November 16, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City Council Supports Shopping Center Development, Talks Future Budget Cuts
DECATUR - The Decatur City Council on Monday took steps towards breathing new life into an aging east side shopping center while informally directing the City Manager to try and open talks with city employee groups about future financial concessions in the wake of revenues which are projected to be significantly less than expected.
The council voted in favor of rezoning the property located in the 2200 block of East William Street (The Pines Shopping Center) to a B3 Planned Shopping District contingent upon the sale of the property and received and filed a redevelopment agreement and feasibility study for the property. The votes represented the first steps necessary for the establishment of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district to support future area development.
With TIF districts a baseline level of property value is set for an area and as the value of area property goes up owners continue to pay the actual amount of taxes owed but the amount of increase over the baseline level goes back into a special fund to be used to pay for eligible redevelopment expenses.
Neimann Holdings LLC has plans to purchase the Pines Shopping Center site and construct a new Save-A-Lot store to replace the current store in addition to other improvements. Plans would be for construction to start next year with the new store opening in 2011 followed by the additional improvements. The current store would remain open until the new store was completed (it would be elsewhere on the site).
In other business the council informally directed the City Manager to try and start discussions with employee groups about the possibility of concessions in the near future as the city’s budget situation has failed to see any improvement over the last several months. City Manager Ryan McCrady said during the meeting that the city might be looking at a minimum of an additional 10 percent in cuts in addition to other cuts that have already been made if revenues do not improve soon.
The council during Monday’s meeting also voted to amend the city's zoning ordinance to facilitate the future development of wind energy systems and appropriated funds for the MacArthur Road and Stevens Creek bridge replacement. The Macarthur Road/Stevens Creek bridge project is being funded by a combination of federal and state funds.
For more information contact Billy Tyus at 424-2753.