The city planning board will consider an amendment to the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan during their June 28 meeting for a drainage project.
The City Commission adopted the downtown plan in 2012 and it was the result of the development and adoption of the Downtown Master Plan.
That plan “provides a blueprint for the revitalization and redevelopment of downtown, and recommended the creation of an urban renewal district that utilizes tax increment financing to help fund public improvements called out within the DMP and the city’s growth policy,” according to city staff.
The city’s Public Works department is working on two capital projects to address drainage in the downtown area and to be apply to use tax increment financing to help fund the projects, they need to be addressed in the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan.
The first project is designed to resolve flooding and ice buildup problems on 2nd Avenue Alley behind the Celtic Cowboy and Hotel Arvon, between Park Drive and 2nd Street South.
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Because there is almost no slope in the alley and buildings on either side block out sunlight, water has a tendency to pond in the alley and then turn to ice in wintertime conditions. Pedestrians regularly traverse the alley because there is a parking garage on the south side of the alley that hotel guests use, according to city staff.
The proposed project will install drainage inlets and a conveyance pipe to drain the water more effectively to an existing storm drain system in 2nd Street South.
Public Works has requested $90,000 of downtown TIF funds and would like to bid the project in August with a completion during the fall of this year.
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The second project is a much larger project designed to upgrade the capacity of the storm drainage network downtown.
The proposed project area encompasses the streets and avenues bordered by 2nd Avenue North, 2nd Street, 4th Avenue South and 5th Street.
The proposed project would include work from the intersection of 4th Avenue South and 2nd Street South to the east bank of the Missouri River.
The project will involve adding storm drain inlets, increasing underground pipe capacity and better conveying storm water to the Missouri River.
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The project is expected to take place between 2022 and 2027 and be divided into four distinct phases.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be about $6.3 million.
Funding for the project will come from $3.8 million in ARPA grant funds and city storm drain funds, and $2.5 million in downtown TIF funds.
Staff intends to do TIF requests in $500,000 increments over the five-year project period to reduce the impact to the TIF’s cash balance.
The downtown TIF district currently has a $4.1 million balance, according to staff.
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Under state law, public infrastructure projects are eligible for TIF funds, but when the city developed the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan, it didn’t address the need for public investments in drainage facilities, water and sewer upgrades, and general upgrades to streets and alleys.
“This was clearly an oversight related to the issues that were points of emphasis during the Downtown Master Plan development process that occurred in 2011,” according to city staff.
City staff are proposing to update the plan in provide policy guidance for the two proposed draining projects and also create policies to support future infrastructure investments, according to staff.
The Downtown Development Partnership voted to support the amendment during their June 22 meeting.
Staff is recommending that the planning board recommend approval to the City Commission, which will have the final decision on the proposed amendment.
