Tuesday RDA Work Session: Progress Report on Pending RDA Projects

Check out this week's council packet to find out more

Not much is happening with the City Council/Redevelopment Agency this week. As a matter of fact, this week's regular RDA meeting has been cancelled. On the other hand, there is something on calender which we found to be quite interesting, namely Tuesday's RDA work session agenda, which includes a September RDA project report highlighting "new activity on notable projects or other activities undertaken by the RDA."

Curious about the progress of the heavily taxpayer-subsidized SouthRiver LLC River Project, the status of the similarly taxpayer funds-dependent Kevin Garn "Hot Tub Hotel" or some of the other projects simmering on the Ogden RDA front burner? Check out this week's council packet to find out more:

• 10/11 City Council-RDA Work Session

Kudos the the City Council/RDA for placing this project status report conspicuously within public view and scheduling these matters for formal work session discussion. Hopefully these project status reports will be issued on a regular basis in the future, as a concession to those political wonks (like us) who savor the most open and transparent government possible.

Comments, anyone?

Pioneer Days Weekend News Roundup/Wrapup - UPDATED

Plenty to discuss as the 2011 Pioneer Day Holiday wraps up, Yes?

A few semi-chewy weekend back-burner items for our gentle readers to gnaw on, as they trickle in from our L-O-N-G (and H-O-T) Pioneer Day weekend:

1) For the benefit of those folks who've been living under a rock, Ace Reporter Schwebke finally got around to reporting on Sunday the results of the July 12, 2011 Council Session, wherein the Ogden City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Board, voted unanimously to essentially give away 6.1 acres of land in the River Project area, with an assessed value of $2.4 million, to SouthRiver LLC, for a planned development of townhouses, apartments, and retail space:

• Building to begin soon in Ogden River Project

Boss Godfrey is of course thrilled and says "it's gratifying to know that construction will finally be starting," (after languishing under his ham-handed mismanagement for the last nine years or so.) If Boss Godfrey's clownishly-executed Ogden River Project isn't a classic real-life illustration of why local gummint shouldn't get involved or even dabble in ambitious and intricate real estate development, by the way, we'll be hard pressed to find anything which could possibly be more persuasive.

2) Despite some questions about the selection process used by the Casper (Wyoming) City council, the Casper Journal reports that Casper's municipal legislative body has now cured all legal defects, and has now formally given its official approval (by a 7-2 vote) to hiring John "Pureheart" Patterson as their new city manager. It's in this connection, of course, that one of our sharp-eye WCF readers asks the obvious question:

• "Shouldn't we all go down and wish the little f***** a good bye?"

3) We're hoping you're all no worse for wear after a Pioneer Days celebration which, (taking into account the mega-tonnage of fireworks and other personal incendiary ordnance which has been blown up or otherwise ignited in our Emerald City neighborhoods over the past month)... has plainly gone on for way too long (if you know what we mean and we think you do.)

Utah's legally sanctioned "24/7/30 Annoy Your Neighbors Kit"

Update 7/25/11 3:52 p.m.: Just to flesh out as fully as possible the entire array of discussion items which we may have inadvertently failed to address over the now dwindling Pioneer Day weekend (and in the recent past), we're pleased to add this Dan Schroeder 7/23/11 WCF comment to the mix:

• Dan Schroeder 7/23/11 Comment

Plenty to discuss as the 2011 Pioneer Day Holiday wraps up, NO?

So who'll be the next WCF Reader to chime in?

Ogden Poised to Give Away Land Valued at $2.4 Million - UPDATED

River Project agreement on tomorrow’s city council agenda.

By Dan Schroeder

The Ogden City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Board, will decide tomorrow night whether to give 6.4 acres of land in the River Project area to SouthRiver LLC for a planned development of townhouses, apartments, and retail space.

The assessed value of the land is over $2.4 million, but SouthRiver would pay little or nothing for it. Instead, the RDA would receive tax increment on the development. Tax increment is the additional property tax generated by a new development, which in redevelopment districts, for a period of time, goes to the RDA rather than the usual taxing entities.

News reports in April had indicated that SouthRiver would pay the RDA $741,000 for the property, but that has apparently changed.

The terms of the SouthRiver agreement are described in tomorrow’s 293-page RDA agenda packet, a 62-megabyte download from the city council web site. I’ve removed the many pages of architectural drawings and geotechnical studies, and compressed the rest of the packet into a 3.4-megabyte file that you can download here.

Despite its tremendous length, the agenda packet contains no estimate of the amount of tax increment that the RDA will collect from the project. Tom Christopulos, Ogden’s Deputy Director of Community and Economic Development, said he couldn’t provide such an estimate but that a detailed consultant’s report on future tax increment for the entire River Project area would be released in a few weeks.

Based on the stated value and timing of the SouthRiver development, my own best estimate is that its tax increment generation will come to a little under $1 million by 2019, when tax increment collection is scheduled to expire.

As some of us anticipated, the city intends to ask for an extension of tax increment collection on the River Project redevelopment area past 2019. The documents in the agenda packet indicate that the extension would be for seven years, which I estimate would generate a little over $1 million of additional revenue from the SouthRiver project for the RDA. The extension would have to be approved by six out of eight members of the Taxing Entity Committee. The city, Weber County, and the Ogden School District each get two votes on the committee; the Utah Board of Education gets one vote; and the last vote represents the Weber Sewer District and other smaller taxing entities.

The SouthRiver development area is shown in the map below, along with the rest of “Phase 1” of the River Project. Current assessed values are indicated for all parcels (click to enlarge).

The townhouses would be in the yellow-shaded area along 20th and Grant, referred to in the agreement as Section 1. The apartments and retail would be in the orange-shaded area along the river, referred to as Section 2. The new Bingham Cyclery building is on the blue-shaded parcel, while America First Credit Union owns the pink-shaded parcel. The two unshaded parcels along Washington Blvd. are owned by the RDA but are not part of the proposed agreement. According to Christopulos, the hope is that these two parcels can be sold for approximately their assessed values in a few years after the economy improves. (Note that this map differs from an earlier version that I created on the basis of information that was apparently incorrect.)

The 69 townhouses in Section 1 would be built in four phases, with the property transferred to SouthRiver separately for each phase, contingent on 80% completion and occupancy of the prior phases. The schedule calls for construction to begin this summer and for the entire project to be completed by the end of 2014.

If the proposed tax increment extension is approved, SouthRiver would pay nothing for the 6.4 acres of vacant land. If the extension is not approved, the terms of the agreement require SouthRiver to pay Ogden $258,952 for the Section 2 property, but to be reimbursed for most or all of this expense from whatever tax increment is later collected on Section 2.

In addition, the agreement calls for the RDA to perform “soil mitigation activities” to remediate the inadequate soil compaction in the area. Christopulos indicated that the RDA would pay either the city or a contractor to do this work. There would also be an estimated $400,000 cost for materials and fuel, which could be paid by the RDA or by the city’s Capital Improvement Fund, according to Christopulos.

Meanwhile, the RDA owes approximately $3.7 million in debt associated with purchasing and clearing the land for this portion of the River Project. A bank loan with a balance of $1.7 million was recently repaid by borrowing the same amount from a city reserve fund, according to Christopulos. The RDA also owes $2 million to the city’s refuse fund for a loan made from the proceeds of the insurance settlement from the burning of the Shupe-Williams Building in 2006. Christopulos said that both of these loans are accruing interest and that the plan is to repay them using tax increment revenue, together with proceeds from the eventual sale of the two parcels along Washington Blvd.

If absolutely everything goes according to plan, including the SouthRiver development, the sale and development of the two additional parcels, the development of the America First Credit Union parcel, and the tax increment extension, then it appears to me that Phase 1 of the River Project might barely generate enough revenue for the RDA to pay off the existing debt. If even one of these stars fails to align, it will fall upon the next administration to deal with the budget shortfall.

Update 7/13/11 9:00 a.m.: The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Council/RDA last night unequivocally voted to get moving on the SouthRiver LLC project, approving the proposed development agreement by a unanimous 7-0 vote:

• Ogden gives green light to river development

Standard-Examiner: Ogden River Project May Gain 6 Acres - Updated

The matter will be coming up for RDA discussion and public comment on July 12; and the company hopes to begin construction later in the month?

Updated with a useful plat map and eye-opening additional Dan S. explanatory commentary

The Standard-Examiner reports that SouthRiver LLC remains in the hunt to purchase and develop 6 acres within the Ogden River Project, with a proposed development agreement to be laid on the table for RDA consideration "in the next few weeks":

OGDEN -- A proposed development agreement is being fine-tuned that may enable a Salt Lake City firm to purchase about six acres downtown from the Ogden Redevelopment Agency as part of the long-awaited Ogden River Project.
The RDA is expected to consider the agreement in the next few weeks for the sale of land to SouthRiver LLC, allowing the construction of 69 townhomes and retail space, Jonny Ballard, the city's community development manager, said Monday.

Read the full Scott Schwebke story here:

• Ogden River Project may gain 6 acres

More specifically, according to the council's online Land Use and Planning Project Status Page, the matter will be coming up for RDA discussion and public comment on July 12:

• Council Land Use and Project Planning Report

Mr. Schwebke's morning story reports that "[t]he company hopes to begin construction in July," which seems like uncomfortably and possibly unrealistically tight scheduling, unless the RDA Board has already agreed (informally and behind the scenes) to rubber stamp the agreement, prior to any public comment or deliberation.

We'll keep our eyes on this story as it develops, of course.

In the meantime, feel free to throw in your own 2¢.

Update 6/21/11 11:25 a.m. (per Dan S.): Here is a plat map showing Phase 1 of the River Project, annotated with the current assessed property values (taken from the Weber County Treasurer's web site). The three parcels currently proposed for sale to SouthRiver LLC are highlighted in yellow. The RDA sold the blue shaded parcel in late 2006 for $324,975, and this parcel is now the site of the new Bingham's Cyclery building. The area shaded in pink was never owned by the RDA as far as I can tell, even though it is within Phase 1 of the River Project redevelopment area:

(Click Image to Enlarge)

On April 27, the Standard-Examiner reported that SouthRiver LLC was "under contract" to purchase the yellow-shaded parcels for $1.3 million. That's a million dollars less than the assessed value of over $2.3 million. Furthermore, the RDA was to subsidize $559,000 of the purchase price through tax increment, so the effective purchase price would be only $741,000 -- less than a third of the assessed value.

The RDA originally purchased and cleared this land using two sources of borrowed funds: a $2 million loan from the city's Refuse Enterprise Fund, consisting of the insurance settlement from the burning of the Shupe-Williams Building; and a $3 million line of credit with First National Bank. According to the minutes of the city council meeting of April 25, 2006, the former loan was to be interest-free for five years, with a 10% interest rate thereafter. According to the most recent RDA Annual Report, the bank loan had a "maturity date" of June 8, 2011.

Standard-Examiner: Construction on Ogden River Townhomes Could Begin in July

An upcoming June 14 RDA meeting will also provide an opportunity for public input

More hype for the "nine years in the making" Ogden River Project, as this morning's Standard-Examiner announces that the Ogden City "RDA, made up of the city council, will consider a development agreement June 14 for the sale of the land to Salt Lake City-based SouthRiver LLC for construction of 69 townhomes and retail space...":

• Construction on Ogden River townhomes could begin in July in long-awaited project

The above-referenced RDA meeting will also provide an opportunity for public input:

• Council Land Use and Project Planning Report

Mark your calenders folks, and chime in on this subject now, if you like.

Breaking: River Project Land Sale Under Negotiation

69 townhomes and commercial spaces as part of the long-awaited Ogden River Project

By: Curmudgeon

Breaking... The Standard-Examiner just put up a story detailing the latest River Project development proposal, which begins with a plan by the Ogden RDA to sell about 6 acres in the Project area to a SLC developer (SouthRiver LLC) to build town homes. Part of the purchase price will be in cash, part will rely on tax increment funding.

Full story here:

• Land sale under negotiation

Comments anyone?