From the Indianapolis Business Journal:
With its Arts & Design District, City Center and Center for the Performing Arts, Carmel has shed its suburban skin and morphed into a walkable, attractive city in its own right. But in the process, it has acquired some city-sized habits, including a penchant for handing out financial incentives to developers to get them to build exactly the kind of city Carmel leaders envision.
The tension brewing between the pro-incentives crowd—including the architect of Carmel’s transformation, longtime Mayor Jim Brainard—and those who want to put the brakes on the handouts puts Carmel’s city council in a tough spot.
To counter the wave of incentives, the council appears to be ready to quit the habit cold turkey.
Councilors voted June 3 against supporting an application for up to $25 million in state tax credits that could be put toward redevelopment of a former industrial site in midtown, the underdeveloped area between City Center and the Arts & Design District.
Pedcor Cos., owner of the industrial site and the developer on the receiving end of millions in city incentives over the years, hadn’t asked for Carmel’s financial support—yet. It merely wanted a resolution supporting the tax-credit application.
But the council isn’t in a supportive mood after taking on $184 million in debt last year racked up by the Carmel Redevelopment Commission, the group behind most of the incentives handed out to date. Just the anticipation that Pedcor would ask for incentives for the mixed-use project was enough for the majority of councilors to vote no.
The rejection paints a bright battle line between Carmel’s opposing camps, and suggests the city might have no choice in the near term but to test developers’ appetites for pursuing the lucrative market without assistance.
...
See the full article here:
http://www.ibj.com/carmel-quarrel-too-many-incentives/PARAMS/article/42048
