Property owners along East Green Bay Street will soon be eligible to apply for low-interest loans and other incentives aimed at encouraging development along that corridor of the city.
A Joint Review Board made up of the city and other taxing entities gave its final approval Thursday to a new tax increment finance (TIF) district that will stretch from mid-block between Sawyer and Andrews streets east to roughly midway between Airport Drive and Rusch Road.
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.
The district would have no effect on taxes unless improvements are made to a property that raise that property’s assessed value.
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 Joint Review Board consists of representatives from the city, Shawano County, the Shawano School District, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and one at-large member.
The school district representative and at-large member were not present for Thursday’s meeting, but the remaining quorum gave final approval to the plan.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the school district had not raised any objections to the plan at previous Joint Review Board meetings.
The district will 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, 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’s Industrial and Commercial Development Commission will meet Wednesday to discuss the establishment of an incentives program for property owners, Knapp said.
The commission will determine the criteria necessary to provide grants and low-interest loans to property owners.
Knapp said he expects funds to be available within a month or two.
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.