Efforts continue to take advantage of Charles City’s Thriving Communities housing tax incentives

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Efforts to developing projects that would use Thriving Community housing tax credits Charles City was awarded earlier this year are continuing.

While there are no specific project or developer agreements yet, contacts continue to be made, members of the city housing task force reported at the monthly Charles City Area Development Corp. meeting Wednesday morning.

And efforts at marketing Charles City through the Thriving Community group are also ramping up, they said.

“We just got word that we’re going to be building a spotlight video for the upcoming Thriving Communities webcast,” said Emily Garden, task force co-chair.

She said members of the group had a conversation with Derek Folden, tax credit director with the Iowa Finance Authority, who gave them a good understanding of how the Thriving Community tax credits work and the timeline.

Dean Andrews, housing task force co-chair, agreed, saying Folden will be a good contact person going forward.

Iowa Thriving Communities is a new grant program from the state designed to encourage housing development in cities that are recognized for using innovative methods to attract housing opportunities for their workforce.

Cities recognized by the program receive additional scoring points when applying for state workforce housing tax credits and federal low income housing tax credits. Charles City was one of 11 Iowa cities named a “Thriving Community” in the program, and one of only three cities to be awarded both types of tax credits.

Garden said members of the Thriving Communities Task Force “Special Ops Committee” – “the Thrivers” – are going to use a list of developers who have been awarded tax credits in the last five years and who are experienced with the process, and call them before the end of the year to invite them to visit.

“We’re Charles City, Iowa, we have a great package to offer and awesome land and we’d love to welcome you to town to talk about it,” Garden said the pitch would be.

Other attractions to develop housing in Charles City are a new tax abatement policy being developed that would abate the city property taxes on 100% of the added value of new construction, and land with completed infrastructure that will be available free for housing development near the Southwest Development Park.

As part of making that land available, the CCADC board granted CEO Tim Fox and President Ron Litterer the authority to sign documents giving the property to the city of Charles City for the 13th Street Extension.

Andrews said another thing they learned from talking with Folden is to make sure to check out developers that approach the city, and keep a good balance between what is offered by the city and what is requested by the developer.

“We had one developer who came in and said, ‘Well, we want this and this and this and this,’ and we said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. You’re not getting all this and this and this.’”

Garden said, “Right, because we know that what we’re offering is already really competitive and comparative for the most part with other cities across the state.”

Also at the CCADC meeting Wednesday, the board:

• Approved a short-term low interest $25,000 loan for TLC: The Learning Center day care center for working capital.

CCADC CEO Fox said TLC had requested $15,370.50 for retainage for local contractors on renovation construction costs that went over budget, and the rest for working capital.

But TLC Board President Lisa Garden told the CCADC Board that general contractor Woodruff Construction decided to write off the retainage as a donation to TLC, so that portion of the loan wasn’t needed.

After discussing what has been going on at the community child care center since the move into the renovated space at the former middle school – including an increase in children from about 90-91 at the former North Jackson Street location to 122 now – Fox asked Garden if they still needed the full $25,000.

“There’s always need,” Garden said.

The loan is at 3% interest for 60 months with a six-month grace period.