» Comstock Park DDA Development and Financing Plan
(.pdf 2.8mb)Comstock Park DDA Embarks on a
Major Improvement Project
“What is the Comstock Park DDA?”
The Plainfield Township Board of Trustees
created a Downtown Development Authority in 1993, using a state law that had
existed since the mid-1970s. The City of Rockford has a DDA, as does Lowell,
Grand Rapids, Cascade Township, Grandville, and other municipalities in Kent
County. The DDA is a specialized entity governed by a Board of Directors chosen
by the Township Board. The DDA doesn’t make or enforce laws, doesn’t collect
its own taxes, and doesn’t employ its own staff. It does have its own annual
budget (approved by Plainfield Township), and it has certain powers spelled out
in Public Act of 1976, and also in the local ordinance that created the DDA.
The DDA exists for one purpose: To improve a defined area (the “downtown district”)
by establishing programs, eliminating blighted public or private structures, and
constructing improvements to encourage economic activity in that district.
|
If they don’t collect their own taxes, where do they
get the money to do these things? They are allowed to “capture” the taxes
of other jurisdictions (county, community college, libraries, township, etc.)
that are collected on the increased value of the property in the district
following the creation of the DDA. In the case of the Comstock Park DDA,
for example, the initial value of property in the district was $9,648,100
in 1993 (the “Base Year”), the value of the property in 2007 was $28,897,256,
so the difference, the increased value since 1993, is $19,249,156. The
combined tax rates of Kent County, Plainfield Township, Grand Rapids
Community College, and the Kent District Library applied to $19,249,156
amounts to $197,050 for 2007. This method of funding the Comstock Park DDA
is called “tax increment financing” (TIF). The CP DDA saved nearly all of
its annual funding from 1994-2003 to build up a reserve sufficient to
construct the West River Drive streetscape and to rebuild the County Parking
Lot across the street from Dwight Lydell Park five years ago. The DDA also
contributed half the cost of building the new parking area behind the
Comstock Park Library (Plainfield Township paid the other half.)
Since 2003, besides building the new parking lot, the DDA provided
the funds to purchase the 800-foot long railroad right-of-way from
Vitale’s to Lamoreaux Drugs. Plainfield Township negotiated a Lease
Agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to enable
the DDA to improve the old railroad right-of-way from Lamoreaux Drugs
to Ball Park Drive north of US 131. These two important actions were
needed for the DDA to make improvements to the ugly, pothole-filled
strip from Mill Creek Avenue to Mill Creek (the former Norfolk-Southern
RR property) and to connect downtown Comstock Park to the point where
the paved White Pine Trail turns east at the entrance to 5th 3rd Ball
Park to the banks of the Grand River. The improvements, being designed
right now by Prein & Newhof engineers, will be constructed before
November of 2008 at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
These improvements have been included in the DDA’s Development Plan since
1993 and are also included in the amended Plan, expected to be approved
by the Plainfield Township Board this month.
Remember – these things
do not “just happen;” people are working to make them happen.
Robert C. Homan
Township Manager
COMSTOCK PARK DDA
|
Term Expires |
|
|
| Larry Allen |
Dec 31, 2011 |
| Michael Bass (Chair) |
July 31, 2008 |
| Rick Ericksen |
July 31, 2008 |
| Michael Frey |
Dec 31, 2011 |
| Edwin Hood |
Dec 31, 2010 |
| Jim Jarecki |
July 31, 2008 |
| Larry Roelofs |
July 31, 2008 |
| Steve Thompson |
Dec 31, 2010 |
| George Meek |
Perpetual |
Term of Office - 3 years |
|
|
|
