Final TIF plan debate Tuesday

City officials are often criticized for not having a plan.

Tonight, the city council considers a plan that could mean fewer older homes in the area of the former Blaine and Central school sites. It would create space for additional commercial development plus some housing development and create a tax increment finance district worth about $5 million. The goal is to multiply 10-fold the value of the area and create opportunities for redevelopment.

“The Blaine-Central site is not like an industrial site,” Mayor Dave Ross said. “It’s not like Connors Point; it’s not like Winter Street … This is a very different kind of development in which we’re attracting office space and an office park, which you don’t put in an industrial park.”

Ross said the project is the most significant undertaking during his five years in office and could prove to be as valuable to the city as the development of Barker’s Island in the late 1970s and early 80s.

To be included in the project is property bounded between North 13th and Belknap streets from Grand to Fisher Avenues. The project area includes the site of the Grand Central Development.

Port and Planning Director Jason Serck said including Grand Central in the TIF offers the city assurances that it will be able to pay off the debt incurred for the district.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. today in Room 201 of the Government Center.

Tags: tif, grand, central, city, council, project, development, blaine-central