BENNINGTON — Bennington’s tax increment financing district proposal involves 17 potential sites for public infrastructure work — totaling an estimated $5.8 million — and 15 buildings or parcels that could see privately funded projects.
The draft plan was the subject of a presentation Monday by town officials and representatives from Burke & White Real Estate Investment Advisors, which is helping to prepare the TIF application to the state. The well-attended meeting launched a seven-day public comment period for the plan, which is expected to go to the Selectboard for a hearing Sept. 11.
A map of the proposed TIF district shows that it closely follows boundaries of the designated downtown district, with some key exceptions, said Michael McDonough, who is developing the application to the state for a TIF district along with Planning Director Dan Monks and the consultants.
Areas of deviation, the officials said, include a loop to the east along Main Street to include the vacant former Bennington High School/Middle School building, and some boundary shifts along Union Street and elsewhere to include or exclude specific properties.
“What we have here is a package of dreams, if you will,” McDonough said. “It’s a package of all those places we have all walked by and said, ‘Gee, if only … . Now, here is an opportunity for that ‘if’ to come to fruition. And we have the necessary infrastructure component to support that redevelopment under the TIF program.”
The proposed district would encompass 155 parcels and 70.5 acres in the downtown core. The entire proposal is posted on the town’s website.
Those wishing to comment, make suggestions or ask questions can do so via email at TIF@BenningtonVT.org by Aug. 14.
Having a designated TIF district would allow the town to bond for infrastructure work designed to both improve the downtown and stimulate or support private investment projects — and to pay off that debt with a percentage of the new property tax revenue generated, which would otherwise go to the state.
Gail Henderson-King, a senior project manager with Burke & White, explained the TIF process. She said that if a property is assessed at $1 million, and after a privately financed project it is assessed at $5 million, a percentage of the additional property tax revenue can be used to pay off the town’s infrastructure bond.
The draft proposal estimates a total of $5.8 million in potential infrastructure projects throughout the downtown and a total of $20.4 million in new property valuation created by private investment stimulated by the public projects.
Infrastructure proposals include parking and streetscape improvements, and water, sewer or electric utility work.
The application includes maps and information on the potential public and private projects that officials believe are possible and could revitalize Bennington’s downtown. Revenue and property value estimates are included.
The anchor private project that spurred consideration of a TIF district is the $54 million plan to redevelop six buildings on 4 acres around the former Putnam Hotel at the intersection of routes 7 and 9.
In the TIF application materials, the first two phases of the Putnam Block plan are listed as the top private projects. A consortium of community-oriented institutions and investors, operating as the Bennington Redevelopment Group, hopes to begin construction in the fall on Phase 1.
Other sites in the district listed for potential private projects include the Harte block, the Bennington Banner building, the People’s Bank building, the former Catamount school, the former Bennington Brush building, the Bennington Bookshop building, the former high school and the former H. Greenberg & Son hardware and lumber business site.
Possible private projects for those sites will be ranked in tiers, said Stephanie Hainley, chief operating officer with Burke & White. She said projects are ranked in terms of whether they are likely to happen soon or could occur in the future as economic vitality within the district increases.
As at past meetings on the TIF process, officials again fielded some pointed questions about the TIF process and the risk to taxpayers. Resident Mike Bethel and others said they were looking for assurance taxpayers will not have to pay off a bond to support private projects that could have happened without a TIF district, or in the event private projects failed and were never completed.
Monks said the town would borrow only for infrastructure projects related to specific private projects that had financing already approved and were ready to move forward, and each bonding plan would require a town vote.
In that case, he said, there is “almost no risk” the town would wind up on the hook for a loan without new tax revenue to pay it back.
Selectboard member Donald Campbell said there also is “the risk of doing nothing,” in that the local economy will likely continue to stagnate rather than grow without the TIF district and similar efforts.
McDonough and Monks said the Putnam Block project includes significant investment from local institutions like Bennington College, Southern Vermont College, Southwestern Vermont Health Care, the Bank of Bennington, and local businesses and private investors, with an overriding goal of revitalizing the downtown.
If approved by the Selectboard, the TIF application will go to the Vermont Economic Progress Council, which issues district approvals and annually reviews progress toward the financial and other goals of the projects. The council could approve the Bennington plan by the end of the year, local officials believe, but only after a comprehensive review and three public meetings, including one held here, prior to a council vote.
Town voters also would have to approve the TIF district, and officials say they hope that could occur at the annual town meeting in March.
Burke & White has been involved in four other TIF district proposals in other Vermont communities. The consultants described similar downtown efforts in St. Albans and Barre. Both involved a public project, such as a parking garage or street improvements, that encouraged private investment and contributed to a general revival of the downtown core.
They added that TIF districts are only one redevelopment tool, used in combination with brownfields or other state and federal grants, as well as tax credits for historic preservation and affordable housing.
A TIF district is especially useful in an aging downtown area, they said, where the infrastructure needs updating and there are often environmental issues to contend with, and when work must be done in tight spaces resulting from traffic congestion.
In those instances, the consultants said, a publicly funded TIF project can make the difference in whether a private investor will make a commitment.
Asked if he thought the Putnam Block plan could proceed without a TIF district, McDonough said the initiative might collapse or be significantly downsized without all the financial tools the development group seeks to employ, including infrastructure work provided through a TIF district.
