While the rest of the nation watched the first Clinton/Trump presidential debate, the Burlington City Council talked tax-increment financing.
The council voted 9-1 Monday night to put a $21.8 million TIF proposal on the November ballot. If residents approve the measure, the money will be used to restore St. Paul and Pine Streets, which are currently cut off by the Burlington Town Center, and to upgrade nearby public infrastructure — all part of a massive downtown mall redevelopment project.
TIF is a funding mechanism that allows municipalities to pay for public infrastructure improvements that encourage new public or private development. The upgrades are financed with debt that gets repaid by the future growth in property tax revenue from the developments.
The lone ‘no’ vote came from Progressive Max Tracy, who said the city was still working with incomplete information. He also objected to plans to pay mall owner Don Sinex for the full value of the streets’ right-of-ways, estimated at $1.9 million, suggesting the city could strike a better bargain.
Ahead of the vote, the council reviewed a feasibility report from a Norwich firm called Doug Kennedy Advisors that concluded the Burlington Town Center redevelopment is financially viable. Sinex had commissioned the report at the city’s request. Parts of it — including anticipated lease and rent rates — are not being released to the public.
The city also hired its own firm, ECONorthwest, to review the report. It came to the same conclusion but suggested the report could have provided more information about the financing of the project and also could have better examined how competing commercial and residential developments might affect the project.
Mayor Miro Weinberger emphasized the safeguards included in the city’s predevelopment agreement with Sinex. The developer has agreed to pay up front for the public improvements, with the city reimbursing him after construction is complete. Additionally, the city won’t issue bonds to start paying him back until the Burlington Town Center has created enough new property tax revenue to pay for the debt service.
Earlier that day, opponents to the project gathered in front of the mall and released balloons to show the height of two fourteen-story towers Sinex wants to build. A lime green balloon floated in the back of Contois Auditorium during the council meeting — a remnant from the demonstration.
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And I for one will vote against it. It’s the last stage at which we can protest Weinberger’s assault on our beloved city with his growth mantra. Burlington is and always has been different from other cities with a character of its own, but Miro and his tame councilors are doing their best to destroy it. I won’t be party to it.
Concentrate on fixing the dumpster fire of a school system, Miro, not on building Sinex Towers.
Miro Weinberger is successfully selling off Burlington to big developers and friends. The Burlington Downtown that I grew up with since the late 1970’s, 1980’s and 90’s is gone. The mall has been mostly empty off and on since the 1980’s, and most of the downtown stores cater to people with larger incomes, tourists and college students. His “affordable housing” is not affordable to the Real Vermonters who have always made Vermont their home and rents will continue to be out of reach for those same people. He has reduced parking availability in downtown and increased the price for what is available. Yet the roads not within the immediate downtown go unrepaired, and poorly plowed along with the sidewalks. He needs to get is head out of the 165ft clouds and take good look at reality. Burlington should be accessible and affordable for everyone not just those who have money to spend. Instead of brushing aside those who wish to keep Burlington from being like any other big city he should really listen and fix what is broken, or move to one of those places he seems so hot to turn Burlington into.
Normally, developers pay for the streets associated with their developments and related infrastructure. To ask citizens to take tax money that could be used towards paying the 65 million school debt to subsidize a millionaire developer is criminal. The way TIF works means that 75% of the tax revenue gained from this project would have to go to pay back the TIF for about 20 years (the assertion that we won’t be asked to cover repaying the bond until Sinex’s project pays up doesn’t seem to make sense, because in the meantime where is the tax income to pay for the costs of taking care of a building this large and the people that come with it?). Only 25 % of tax income would be left over to pay for the infrastructure, school needs, etc., for this giant new building and the people in it. That leaves citizens paying the tab.If Sinex is solid and has real investors, he doesn’t need this corporate welfare paid for by the people of Burlington. Please see TIF explained on the Coalition for a Livable City Blog: http://coalitionforalivablecity.blogspot.c… and also Shay Totten’s excellent piece on the upcoming TIF vote at: https://shaytotten.wordpress.com/2016/09/
TIF is essentially a bad bet that the next generation will have to pay off. The “industrial growth” economy that depends on unrelenting expansion of production and revenues is a dead end powered by fossil fuel and greed. So here’s why I’m voting against the TIF in November: we need a downtown development that fits the real needs of the coming decades. Not one that encourages production and consumption of needless items imported from China, but one based on Earth-friendly principles and real, useful, locally-produced things. Yes that includes restaurants, grocery stores, child care centers, farmers markets, even gift and clothing shops. It is not the Sinex Towers project. Vote no and save the future for your kids and grandkids.
Regarding financial viability of the project, here’s what Sinex tells his Devonwood investors: “During the next 10-12 years, provided general economic conditions remain sound, the tenants remain intact, the financial market remain as they exist today, and Burlington CBD continues to prosper, grow and improve, the property could achieve a future gross value of approximately $400 million, representing $150 million of value over the project’s cost at the end of the 12th year after completion. This is an optimistic financial projection that should not be relied on as a forecast of actual results or expected performance.” http://www.devonwoodinvestors.com/project/…
Already too big to fail to fail — requiring a Pre-development Agreement with the developer, including a massive downtown zone-busting overlay district, public TIF funds, and a rushed timeline that bypassed due diligence by the Planning Commission and the Ordinance Committee, and councilors scared that they would miss a deal too good to be true. Well, we’ve heard all that before — remember the Alden waterfront project?
This whole project and the Mayors attitude towards the citizens of Burlington is wrong on so many levels. No pun intended. This mall project will benefit a small group of people with money who want more money. This project will allegedly provide affordable housing. At most that will only account for about 40 apts. When asked what the rent of apts. with views of the lake would be, Mr. Sinex chuckled and said he didn’t know yet, but it wouldn’t be a million dollars. The Mayor continues to set his own agenda which does not include fixing the infrastructure which has been ignored for to long. The Mayor has said that we have almost 3 miles of streets without sidewalks even thought the city charter says every street in Burlington will have at least one sidewalk.Why are we spending tax money to open streets that we closed with tax money ? Last time a Mayor thought a project was a good idea it cost us $17,000,000.00. What could this ultimately cost us ? The Mayor & city council told us that North Ave. was the most dangerous road in the western hemisphere therefore we needed to put in two bike lanes and reduce from 4 lanes to 3. They did this despite a 700 majority vote from ward 4 & 7 to keep the 4 lanes. If these building are allowed to be built as proposed it will only be the beginning of the end of Burlington as we know and love it.