Public hearings relating to the proposed Webster Park housing project were held at Tuesday’s Pella City Council meeting.
City Administrator Mike Nardini tells KRLS News a development agreement between the city and the developer for tax increment financing incentives of up to $6.1 million over 20 years was approved. He says one of the key differences in this plan from others recently approved is that the property could still generate $1.1 million in property taxes over that time frame that the city, schools, and county don’t receive on the currently tax-exempt school property.
The other difference from other recent developments is that 75% of the area included is considered “blighted” under Iowa law, which was considered in an Urban Renewal Plan approved by council in October. The agreement also spells out the requirements for the timeline of $16.5 project adding 42 housing units just south of downtown Pella, which requires the demolition of the former Webster School building by the end of February and extension of the sanitary sewer by the end of August 2019.
Overall, the Webster Park development would have be completed in two phases — the first of which by March, 2020 and the second by the middle of 2021. Hear more from this week’s Pella City Council meeting on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.
