Lakeland’s mayor and Board of Commissioners progressed with the long-anticipated $375 million Lake District development at a special-called board meeting Monday night.
Their approval of an Industrial Development Board (IDB) resolution included approval for an economic impact plan and a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan critical to the project.
The Oct. 24 meeting was unusual because it was a dual meeting with the city’s IDB. The TIF application required a recommendation by the city’s IDB and approval by the BOC before it could be read at the Oct. 26 committee meeting of the Shelby County Commission and then be up for a vote at the Shelby County Commission’s Oct. 31 meeting.
The TIF application is for $39 million for 20 years. Uses would be $2 million for site grading and drainage, $1.3 million for demolition and clearance, $1 million for Canada Road and Monroe Road, $7.4 million for public streets, $3.9 million for utilities, $2.2 million for streetscape and lighting, $5.9 million for parking structures, $1.3 million for improvements to the six-acre lake, $5 million for a performing arts center, $2 million for public plaza improvements, $1.5 million each for financing and for public activity sites, and $4 million for contingency funding.
See more information on the TIF process and a copy of the actual application at lakelandtn.gov/index.aspx?nid=349.
The Lake District development is one of the largest single capital investments in Shelby County history, according to the TIF application. The requested TIF funding is only about 11 percent of the total investment, which is in line with typical TIF policies for other communities. There will be about 1,200 permanent employees in the total project with employment levels ranging from entry-level through retail associates, professionals and management. This is in addition to thousands of construction jobs.
More discussion on this topic is slated for the BOC work session Nov. 3 and the BOC’s regular business meeting Nov. 10. Both meetings begin at 5:30 p.m.
Written by Carolyn Bahm, Express editor. Contact her at (901) 433-9138 or via email to bartlett.editor@journalinc.com.
