Explanation
BACKGROUND: In response to a petition from the Department of Development, City Council, by its Ordinance No. 2172-2005 passed on December 12, 2005, approved the creation of the Short North Incentive District. Service payments in lieu of taxes made with respect to improvements within the Short North Incentive District are diverted to the Short North Tax Equivalent Fund and are intended to finance the creation of up to 500 public parking spaces in the Short North Incentive District to relieve parking overcrowding and spur job creation. A parking study was done in 2005 that identified a need for 500 additional parking spaces in the Short North TIF District. A development has been proposed in the Short North that would develop 250 of those 500 spaces. The City is committed to continue working to help generate the additional 250 parking spaces needed in the Short North area.
The attached ordinance authorizes the Director of Development to enter into a TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement by and among the City and Apex Realty Enterprises, LLC to finance the construction of a parking garage containing 250 public parking spaces by assigning a portion of the service payments in lieu of taxes collected within the Short North TIF Incentive District to pay costs incurred for construction of that parking garage.
FISCAL IMPACT: The City has foregone the real property tax revenue that it would have received with respect to development within the Short North Incentive District. Instead, that revenue has been diverted to the Short North Tax Equivalent Fund, a portion of which will be applied and distributed pursuant to the TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement.
Title
An ordinance approving and authorizing the Director of Development to execute a TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement for the construction of a parking garage containing 250 public parking spaces in the Short North Incentive District; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Sections 5709.40, 5709.41, 5709.42 and 5709.43, this Council on December 12, 2005, adopted Ordinance No. 2172-2005 (the "Short North TIF Ordinance"), authorizing the creation of the Short North Incentive District (the "Incentive District"), declaring improvements to parcels of certain real property located in the Incentive District to be a public purpose, exempting those improvements from real property taxation for a period of time, specifying certain public infrastructure improvements to be made to benefit those parcels, providing for the making of service payments in lieu of taxes (the "Service Payments") by the owners thereof, providing for payments to the Columbus City School District in the amount of the real property taxes that School District would have been paid if the improvements had not be exempted from taxation pursuant to the Short North TIF Ordinance, and establishing the Short North Tax Equivalent Fund into which the remaining Service Payments are to be deposited (the "TIF Fund"); and
WHEREAS, there has been placed on file in the office of the City Clerk a Short North Parking Study, dated November 2005, which outlines the development that has occurred and continues to occur within the area compromising the Incentive District and the public parking shortage therein; and
WHEREAS, the Short North Parking Study identified the need for an additional 500 public parking spaces in the area; and
WHEREAS, this proposed development intends to construct 250 of the 500 public parking spaces needed in the Short North; and
WHEREAS, the City is committed to continue working to help generate the additional 250 public parking spaces needed in the Short North; and
WHEREAS, in connection with the redevelopment and revitalization of the Incentive District, this Council now desires to authorize the execution of a TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement (the "TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement") by and between the City and Apex Realty Enterprises, LLC (the "Developer"), to provide for the payment of a portion of the Service Payments to the Developer or the assignment of a portion to the Columbus-Franklin County Financing Authority to finance the construction of a parking garage containing 250 public parking spaces (the "Parking Garage"); and
WHEREAS, this legislation needs to be an emergency measure to allow the development to move forward in a timely manner; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development, in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the execution of the TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement in order to preserve the opportunity to develop the Parking Garage, all for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. The form of TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement between the City and the Developer presently on file with the City Clerk, providing for, among other things, reimbursement to the Developer for the costs of constructing the Parking Garage from a portion of the Service Payments or the assignment of a portion of the Service Payment to the Columbus-Franklin county Financing Authority, is hereby approved and authorized with changes therein and amendments thereto not inconsistent with this Ordinance and not substantially adverse to the City and which shall be approved by the Director of the City's Department of Development (the "Director"). The Director, for and in the name of the City, is hereby authorized to execute the TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement with the Developer in substantially that form along with any changes or amendments thereto, provided that the approval of such changes and amendments thereto by the Director, and the character of those changes and amendments as not being substantially adverse to the City, shall be evidenced conclusively by the execution thereof by the Director.
Section 2. This Council authorizes and directs the Director or other appropriate officers of the City to prepare and execute all agreements and instruments and to take all actions as may be appropriate to implement this Ordinance.
Section 3. That the Service Payments deposited in the TIF Fund shall be deemed appropriated for the purposes set forth in the TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement and are hereby authorized to be expended therefrom in accordance with the TIF Project and Reimbursement Agreement and the City Auditor is hereby authorized to make payments from the TIF Fund upon receipt of invoice(s) approved by the Director of Development.
Section 4. That for the reason stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this Ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor or ten days after its passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.