Steps should be taken to identity properties in southern Montgomery County where developers could build homes, the president of the Redevelopment Commission said Wednesday.
Speaking during the commission’s first meeting of the year, Ron Dickerson named incentivizing residential development as one of the top priorities he believes the commission needs to tackle in the coming months.
New housing is seen as key for attracting businesses and industries to the county. The board of commissioners recently brought in an Indianapolis-based marketing firm to promote available land for residential, commercial and industrial use.
“The land that apparently is likely or maybe top of the agenda is in the north district, but I still think we need to also balance that somehow with trying to do something in the south district,” Dickerson said.
Dickerson stressed that he was only laying out ideas and called for another joint meeting between the RDC, commissioners and county council to discuss goals moving forward.
RDC attorney Dan Taylor said during the virtual meeting that the county has received a proposal for a marketing study to gather information about developing homes, as work continues to bring in new jobs.
“I think that the commissioners want to have the RDC move forward on both tracks,” Taylor said.
Consultant Lana Beregszazi, whose firm BCS Management has worked on site development in the county, asked whether it made sense to expand an existing tax increment financing district into areas the marketing study reveals as ideal for development.
Tax revenue from properties in the TIF district is used to spur economic development.
Taylor said discussion about expanding and creating new TIF districts is ongoing. A consultant from the firm that proposed the marketing study, HWC Engineering, encouraged caution
“You’ve got different opportunities now under the statute to create different kinds of TIF districts for different kinds of development and simply expanding your existing TIF may not be the best solution for certain types of projects,” said Chris Hamm, a senior planner.
