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TIF
panel recommends Shoppes at North Gate
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by Kim
Fickett
Landmark reporter
Cox Rabius Development, LLC, developers
of the proposed Shoppes at North Gate, may have been hoping
for an unanimous vote from the TIF Commission, but that
is not what they received.
After three hours of presentations and
discussion, the 11-member TIF Commission voted on the
proposed tax increment financing redevelopment of the
7.5 acre property at the intersection of HH Hwy. and NW
Prairie View Road in Platte City.
By a vote of 9-2, with Platte County Second
District Commissioner Jim Plunkett and Platte City Special
Road District representative Bill Brown voting no, the
commission gave its approval which will be forwarded and
presented to the board of aldermen at a future meeting.
“I’m really pleased that we
had a 9-2 decision,” said Developer Dina Cox. “I
would be hopeful as we go forward the two that couldn’t
support us find North Gate to be a positive for the community.”
The meeting remained pretty routine until
a motion was put on the floor to approve a resolution
stating the authorization of the TIF. The resolution is
contingent upon a final document approving the language
between the developer and the Platte County R-3 School
District for the $133,000 annual contribution from the
development to R-3.
Once the motion was seconded, Plunkett
motioned that the resolution be amended to include requiring
the developer to extend a sewer connection to the east
side of I-29. Brown seconded the motion.
“One of the questions I asked is
they kept saying early on they didn’t have enough
money to make it work,” said Plunkett.
“My question to them was were they
going to do a CID (Community Improvement District) to
help supplement the funding to the district and their
answer was yes, and they even knew what the percentage
was going to be, saying they anticipated it would be a
half cent. What has frustrated me is that from the beginning
they were never forthcoming. If I had never asked how
they were going fund the school district, they would have
never came forth with that information.”
According to Plunkett, his whole reason
for requesting the developer to run a sewer line under
the interstate was because the developer’s attorneys
at King Hershey Law Firm admitted to not knowing about
the 3/8 cent sales tax for streets which was passed by
voters last Tuesday. That lack of knowledge affected the
accuracy of the latest figures they presented to the commission
on Thursday night.
“The reason I made my proposal is
because they had a funding mechanism they never disclosed
to us through the CID and secondly, with the passage of
the 3/8 cent road tax and even with the modified papers
they gave to us Thursday night, they didn’t include
the passage of the 3/8 cent sales tax,” stated Plunkett.
With the implementation of the CID and
the 3/8 cent sales tax, Plunkett said shoppers at the
Shoppes at North Gate will pay nearly as much in sales
tax as the shoppers of the Zona Rosa development.
If Cox-Rabius sets the self-imposed CID
tax rate at the anticipated one-half cent, combined with
the recently passed 3/8 cent sales tax and other state
and local taxes, the redeveloped area could become the
second most expensive place to shop in Platte County,
according to Plunkett.
Currently, Zona Rosa’s tax rate is
established at 8.95%. If developed and taxes are implemented
as the developer has stated, the Shoppes at North Gate
tax rate will be set at 8.48 percent
.
Cox said that she is not concerned that the additional
CID sales tax tax rate could create a potential negative
effect on business.
“When you look at it on a $100 purchase
it would be 50 cents and I think certainly the ambiance
and the development will bring enough value that people
won’t be concerned about 50 cents on $100,”
stated Cox.
Cox acknowledged that the exact amount
of the CID has not yet been determined.
“There is a chance it could be a
full one cent. (It will be determined) after we have final
numbers in on some of the infrastructure that has to be
done,” she said.
Plunkett said he believes that additional
CID revenue could have potentially created the revenue
the city needed to extend a sewer line across I-29.
“I speculate that logically the sales
tax could have easily funded the sewer extension. Initially,
they always said their projections were tight and now
when they have two additional mechanisms of revenue and
with the public infrastructure improvements presented
in the plan less than 15 percent, why not offer up something
that would be great for Platte City?”
Platte City TIF Attorney Doug Patterson
said, “I respect the motion to amend but that’s
a material change to the plan. It would be a gut of this
plan.”
Developer Dina Cox also stated the additional
attorney fees and engineering fees it would take to redevelop
the plans from the beginning to include the sewer extension
would not be reasonable.
“I don’t think it would be feasible,”
she said.
Plunkett stated, “The entire purpose of this TIF
was to bring economic funding through taxes to the City
of Platte City, Missouri.
“If the purpose of that is to make
that happen, they why shouldn’t you take additional
revenue that is generated and not shown to us in any of
the books and open up additional development east of I-29?
If you did that then all the taxing jurisdictions would
benefit because of property tax.”
If a sewer line would be run underneath
the interstate, Plunkett said it would potentially open
the floodgates for Platte City.
“If you open the area up across the
street to commercial development, the property taxes generated
off commercial development would exceed those of residential
development,” said Plunkett. “I’m in hopes
that Mayor (Dave) Brooks is successful at negotiating
at no cost to the city an extension of sewer lines under
I-29 because that’s what I was proposing.”
Plunkett said he does not regret his motion
or vote.
“The county commission’s stance
has never wavered. Our request of developers is to make
these improvements out of their pockets without any kind
of reimbursement from any public bodies,” he said.
“I can’t vote yes on this one
and then turn around tell other developers in Platte County
that they must pay for it on their own.”
Now that the TIF Commission's recommendation
has been made, a final decision on issuing the TIF will
be made by the Platte City Board of Aldermen. The aldermen
must wait at least 14 days from the time of the TIF Commission
decision to take up the matter.
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