With GBT seeking alternative financing for their Crestpointe project using Tax Increment Financing, the lines seem to be drawn again as illustrated in the Oak Ridger
letters today.
There we find two letters that rehash old confused and incorrect points and one letter that seems to effectively refute these. What does anyone think can be done to reach these guys?
What too many people don't realize is that to induce large projects, cities must provide incentives. Chicago provides them, St. Louis provides them, Cincinnati, Lexington, the list is nearly endless. A city can't just put up a "Develop Me" sign and sit back and have companies gratefully line up to get in.
This reluctance to participate in development is not fully understood by me. I don't live in Oak Ridge yet (I bought a house last year and will be moving in about four years), so I can't feel the frustration of what happened in the past. The what's in it for me mentality, as opposed to what's good for the community, is something that must be reconciled. I think the older residents fall into the what's in it for me catagory, so they fight for their status quo.
Citing the Aldi pullout, even companies that don't ask for assistance receive so much flak that they change their mind. How do you explain this turn of events?
Since my user name is Outsider, please tolerate my ignorance in issues that to a resident may seem elementary. I'm trying to learn about my future hometown, and this participation seems to be a good route for me to take. Thanks for tolerating me.
Hey Cracker:
Did I miss something? Is Aldi not coming now?
Nope, they pulled up stakes without any explanation. There really wasn't too much flak over them coming in, beyond the necessity of having a loading dock either facing the turnpike, or facing the backyard of houses on Tennessee.
A shame, really. As an east ender, I like the idea of anything really opening up over here. I heard rumors way back when that Ingles was eyeing that spot developed across the street (where the old fox auto place was, next to the old food city), but its been over a year, and nothings happened there.
I'm thinking, particuarly with all the misanthropes bitching about the renewed work on Crestpoint, development in town is going to stagnate.
Which was kinda the worst case scenario, wasn't it?
Yes, ALDI has decided not to follow through on their plan. The only factor that makes any sense to me is that there is a drainage ditch through the property that the neighbors feared that their properties would be flooded if it were put into a culvert. Perhaps there was some threat of legal action.
The plan had passed all the committee reviews pretty nicely. I hope we can find the real story soon. Our reputation for new development stinks.
As for Crestpointe, I think most people realize that our available space is not easy for development. The TIF form of financing that GBT will initiate is a wonderful idea. When the Mall finally gets their act together, a TIF would be a likely form of finance. A more traditional TIF may be the way to finance neighborhood renovation. Basically the improvement project helps pay for itself without using upfront taxpayer money. The citizens get the benefit of the project without committing current money or borrowed funds.
Well, think about it. Would you want to open up in an area that is so anti change? I would give anything to have something on the East End up on the turnpike to go to. There is always Food Lion but it is really out of the way for East Villagers. It is probably just as easy to go into town to Food City as it is to go to Food Lion. I had heard that the property next to where Food City was was being prepared for a large entity but to no avail. We continue garbaging up this town and pretty soon the whole town is going to look like Warehouse Road.
ALDI did show us that empty retail space is likely to remain empty if it is not filled quickly. They found that no existing space was better than an empty lot. Maybe we should be thinking of a process to get empty buildings razed over appropriate time frames.
At what expense, Cracker? The big vacant lot on the east end of the turnpike looks about as good as the dilapidated car lot, as far as I'm concerned.
Actually I was thinking about it in terms of the TIF concept. For example, the Mall is appraised at cost of land minus the razing of the property. They were able to force this reappraisal simply as a matter of policy. In fact, every landowner with empty retail/commercial space can apparently do that.
If we were to create a small TIF over the land that is appraised in such a way, then if the owner decided to clear the land to make its future use more flexible, the property appraisal would go up to that of empty land and that increase could, through the TIF structure, help the owner pay for the clearing. We get the benefit of removing an empty eyesore and moving the land closer to some actual future use and the land owner gets help for that preparation.
Under this scheme, the land owner does the right thing for himself and the community, and in so doing generates some funds to offset the costs.
Aldi did us a big favor by choosing to excel elsewhere. We have enough dented cans store in this pit. If it is going to take up all the brainpower this town has to offer to entice business to locate here it should be used to at least attract stores where botulism is not on aisle 2.