VERO BEACH — The City Council voted Tuesday night to create the city’s first Economic Development Zone.
By a 4-1 vote, the council formed the zone, which includes the historic downtown, at the urging of a group of downtown business owners. As properties in the zone appreciate in value, the higher taxes will pay into a trust fund, and from there will pay for improvement projects.
The zone includes about 530 commercial real estate parcels in some of the longest inhabited parts of the city and is roughly framed by U.S. 1 on the east and near 20th Avenue to the west, and the North Relief Canal south to 16th Street.
A recent assessment of properties in the zone counted almost $192 million in total, about 9 percent of Vero Beach’s taxable value.
Only commercial properties would pay taxes into the zone’s trust fund. Areas in the new zone include the U.S. 1 corridor, the Arts District, the 14th Avenue and 17th Street business districts and the Twin Pairs through downtown.
The new zone also includes the Original Town neighborhood. Subdivided for the Indian River Farms Land Co. in 1913, it is now a mix of homes, apartments, offices and churches.
Only commercial land may be involved in an Economic Development Zone, said architect Peter Jones, who chairs a committee of area business and land owners who support the trust fund. However, adjacent areas might benefit from sidewalk improvements and historical markers.
The committee has been meeting for more than a year, after a city ordinance passed in May 2012 allowed tax increment financing, which captures any increase in taxes for a certain area because of increased property value and puts it in a trust fund for improvements to that area.
The amount isn’t likely to be large, at least not at first, according to a report by Timothy McGarry, the city’s director of planning and development. Finance officials told him a 1 percent rise in property values in the zone would generate about $3,700 at the city’s current tax rate. Five consecutive such years would garner $56,000; after 10 years, $210,000. Jones said there also may be state and federal grant money possible.
Tuesday’s dissenting vote was from Councilwoman Pilar Turner. She expressed concern that beach and Miracle Mile property owners might someday want their own Economic Development Zones, further reducing the city’s tax base.
“They’re getting special treatment in (the downtown) area and not others,” Turner said.
Twenty-one downtown business and property owners will serve on a new city advisory committee to develop suggested capital projects inside the downtown area. Jones said so far only concepts for projects have been discussed.
City Manager James O’Connor said City Council will have the final say on how money in the trust fund is spent. Some ideas discussed so far include landscaping, added parking and decorative banners.
Speak Your Mind