The County Commission reviewed the city of Eudora’s plan to move forward with a reinvestment housing incentive district for the area next to Shadow Ridge at Wednesday night’s meeting.
Assistant City Manager Zack Daniel presented next steps for the district to the commission.
The city will have a public hearing Monday for the creation of the district in Shadow Ridge North. At that meeting, the city will present a development agreement and plan to discuss with commissioners.
If the City Commission agrees with the draft agreements, the next step would be to adopt an ordinance to establish the district. After that, the county and school district still have time to protest.
“So if the school district or the county find that there may be adverse effects due to the creation of the RHID, they have a period of 30 days to review that and pass a resolution to that effect, which essentially halts the project at that point,” Daniel said.
Daniel told the County Commission that the only formal action the city has taken on this project so far is to affirm and adopt the housing needs analysis findings.
Last week, Daniel gave a similar presentation to the school board.
The development’s incremental increase in property taxes is redirected back into the reinvestment housing incentive district for the improvements outlined in the development agreement.
The state secretary of commerce already gave the city the green light to move forward after reviewing the city’s housing needs analysis, which showed a housing shortage and need for development in the city, which happens before the project can move to a public hearing.
The analysis stated, “Organic residential development has not kept pace with the need for housing. At the same time, development in the region is expected to further strain the existing housing market. It is not economically feasible for the city to extend utilities to newly annexed land and unserved areas without the partnership of private developers.”
The new development will bring 118 homes to the subdivision, and is being planned by Alcove development. It will be north of the existing Shadow Ridge neighborhood and west of the high school.
Commissioner Patrick Kelly asked Daniel if the tax increments directed back into improvements would go to municipal or county improvements.
Daniel said the improvements would contribute to city streets, utilities and other public improvements inside of the proposed reinvestment district to help pay for them.
Commission Chairwoman Karen Willey asked if the county would receive any additional formal documents after the city has its public hearing next week.
After the commission sees the documents at the public hearing, Daniel will also send the development plan and agreement for the county to review.
Willey also asked for a copy of the housing needs analysis out of curiosity of Eudora’s needs.
Kelly also asked if the county had any information on the timeframe or if that would also come in the later documents.
Daniel said the maximum timeframe of an incentive district like this one would be 25 years.
Kelly also wanted to confirm how the 30-day protest period would work so the county has clear communication.
“The only reason I’m bringing this up is we’ve had similar types of things that were municipal that we could protest that didn’t get to us in time,” Kelly said.
The 30-day period will begin after Monday’s meeting, Daniel said.
“I think we’re all interested in seeing that plan come to us just in the memo and then if we flag it for additional questions, we can move it forward for a future agenda,” Willey said.
No protest for the district was proposed at the time of the meeting.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]
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