Downtown Ironwood Development Authority to Meet Thursday

IRONWOOD, MI - Sunday, April 20, 2008 - The Downtown Ironwood Development Authority (DIDA) will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2008, at 8:00 AM in the Community Development Conference Room on the Second Floor of the Municipal Memorial Building, Ironwood, Michigan. At the last regular meeting Authority members voted to change the meeting time so that more business people can participate in the meetings. The meetings were previously held at 12:00 Noon on the third Thursday of each month. Many business people have a hard time making it to noon meetings and they need to tend to business at that time.

New DIDA members Steve Frank and Cory Gresham will be sworn into office on Thursday. Gresham's term will continue until June 30, 2008 and Frank's term will expire on June 30, 2011.

Items to be discussed on Thursday include:

(1) To consider action on a Chamber of Commerce request to work jointly to offer customer service workshops. The Chamber of Commerce suggested at the last regular meeting that the DIDA and the Chamber work together to provide educational seminars and workshops for ALL Ironwood businesses.

(2) To establish new restroom signage downtown. Chamber representative Kim Saari told the DIDA that many visitors to the area complain that many downtown businesses do not have restrooms that are available to the public. She told the Authority that some even put signs in their windows, and she said it makes the downtown seem uninviting and even unfriendly.

(3) To consider approval of the Pocket Park maintenance budget. Since the Pocket Park was established, the DIDA has paid all of the maintenance. The seven month contract to be discussed (from April through the end of October) agrees to pay the MSU Extension Master Gardeners of 247 East Pine Street, Ironwood,  $275 per month to maintain the park, or $1,925. Several of the Authority members believe these charges should be the City's responsibility and not the DIDA's.

(4) Appointment of a business liaison. The DIDA believes that the downtown needs a business liaison to actively recruit new businesses to the downtown business district. Several highway businesses lately have been closing shop due to the high cost of rents and property on the highway. These businesses might consider moving downtown to save money on overhead. The savings could be substantial enough to make a small business once again profitable. There are other businesses outside the Ironwood area that might consider locating a second store location in downtown Ironwood as well. The business liaison would be responsible for trying to persuade businesses to locate in the Ironwood Downtown Business District.

(5) Approve DIDA Contact Form. Previously the DIDA suggested that every contact with the DIDA should be documented so that it could be properly acted upon. Authority member Eva Smith-Furgason created a contact form for that purpose. The Authority will study that form and decide if any changes need to be made.

(6) Historical Plaques. The DIDA agrees that the Ironwood area is rich in history, and that the Downtown could greatly benefit from that history. Visitors to the area would tend to patronize local businesses as they toured the streets for bits of history.

(7) Adopt Goals & Objectives & Discuss an Implementation Strategy. The DIDA has been struggling for years to establish basic goals and objectives. The new DIDA is determined to make significant changes in the Downtown. The DIDA will work on a "plan of attack" at Thursday's meeting.

The State of Michigan offers several Economic Development Programs that the DIDA can use to improve the Downtown Business District. They include:

Grants or Direct Subsidies

Loans

  • Federal Small Business Administration Loans
  • Freight Economic Development Program
  • Rail Loan Assistance Program
  • Site Assembly and Clearance Fund
  • Urban Land Assembly Program

Tax Abatements or Credits

  • Brownfield Tax Credits
  • Commercial Rehabilitation Tax Abatement
  • State Historic Preservation Tax Credit
  • Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit
  • Industrial Facilities Tax Abatement
  • Michigan Economic Growth Authority Tax Credits
  • Michigan NextEnergy Authority Exemptions and Credits
  • Neighborhood Enterprise Zones
  • New Market Tax Credits
  • Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Tax Abatement
  • Renaissance Zones

Financing Programs and Tax Authorities

  • Brownfield Authorities
  • Corridor Improvement
  • Downtown Development Authorities
  • Description and Example of Tax Increment Financing
  • Historic Neighborhood TIFAs
  • Industrial Development Revenue Bonds
  • Local Development Finance Authorities
    • SmartZones
  • Principal Shopping Districts, Business Improvement Districts and Zones
  • Taxable Bond Program
  • Tax Increment Finance Authorities
  • Comparison Table of Various Tax and Finance Authorities in Michigan

Other Local Unit Economic Development Options

  • Certification of Abandoned Property for Accelerated Foreclosure
  • Certified Business Parks
  • Conditional Land Transfers
  • Economic Development Corporations
  • Waiver of Personal Property Tax

Job and Employment Training

Miscellaneous Economic Development Authorities

  • Building Authorities
  • Land Reclamation and Improvement Authorities
  • State and County Land Bank Fast Track Authorities

Miscellaneous Grant and Loan Programs

  • 21st Century Jobs Fund
  • Federal and State Brownfield Grants and Loans
    • Brownfield Redevelopment Grants & Site Reclamation Grant Programs
    • Brownfield Redevelopment Loans and Revitalization Revolving Loan Programs
    • Revenue Sources for MDEQ Brownfield Redevelopment Grants and Loans
    • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assessment Grants
    • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Loans

Miscellaneous Statewide Programs

Appendices

  • A: HUBZones - Census Tract Designation by County
  • B: CDBG Entitlement Communities
  • C: Michigan Economic Development Corporation Account Managers and Territories
  • D: Qualified Local Government Units (OPRA)
  • E: Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Centers by Region
  • F: Definitions of Blight, Functional Obsolete and Facility
  • G: Michigan Economic Growth Authority Definition of High-Tech Activity and Business
  • H: MSHDA Definition of Eligible Distressed Areas

Sec. 10-26. Established.

A downtown development authority and a downtown development district, pursuant to Act No. 197 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1975 (MCL 125.1651 et seq.) as amended, is hereby established.
 
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.300, 5-23-77)

Sec. 10-27. Composition; terms of office; appointment; compensation; chairperson.
The downtown development authority shall consist of nine (9) members to be appointed by the mayor, one (1) of whom will be the mayor whose term will coincide with the term as mayor. The eight (8) other members, exclusive of the mayor, shall serve for a term of four (4) years and until a successor shall be appointed and qualified. Members of the first board shall be appointed for staggered terms in accordance with state law. No appointment to the downtown development authority shall be effective until confirmed by the city commission. Members shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for any actual and necessary expenditures. The chairperson of the board shall be elected by the board.
 
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.301, 5-23-77)

Sec. 10-28. Powers and duties.
 
The downtown development authority shall have all the powers and duties vested or permitted to be vested in downtown development authorities by Act No. 197 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1975 (MCL 125.1651 et seq.), as amended, it being the intention of this article to vest in the downtown development authority all powers and duties vested or permitted by law, subject to applicable superintending control by the city commission.
 
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.302, 5-23-77)

Sec. 10-29. Employees.
 
The downtown development authority shall select and appoint such employees as it shall deem necessary for the proper exercise of its powers, functions and duties in accordance with the applicable provisions of state law.
 
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.303, 5-23-77)

Sec. 10-30. Taxing power; rate.
 
In addition to other financing as may be permitted under state law, the downtown development authority may levy an ad valorem tax on the real and tangible personal property not exempt by law and as finally equalized in the downtown development district as described in section 10-31. The tax shall be not more than two (2) mills. The tax shall be collected as provided in state law.
 
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.304, 5-23-77)

Sec. 10-31. Downtown development district boundaries.
 
The downtown development district will include all the area in the downtown district of the city which is zoned C-2, downtown commercial, and so delineated on the official zoning district map dated September, 1976, and adopted by the city commission on the eighth day of November, 1976. Additionally, the downtown development district shall also include the parcel described by metes and bounds as follows:
Beginning at the intersection of the easterly right-of-way line of Suffolk Street and the northerly right-of-way line of Ayer Street; thence northeasterly along the northerly right-of-way line of Ayer Street five hundred sixty-six and fifty-three-hundredths (566.53) feet; thence northwesterly parallel with the easterly right-of-way line of Suffolk Street eighty-five (85) feet; thence southwesterly parallel with the northerly right-of-way line of Ayer Street forty-one and seventy-three-hundredths (41.73) feet; thence northwesterly parallel with the easterly right-of-way line of Suffolk Street to a point eighty (80) feet southeasterly of the southerly right-of-way line of Frederick Street; thence northeasterly parallel with such right-of-way line one hundred twenty (120) feet; thence northwesterly parallel with the easterly right-of-way line of Suffolk Street extension to the southerly right-of-way line of Frederick Street; thence southwesterly along the right-of-way line to the westerly right-of-way line of Lawrence Street extension; thence southeasterly along the right-of-way line to the intersection of the northerly line of Lots 1--10, Block 23, Original Plat, extending southwesterly; thence northeasterly along the northerly line extension northeasterly of Lots 1--10, Block 23, Original Plat, to the easterly right-of-way line of Lowell Street; thence southeasterly along the line to the point of intersection with the northerly right-of-way line of Ayer Street; thence northeasterly along the northerly right-of-way line of Ayer Street extension to the point of beginning, all within T46N, R47W, City of Ironwood, Gogebic County, Michigan.
(Ord. No. 293, § 1.305, 5-23-77; Ord. No. 327, 11-12-84)

Sec. 10-32. Depot area development plan and tax increment financing plan and depot area tax increment financing (tax increment financing) district.
 
(a)   The depot area development plan and the tax increment financing plan, together called "plans," dated December, 1984, incorporated by reference, as prepared by the downtown development authority and approved by the authority on the fifth day of December, 1984, and the mailing, posting and publication of notice of public hearing on the plans to interested persons was given as required under sections 14 and 18 of Act No. 197 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1975 (MCL 125.1664, 125.1668), as amended, and a public hearing was held the fourteenth day of January, 1985, following which the city commission determined that the plans constitute a public purpose, and the city commission does hereby ordain, adopt and approve the plans based on the following considerations, pursuant to section 19 of Act No. 197 of the Public Acts of Michigan of 1975 (MCL 125.1669), as amended:
(1)   A development area citizens council is not required pursuant to the provisions of Act No. 197 of 1975;
(2)   The plans meet the requirements set forth in section 17(2) of Act No. 197 of 1975;
(3)   The proposed method of financing the development is feasible and the authority has the ability to arrange the financing;
(4)   The development is reasonable and necessary to carry out the purpose of Act No. 197 of 1975;
(5)   The land included within the development area to be improved is reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes of the plans and of Act No. 197 of 1975 in an efficient and economically satisfactorily manner;
(6)   The development plan is in reasonable accord with the master plan of the city;
(7)   Public services such as fire and police protection and utilities are or will be adequate to service the project area; and
(8)   Changes in zoning, streets, street levels, intersections and utilities are reasonably necessary for the project and for the municipality.
(b)   The plans shall be applicable to that land area added to the downtown development district by section 10-31, and the added land area is hereby established as the depot tax increment financing district for the depot area development plan and tax increment financing plan.
(Ord. No. 328, 2-25-85)
 
Secs. 10-33--10-50. Reserved.