The tax-increment financing district spawned by the planned Kendall Yards urban village could be the catalyst that helps fuel up to 18 city and county projects with an estimated cost of $21 million that reach as far north as Cora Avenue.


While the Kendall Yards project is expected to receive the lions share of tax-increment funds raised within the district over the 25 years it will be in effect, about $2.5 million is anticipated for city and county projects outside of Kendall Yards, says Cody George, the citys economic development adviser.


Thats just a fraction of the estimated total cost of the projects eligible to receive the funding, but George says the goal is to tie the $2.5 million tax-increment dollars to grants or other funding.


Tax-increment financing provides seed money for us to look at moving projects forward and leveraging other dollars, he says.


Rich Hadley, president and CEO of Greater Spokane Incorporated, says the tax-increment financing district will spur economic development that might not otherwise occur.


The end result is the city will own the public improvements that stimulate economic development, he says. Thats what tax increment financing is for.


The city says other potential funding sources include community development block grants, state recreation grants from nonprofit organizations that support development of bike and walking trails, state Transportation Improvement Board funds, Spokane Transit Authority funds, and other money. The City Council precluded the use of community development funds in the Kendall Yards part of the district and also said that all property- tax increases used to offset the developers cost of installing infrastructure there would have to be generated on property located within Kendall Yards.


The City Council recently approved the boundaries for the tax-increment financing district, which is called the West Central Increment Area and includes the 77-acre Kendall Yards area on the north bank of the Spokane River between Monroe Street and Summit Boulevard and an additional 740 acres in the West Central neighborhood.


The boundaries mostly contain roughly the area from the Spokane River north to Boone Avenue and from the intersection of Boone and Summit east to Washington Street. They also include an area to the north called the Maple-Ash Employment Center, which extends from Boone to Nora Avenue along the Maple-Ash corridor, and the Monroe Street corridor much farther north to Cora Avenue.


George says the city estimates that Marshall Chesrowns Coeur dAlene-based Black Rock Development Inc. will be reimbursed by the city at least $20 million over 25 years for public infrastructure the company builds within its Kendall Yards project. The reimbursement would come as property tax revenue rises from the properties served by the improvements. School levy money, however would flow to the schools. The Kendall Yards development is envisioned to have more than 2,600 living units and 1 million square feet of commercial space when its fully developed.


In the portion of the tax-increment financing district that lies outside of Kendall Yards, tax-increment financing would allow the city or county to issue bonds or use other funding to subsidize improvements for which the two governmental units would be reimbursed from increases in property-tax revenue that results from the improvements.


The city has identified 14 projects with a total estimated cost of $15.7 million that would be eligible for tax-increment funding, and the county has listed four eligible projects with an estimated cost of $5.4 million.


Melissa Eadie, a city planner, says shes seen enough information to believe that investing public dollars attracts investment of private dollars. But its difficult to find those (public) dollars, she says.


She says the South Perry District, which lies roughly between Ninth and 11th avenues along South Perry Street, is an example of how funds were combined for public improvements, although that district didnt use tax-increment financing.


Following an initial neighborhood council commitment of $200,000 obtained through a community development block grant, that project received another $700,000 in local and federal funding for street lighting, sidewalk improvements, and other neighborhood enhancements. Those improvements already have helped spur economic growth in the South Perry District, Eadie says.


The South Perry District, like some of the project areas identified in the West Central Increment Area, was singled out in 2001 in the citys centers-and-corridors plan, Eadie says.


She says shes excited to see economic growth, not only in Kendall Yards, but in the neighborhoods surrounding it.


Kendall Yards is like jet fuel sitting there, she says. With Kendall Yards going on, theres going to be more activity in the West Central neighborhood. Lets capitalize on that.


The West Broadway Neighborhood Center is probably the furthest ahead of the centers-and-corridors proposals in the West Central Increment Area that will be eligible for tax-increment dollars, Eadie says.


Improvements proposed for that center include decorative sidewalks, trees, period lighting, permanent street furniture, bicycle routes, sidewalks, underground utilities, median construction, and infrastructure for a future streetcar route, all at an estimated cost of $2.5 million, she says.


The neighborhood has a jump-start on funding, with a community development block grant of $57,000 which it used to obtain another $225,000 in federal transportation enhancement funds.


Now, it has a chance of adding to that with TIF dollars, she says.


Eadie says she would like to see broader use of tax-increment financing as an economic-development tool.


It needs to be used carefully and strategically, she cautions, however. Its not a credit card. Washington state is conservative with TIF, and thats not all bad.


Other projects the city says are eligible for tax-increment financing include improvements along 1.5 miles of the Monroe corridor, between Boone and Cora, at a cost of $3 million; streetscape improvements along Broadway and Mallon Avenue, between Monroe and Washington, at $1.8 million; and such enhancements along Maple and Ash streets, between Broadway and Nora Avenue, at $1.8 million.


Proposed streetscape improvements involve placement of trees, crosswalks, street furniture, lighting, sidewalks, bike and pedestrian paths, and, in some cases, underground utilities.


George says he expects the City Council to consider a resolution within the coming weeks that would prioritize the list of eligible projects.


County projects that would be eligible for tax-increment financing include facilities and improvements for parking around the County Courthouse, at an estimated cost of $5 million.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.