A proposal to create a new tax increment finance (TIF) district aimed at spurring development along East Green Bay Street in Shawano was approved by the Common Council on Wednesday.
However, the plan won’t be official until it is approved by a Joint Review Board made up of the city and other taxing entities — including Shawano County, the Shawano School District and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
The board is expected to meet sometime before the end of the month.
TIF districts are areas where municipalities invest in infrastructure, such as sewer and water, to attract development where it might not otherwise occur, or to make improvements, such as eliminating blight.
Whatever increase in tax revenue that results from development in those districts goes to paying back the debt the municipality incurred from making improvements to the district.
Other taxing entities have to approve of the plan because they would not share in any additional revenue from new development in the district until the improvements are paid off.
The district would stretch from mid-block between Sawyer and Andrews streets east to roughly midway between Airport Drive and Rusch Road.
It would encompass more than 100 properties, but would zigzag around those properties that are sufficiently developed, including a major detour around the Shawano County Fairgrounds.
The goal is to include properties that need improvement or assistance toward making improvements, City Administrator Brian Knapp said.
The plan envisions spending about $8.6 million, including $4 million in infrastructure improvements, such as road work and sewer and water utilities, and $1.5 million in incentives to property owners.
However, those numbers are flexible and, Knapp said, the city would prefer to spend more on incentives to property owners.
The city is in the process of developing a program and the criteria necessary to provide grants and low-interest loans to property owners. However, nothing would be spent unless there is an expectation of a return in revenue of about four or five times what was invested, Knapp said.
Knapp said funds could be available for property owners as soon as August if the Joint Review Board agrees.
Knapp said it would be similar to the TIF district set up for Main Street and would be aimed at assisting properties that are “under-utilized or in potential need of development or re-development.”
Shawano has one TIF district already paid off and four active TIF districts: Raasch Industrial Park; a residential area targeted for blight elimination from Main Street east to Lincoln street and Zingler Avenue south to Pearl Avenue; a downtown TIF district running from the Main Street bridge south to Sunset Avenue; and the Bay Lakes Industrial Park.