Martin: Clear Lake may get reinvestment zone this year

Councilman sees airport as catalyst for growth

Houston District E Councilman Dave Martin says he expects that a tax increment reinvestment zone can be established in Clear Lake within eight months.

At a community meeting last week, Martin said the plan, which he hinted at last fall after residents complained that Houston’s tax dollars weren’t being fairly distributed locally, is in the early stages.

He then said that his office had been talking with the city’s economic development office about establishing the district.

Martin sees Ellington Airport as central to creating the district, noting Houston’s vision for developing the former Air Force Reserve base as a spaceport that could spur local commercial development.

“Ellington is attractive because in order to have a successful TIRZ, you need vacant land that has a strong potential to have future economic development opportunities, thus creating the incremental tax base needed to support the TIRZ,” he said.

The spaceport is expected to be a hub for projects like spacecraft manufacturing, astronaut training and microsatellite launches.

In a TIRZ, property tax revenues with- in the zone’s boundaries are frozen at a base level. The amount collected above that level, known as the increment, is invested back into the zone in hopes of spurring private development. Though originally created to reduce blight, the city also has used the zones to speed redevelopment.

“Ellington Airport will look a lot different in 20 to 30 years from now,” Martin said. “The future development will drive

the need for infrastructure projects in and around this area, and this development will create a substantial incremental tax base.”

Speaking at the recent Middlebrook Homeowners Association meeting, Martin said support from at-large city council members is key to changing things in Clear Lake. Of the three at-large council members who were reelected, Martin points to Michael Kubosh and Jack Christie as having sup- ported his efforts.

“I like his proposal,” said Sherrie Matula, president of the Middlebrook Homeowners Association and a member of the Association of Clear Lake Communities.

“It’ll get done before the end of the year or in 2017,” she predicted of the TIRZ.

The next steps include drawing geographic boundaries for the proposed zone and drafting a preliminary financing plan, according to Gwen Tillotson, deputy director of Houston’sOfficeforEco- nomicDevelopment.

Dennis Thornton, the treasurer of the Middlebrook Homeowners Association, is hopeful of the plan but wants it to be done right.

He said he’s concerned about the composition of a potential TIRZ board.

“If there are business interests from (Baybrook) mall, it could result in the residential areas getting the short end of the stick,” he said.