By Chuck Clement, Staff Reporter, courtesy of http://www.madisondailyleader.com
The developers of a new hotel and future conference center in Madison will take the first step on Tuesday morning toward building on their south Madison site when they seek the establishment of a new tax-increment district for property in the Lakeview Industrial Park.
Soon after the board members open the meeting of the Madison Planning Commission at 7 a.m. Tuesday in City Hall, they will hold a hearing on the creation of Tax Increment District No. 2 for lots 10 and 4D in Block 1 of the industrial park. The planning commission will deal with "...the question of whether to recommend the formation of a tax incremental district to be located in the following location (of the two lots)."
The supporters of the new TID want the outcome of the commission's hearing to decide whether "The tax increment district would be created to assist with public improvements related to the construction of a hotel and future conference center."
A TID would help the developers finance infrastructure improvements to the two lots that would include the construction of driveways and curb and gutter, the installation of water and sewer mains, and other infrastructure work.
Through the use of a TID, the property owners take the increased amount of property taxes that they pay each year -- the amount of taxes beyond the baseline property taxes that were paid before the land was developed -- to pay off any financing needed for infrastructure improvements.
City officials will consider several arguments for supporting the new TID listed in the planning commission's resolution. First, more than 50 percent of the affected property would stimulate and assist the local economy. Second, the TID improvements could add value to Madison and increase employment. Third, improving conference and convention resources could generate increased sales-tax revenue.
The two lots affected by the TID proposal lie east of the Heartland Consumers Power District headquarters in the industrial park located south of SD-34.
Chad Comes, city engineer, said the property owners, Madison Hospitality Group LLC, would own the driveways, utilities and other improvements constructed on the two lots. Comes added that with those improvements taken care of by the owners, Madison would not need to involve the city in the lot development.