HomeMy WebLinkAboutA006 - Request from Merlin Pfannkuch to table L 6 2000
Sept. 26, 2000
Mayor Tedesco and Members of the Ames City Council: CITYCOFAMESrIMIA
RE: Agenda item #26, Request from developers of Somerset Village for Tax Abatement
I respectfully request this item be tabled.
I make this request primarily because I do not see adequate information in the council
action form on which to make a decision.
What I do see is acknowledgment by City staff that they have "not verified whether any or
all" of the conditions by which developers could seek changes from the currently approved
plans have been met. Nor do I see any evidence that the developers have supplied this
information. Consequently, I see no basis on which to move this proposal forward at this
point.
Furthermore, I see numerous problems, or at least questions, in the council action form
lending support to my proposal to table this item. These are a few of the problems:
1) It's not clear to me (maybe I'm dense) why the original plans are referred to as
a "complex zoning agreement." I thought these were usually called a "developer's
agreement."
2) What exactly is "all new unoccupied construction?"
3) There seems to be an inconsistency between the agenda and the council action
form. The agenda refers to "Resolution approving/motion denying request of Somerset
Developers for tax abatement." The council action form refers to setting "the date of
hearing to amend Urban Revitalization #7."
4) There's not even a rough estimate or range of how much this proposed
abatement may mean in foregone tax revenues.
In sum, this looks like a hurriedly put together action form . . . and insufficient for
moving the request forward.
In addition, although I certainly don't keep close track of the real estate market in
Ames, it seems that it could be that sales in Somerset are slower than developers hoped
primarily because of a slower market in 2000 for new homes in Ames. The Parade of
Homes advertising supplement to The Tribune indicated that for the first three quarters of
2000, sales of new single-family home sales in Ames are only about half what they were
the two previous years, and also down substantially from three years earlier. Furthermore,
it has been obvious since late in the summer of 1999 that the number of rental units
available in Ames is starting to exceed the demand. To the extent that these factors are
affecting sales in Somerset, approval of the developers request is little more than a
subsidy.
Sincerely,
Merlin L. PfannkLfch
1424 Kellogg Ave.
Ames, IA 50010-5247
515--232-3319