City taking a deep look at Stromberg request
EDIE ZUVANICH
Special to the Press
HUTTO — City leaders are pushing back against a proposed mixed-use development that includes requests for various tax incentives and other economic boosters.
The project in question is the 372-acre mixed-use Stromberg development proposed just south of Hutto’s Megasite industrial complex. Developers are seeking a public-improvement district combined with an economic incentives package and a taxincrement reinvestment zone.
Place 4’s Peter Gordon during the Aug. 21 City Council meeting said this was the first plan he could remember where a PID also had a TIRZ attached to it.
“I don’t know if I’d be on board with it as it was explained today,” the councilman said.
Council members have been looking more critically at developers’ requests this year, and there wasn’t much support evident on the dais for the project as it was presented.
“I don’t want to set your expectations too high. I’m personally not in favor of a TIRZ or really any economic incentives for just an industrial project,” said Mayor Mike Snyder. “Incentivizing residential is not going to go over well here, and that’s how people are going to look at it.”
Representatives of the developer said they will continue working on the plan now that it has received the council’s initial response.
See INCENTIVES • page 2 A draft of the PID financing agreement and incentives will be presented for discussion at the Sept. 9 council meeting and a public hearing is scheduled for the Oct. 2 session.
Although the plan involves a literal alphabet soup of bureaucratic acronyms, officials said a PID is a defined area in a city or a county where property owners pay additional taxes or fees to fund local improvements.
A TIRZ collects a portion of property taxes created by new development and reinvests them in a geographic area to fund public improvements. The 380 Economic Incentive bundled into the proposal lets cities offer financial or services-based incentives — grants, loans or tax rebates — to power development and commercial activity.
Jim Sabonis with Hilltop Securities told the council the developer is asking the city to create a PID and set a tax rate of 68.9 cents per $100 of assessed value within the PID. They are also asking the city to issue up to $100 million of special-assessment revenue bonds. And, if the developer is successful at recruiting an industrial tenant, planners want the city to agree to a 380 Economic Incentive agreement that would allocate 50% of the nonresidential property tax revenues generated for a term of 30 years back to the developer.
Overview
The proposed development borders CR 132, FM 3349 and CR 134. It would create residential units on the south side of the property and industrial facilities on the north side of the property, according to Christian Villarreal with Development Planning and Financial Group representing Stromberg’s developers.
Villarreal said developers hope to entice industrial tenants to the area due to its proximity to a rail yard and other nearby industry. Samsung Austin Semiconductor would be a neighbor.
The plan calls for up to 2.8 million square feet of industrial use and another 115,000 square feet of commercial use. He said this could create 1,975 jobs not including construction jobs.
The residential area would include 742 singlefamily homes and 116 townhomes, plus almost 15 acres dedicated to multifamily housing. The community would have a property owners association and feature a dog park, sidewalks and hikeand- bike trails among other amenities.
The developer would also create a road connecting East Wilco Highway to CR 132.
Villarreal said there was an option to make the entire parcel residential with some neighborhood commercial if the developer could not attract an industrial tenant to the site. That would increase the housing to 1,335 single family units and 208 town homes.
Options
Councilman Aaron King asked if there was an option to eliminate the housing and make the entire site industrial but was told that is not a consideration.
“I’m not a fan of more residential development in the city,” King said.
Stromberg will receive water from the Jonah Special Utility District but will use Hutto wastewater services.
It is expected the project will generate more than 1,000 new customers for the city’s wastewater system, which will equate to more than $10 million in wastewater impact fees to the city, officials said.
With the industrial component, the finished project is estimated to have a value of $777 million. It is expected to generate $6.9 million in community benefit fees for the city, $3.1 million in city property tax and 9.4 million in property tax for Hutto Independent School District.
“This is a really significant revenue generator with the (380) incentive only being over the industrial area,” Sabonis said. “To me in general it’s a really straightforward process.” “
“I don’t want to set your expectations too high.”
— Mayor Mike Snyder
