Mayor Travis Mitchell announced today the city’s upcoming budget, which will be formally premiered Saturday morning, will include a $3.54 per month wastewater fee increase as well as cash funding for the reconstruction of the entirety of North Old Stagecoach Road. He also said the City Council will receive "in a few months" plans for the creation of a TIF District to help fund the Uptown mixed-use development to be located north of the Performing Arts Center.
Long-time readers may recognize that I have been advocating for the creation of TIFs in general and specifically one for this area north of Kohlers Crossing for more than three years, but, up until now, that suggestion has seemingly fell on deaf ears. Simply put, TIF Districts receive their funding through the increases in property taxes resulting from the development within the boundaries of the district. It creates an incentive for the best possible development.
Mitchell, who up until recently was not a supporter of the TIF concept, told the attendees of today’s Kyle Chamber of Commerce’s State of the City address luncheon, that his opinion was swayed during a recent tour "of other cities to view the very best they had to offer in mixed use development." Now, to his credit, although up until now Mitchell has never expressed a desire for the creation of TIF districts, he has been, at least for as long as I’ve known him, a supporter of, as he said in his address today, "a vibrant community (that) can be achieved through a concentrated mixture of land uses intentionally designed for residents to live, work and play all within walking distance" — what is known as the "Strong Towns" concept.
Mitchell said his tour of cities, most of which were either north of the Dallas/Fort Worth area or southeast of Houston — although, he said, one of these trips took him to Greenville, S.C. — were "all in an effort to understand how some of the most iconic and vibrant mixed-use developments came to exist." He said that he learned that "in a few of the most successful examples the city created a Tax Increment Financing District or TIF to generate revenue for public amenities from within the development itself..
"Well," the mayor said, "we have found such an opportunity right here in Kyle. It’s currently called Uptown, a 137-acre parcel of land behind the Performing Arts Center. It has existed as a concept for years. Folks who moved into Plum Creek might have had it pitched to them as a future development that would have sit-down restaurants, boutique retail, destination retail, playscapes, parks, a conference center, a sports venue, parking garages, wide sidewalks and more. In a few months the city council will receive a proposal to finally kickstart Uptown by creating the second TIF district in Kyle."
Mitchell said the money created by the TIF will be used to pay for "public improvements designed to benefit the whole city … 20-foot sidewalks in front of restaurants, parking garages, public parks, decorative lighting and more."
In announcing the plans for this mixed-use development, Mitchell said he was not abandoning the city’s downtown area. "Uptown is a project that will develop not as a replacement, but as an addition to our downtown community," he maintained.
Mitchell said the city must look beyond developing "apartment complexes and housing with very little retail and pursue a development that can elevate the development trajectory in Kyle forever.
"My vision for Kyle," the mayor proclaimed, "is to once and for all shed the stigma that we are simply a bedroom community lost in the sea of endless sprawl."
Mitchell, calling the proposed hike in wastewater fees "a good increase," said it was needed to fund the expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. He also said the increase was lower than what had been anticipated. "What was originally a $26 million expansion that would require a $20 million bond and a $7-per-month rate increase has been reduced to a $19 million plant with a $9.5 million bond and a $3.54 rate increase, which translates into roughly 3.5 percent increase in the average utility bill," the mayor said.
Mitchell noted that this would be the first wastewater fee increase since 2014 and that the lower price tag for the expansion came through developer contributions and the city’s engagement of "several engineering firms to find ways to reduce the cost of the expansion without sacrificing quality or capacity."
After reviewing for the luncheon attendees many of the current road projects underway in the city, Mitchell announced "We have secured enough money through developer contributions and savings to immediately cash fund a $7 million project for both the engineering and construction of North Old Stagecoach Road from the Walgreens at 150 bending south behind Hometown Kyle to Center Street and then along Center Street from Stagecoach Road to Rebel Drive next to Los Vaqueros Café. The entire project funded with cash."
Mitchell said the project will take a year to engineer and another 18 months for construction, so, if all goes according to plan, this project should be completed sometime in mid-2021, by which time, the mayor said, the city’s population will be in excess of 50,000.
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