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BusinessMay 24, 2004

Industrial graders are scraping up dust in west Cape Girardeau that has only recently settled after years of hot debate. In February 2002, developers of a proposed 900-acre residential subdivision on the outskirts of Dalhousie Golf Club near Blackford Lane came forth with a controversial plan to fund infrastructure development through tax-increment financing, an economic development tool that allows the extra taxes generated by a development to be put back into that specific project in order to build roads, sewer systems and other such projects.. ...

Industrial graders are scraping up dust in west Cape Girardeau that has only recently settled after years of hot debate.

In February 2002, developers of a proposed 900-acre residential subdivision on the outskirts of Dalhousie Golf Club near Blackford Lane came forth with a controversial plan to fund infrastructure development through tax-increment financing, an economic development tool that allows the extra taxes generated by a development to be put back into that specific project in order to build roads, sewer systems and other such projects.

But 18 months of torrid discourse ended with the withdrawal of the plan, due to what developer Cord Dombrowski then characterized as the community's failure to understand what he and his partners were trying to do.

Now the developers are moving ahead.

"We're paying for it ourselves," said Dombrowski's managing partner Mark McDowell. "We had no choice."

Last Monday, the Cape Girardeau City Council approved the preliminary plat for Prestwick Plantation. The project still calls for the construction of 500 home sites and 200 condominiums to be built over the 900 acres. However, the project has now been broken into phases.

"We're still going to build the 100-foot road," Dombrowski explained by way of analogy. "Now, we'll just build it 30 feet at a time, whereas with the TIF, we'd have just built it all at once."

Dombrowski said that the developers will now pay for all on-site infrastructure through conventional financing. As for off-site improvements, he said, he's still working with the city. He hopes the city will be able to help through either reimbursing him for outside improvements his company makes or through a neighborhood improvement district financing plan. That plan would use income-tax-exempt city bonds to fund construction. But Cape Girardeau director of planning services Kent Bratton said that although he can't entirely rule it out, the latter isn't likely to happen.

Regardless, McDowell said phase one of the project is well underway, with grading, excavation and the outside water contract already being up for bid.

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Formal plans are slated to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on June 9. If all goes smoothly, McDowell expects to have the plat recorded around July 16. By that time, he also hopes to have completed the paving of onsite roads.

McDowell said a formal time table is sketchy right now, because plans are still under negotiation with the city. But he did say that when the first phase is completed, there will be 200 available home sites. After that, the scope of phase two will hinge on the volume of sales.

Had requested $30 million

The Prestwick developers' original proposal requested a total of $30 million in TIF funds -- $24 million for infrastructure, $4 million to go to the school district and $2 million to go to the city.

As required by law, the city formed a TIF commission, consisting of representatives from city and county government and the school district. This commission had to determine whether a TIF was necessary for the project to go on, as the developers said it was.

Soon the idea met with fierce resistance from the public and the school district. Even after the developers scaled back their request from $30 million to $9 million for water, sewer, electric and road improvements, officials with the school district still argued that it would take too much tax money from the schools for city improvements. This concern led the school board to vote against supporting the plan in March 2003.

In July 2003, almost two weeks before the TIF commission was to hold a public hearing on the matter, the Prestwick developers withdrew their request.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

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