Ozark aldermen approve Finley River RFPs

Ozark’s Board of Aldermen on Dec. 4 approved city staff’s request to prepare and send requests for proposals to developers interested in redeveloping the Finley River Neighborhood Development District.

The requests are the latest development in a process that began with the formation of the Ozark Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority in 2004 to look at ways to redevelop 48 acres between downtown Ozark and the Finley River.

The RFP serves two purposes, according to Darrell Gross of Gross & Associates, the Republic firm acting as financial consultant to the project.

In addition to allowing the LCRA to determine the developer best suited for the job, the RFP also meets state legal requirements for a possible tax-increment financing district.

Ozark Senior Planner Steve Childers said a TIF commission already has been formed to discuss the tax options for the district, though no recommendations have been made to the board.

The next step is to issue the RFPs. That should happen this week, according to Childers. Those proposals would then be due to the city by early February.

Childers added that the city plans to hold an informational meeting to answer questions and give potential developers more information about the project; no date has been set for that meeting.

“We want to invite any Realtor, any developer, anybody who’s in the development field and wants to do a development in a fast-growing town like Ozark to call,” Childers said.

While the city will accept plans to redevelop part or all of the city’s central business district, Gross said, there are four areas in particular that must be included. Two are on Third Street between Hall and Church streets; the third is an old motel and drugstore, and the fourth is a former mobile home park.

The city owns the property in all four areas, Gross said, which is why they comprise the redevelopment’s first phase.

“The city will consider proposals for redevelopment that include anything in the central business district,” Gross said. “However, we have four specific pieces of property that the LCRA has under control, and we’re specifically looking for ideas for those four projects.”

If proposals are returned promptly, Childers added, the city could have an agreement in place with a developer by the end of February, “so we could see some dirt turning this summer.”