BENNINGTON — Town officials and consultants preparing Bennington’s application for a tax increment financing district for the downtown will unveil a draft proposal Monday and take questions and comments from the public.
Assistant Town Manager and Planning Director Dan Monks said there will be a short presentation by local officials and representatives from Burke & White Real Estate Investment Advisors, which is helping to prepare the TIF application. Afterward there will be time for downtown stakeholders, residents and others to ask questions or “really get into the weeds” on specifics of the proposal, Monks said.
“We plan to roll out our draft TIF plan,” he said.
On Tuesday, the draft will be posted on the town’s website to allow further review and opportunity for public comment.
Monks said the application will be submitted to the Selectboard in September for its approval, and then to the Vermont Economic Progress Council, which approves TIF districts and annually reviews progress toward projects’ financial and other goals.
With an established TIF district, a community can bond for public infrastructure improvements that will encourage private development and pay off that debt by using a percentage of the additional tax revenue generated through resulting increases in property values.
The catalyst for considering a TIF here has been the proposed $54-million-plus Putnam Block project, in which a consortium of investors, including local colleges, the hospital, other institutions and private investors, wants to develop six downtown buildings and land around the historic former Putnam Hotel.
Monks and Michael McDonough, who is assisting with the application process, said they’ve been developing the draft plan along with personnel from Burke & White, which has worked on four TIF proposals in other Vermont communities.
The draft will cover possible or planned redevelopment projects, the boundaries of the district — expected to roughly coincide with the current designated downtown district — and the infrastructure projects the town might undertake to encourage private development.
The properties eyed for inclusion are essentially those that have been under consideration for redevelopment for a number of years, McDonough said.
Infrastructure proposals have included brownfields remediation work, parking and streetscape improvements, and water, sewer or electric utility work.
Those ideas are primarily under consideration for Phase 2 of the Putnam project. The second phase will focus on a former H. Greenberg & Son lumberyard and its parking lot and surrounding spaces, located to the west of the former hotel and two adjacent historic structures at the Four Corners intersection of routes 9 and 7.
The first phase of the Putnam Block project includes redevelopment of the hotel building, the adjacent former courthouse, or Pennysaver building, and the Winslow building for downtown residential and retail spaces.
The developer, Bennington Redevelopment Group, is aiming for a late fall construction start for the first phase.
Phase 2, proposed to begin about a year afterward, would include a medical and office building, a grocery store, townhouses or other housing and public spaces on the Washington Avenue side of the property, west of the hotel.
The goal for Monday, Monks said, is “for people to come see the plan and offer their comments.”
The meeting is set for 6 to 8 p.m. at the Bennington Firehouse on River Street.
The officials said there also will be other opportunities for the public and stakeholders to comment or ask questions prior to any vote by the Selectboard. The Vermont Economic Progress Council would hold three hearings on a TIF application, including one in the community, before voting.
At a prior meeting to outline the TIF process, the consultants stressed that TIF financing is usually only one of the development tools communities use to promote private investment, but that in downtowns with older building and infrastructure it can be key to enticing private investors.
Other sources of funding could include a Community Development Block Grant or other grant funding, historic preservation, affordable housing or other tax credits, and brownfields remediation funding.
They also said the council will be looking for community support for the application, not only backing from town officials.
