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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Amendment to Campustown Urban Revitalization Plan RESOLUTION NO. 16-029 RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS TO CAMPUSTOWN URBAN REVITALIZATION PLAN CRITERIA FOR THE CITY OF AMES WHEREAS, at the December 8, 2015, City Council meeting, staff presented amendments to the Campustown Urban Revitalization Plan based upon the Council's prior direction; and, WHEREAS, the City Council chose to request additional information before making a decision on enacting an amendment to the Plan, and at that meeting, the Council directed staff to seek input from the Campustown Action Association (CAA) regarding the standards for Non- Formula Retail occupancy requirements and for staff to discuss with the City Assessor if tax abatement can be split for different assessment classifications on a single property; and, WHEREAS,the CAA provided a letter that explains its support for the Non-Formula Retail percentage requirements and occupancy standards as recommended by staff on December 8; and, WHEREAS,staff visited with the City Assessor and described Council's question regarding whether the classification of improvements on a property could be separated between residential and commercial; and, WHEREAS, a recent change to the property tax assessment law occurred in 2015 that now requires that multiple uses on a property be split out for assessment purposes; whereas,previously a property was classified by its majority of use and was only classified as one use; and, WHEREAS, due to this change in the law, the Assessor believes he is able to apply a property tax exemption to each individual classification on a property if Council was to approve an exemption for property and pass such a determination on to the Assessor as required under statute; and, WHEREAS,it is important to emphasize that even with dual use classification on a property, it would still be important that a whole building(s)is completed before the City Council determines if an individual use is qualifying real estate for tax abatement; and, WHEREAS, staff s original recommendations for the changes to the URA Plan have not been changed since the December 8 meeting; and, WHEREAS,amending the URA Plan by adopting a resolution makes any approved changes effectively immediately, which means that regardless of when construction was initiated on a property, any requests for tax abatement must be found to qualified real estate with improvements and uses that are consistent with the tax abatement criteria at the time of final approval by the Council; and, WHEREAS,however,anyprevious final tax abatement approvals would continue to be valid for the life of their exemption regardless of changes to the URA Plan; and, WHEREAS, if the Council has concerns about applying the new criteria to projects that are currently under construction, the proposed amendments could have an implementation date that defers the applicability of the changes. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Ames, Iowa, that the amendment to the Campustown Urban Revitalization Plan with the criteria included in Attachment A except for Column C(pertaining to Non-Formula Retail),as attached hereto and made a part hereof, is hereby approved. ADOPTED THIS 12`h day of January, 2016. f Iii-A", A. cam. Diane R. Voss, City Clerk Ann H. Campbell, Mayor Introduced by: Nelson Seconded by: Gartin Voting aye: Betcher, Beatty-Hansen, Corrieri, Gartin,Nelson, Orazem Voting nay: None Absent: None Resolution declared adopted and signed by the Mayor this 12'day of January, 2016.