It is going to be an interesting Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday. The Planning Department is recommending approval of the ‘workforce’ apartments just North of Sunshine, but is recommending denial of the Pavillion Square project.

In all fairness, I recommend they deny both TIF’s and let free enterprise sink or swim on it’s own without corporate welfare and tax rebates.

pavillionsquare

8 Thoughts on “Sioux Falls Planning Department recommends denial of Pavillion Square TIF

  1. Taxpayer on June 1, 2015 at 1:00 pm said:

    Why are the individuals who comprise the applicant, Washington Square LLC, NOT revealed on the Planning Department’s document?

  2. The Daily Spin on June 1, 2015 at 1:17 pm said:

    Where’s this money coming from? There’s 300 million in debt. Pay it down. No TIF’s till the bond rating comes up.

  3. hornguy on June 2, 2015 at 2:17 pm said:

    If you “let free enterprise sink or swim on its own” I will assure you that the city of Sioux Falls will never see another unit of affordable housing constructed, ever, period. The per-unit cost of construction is too high to be reasonably recovered through rent. There will always need to be some kind of government assistance.

    For someone who so often is fighting for the little guy, I’m not quite sure why you let your anti-developer goggles blind you to the realities of how affordable housing gets built.

  4. l3wis on June 2, 2015 at 3:14 pm said:

    HG, I would agree with you on that notion, but neither of these projects are offering affordable housing. And secondly, if we want to encourage affordable housing, there are other programs, such as Federal Grants, Community development low interest loans, etc.

  5. anonymous on June 2, 2015 at 4:39 pm said:

    Rental rates for housing along Phillips Avenue are running as high as $2900 a month (or $35,000 a year).

    Why would anyone think that Washington Square is going to include affordable housing!?!

  6. scott on June 2, 2015 at 8:11 pm said:

    maybe with this new industrial park thing, the city can’t afford to give out tifs to anything other than that. since MMM says it will be a juggernaut for decades to come, he’ll give away the farm to make it seem like a success.

  7. The Daily Spin on June 3, 2015 at 9:30 am said:

    Anonymous (#5) makes a good point.

  8. hornguy on June 3, 2015 at 10:34 am said:

    The workforce housing is very much in the scope of what is considered affordable, DL. If you want housing that’s even more affordable – say, targeted to 30% of AMI, that will require additional government funds, and it’ll set income levels at a point where most families with a working parent won’t qualify. The people in housing set aside for 30% AMI are usually seniors on Social Security that have no other savings or people who are disabled.

    If you think federal funds are available for this stuff, I’ll sell you the bridge in my backyard. The federal government zeroed out funding for the Section 202 program a few years ago and the programs that were created during as part of the stimulus bill have lapsed. Aside from 4% and 9% tax credits Uncle Sam’s bag of tricks is pretty damn empty.

    Dude, I do this for a living. Please don’t BS me on “other funds” and then throw out a bunch of general categories that you think/hope exist. Aside from federal tax credits, nearly every penny being spent on gap financing for affordable housing right now is coming from state and local governments – whether it’s TIF, assistance with land acquisition, bond issuance, etc. It’s all the same money, regardless of the mechanism being used.

    I think you’ve got one housing nonprofit in Sioux Falls – Affordable Housing Solutions – that’s doing anything of real impact on this, and even most of what they’re doing is going to involve state and local resources and federal tax credits. There just aren’t a lot of nonprofit developers out there, especially in smaller cities.

    Respectfully, what you’re showing me on this topic is that you don’t understand how this process works. The resources you think exist don’t exist in any meaningful capacity. You can have your own opinions but you don’t get to have your own facts. And by misleading people about affordable housing, you’re actually doing more harm than good. You are an obstacle to people of low and moderate incomes having decent, safe, and affordable places to live.

    And if that’s how you roll, you’re a hell of a lot less concerned about the little guy in your community than you think you are.

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