garage. The financing will funnel 50 percent of incremental new sales tax and new property tax revenues from property and businesses within the park into redevelopment projects for the area, such as the nine proposed for Jordan Valley Park. These areas include the ice arena, a recreational ice facility, a baseball stadium, an office building and renovation of the existing University Plaza Trade Center. |ret||ret||tab|

Council will choose between Tony Sansone Jr. the first developer to show an interest in developing an ice arena for Springfield and John Q. Hammons, who came forward in August with an offer to build a multipurpose ice arena and exposition center, for development of the arena. Sansone's $24 million arena would hold 8,000 to 10,000 seats and be open Sept. 1, 2002. Hammons' combined arena and exposition center, whose design is not yet available, would cost $35.5 million and be open in the fall of 2003 or the spring of 2004. Approximately $1.5 million of the Hammons' facility's estimated cost would go toward rehabilitation of the University Plaza Trade Center. Hammons' arena would hold 8,000-12,000 seats with 40,000 square feet of exhibition space. |ret||ret||tab|

Greene County Commissioner Darrell Decker, Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Jack Ernst and school board President Debbie Tolliver voted against recommending the TIF plan to council. Tolliver, who seemed unaware of the TIF's purpose, was present at the meeting via a conference call. She and Ernst both voiced their concerns the TIF could cost the school district millions by taking a percentage of its only source of revenue sales and property tax during the course of its 23-year life. City Manager Tom Finnie said the TIF would cost the school district no more than $200,000. |ret||ret||tab|

Council will hold a public hearing on the TIF and the developer for the arena Oct. 9, and could approve both items in its Oct. 23 meeting.[[In-content Ad]]