Rome to study new TAD areas
♦ The Martha Berry and North Broad corridors are considered ripe for redevelopment.
Efforts to redevelop a couple of corridors coming into Rome will be considered for possible Tax Allocation District financial assistance.
City officials were notified weeks ago that a group of local developers is interested in the Martha Berry Boulevard corridor. Community leaders in North Rome also have been begging for incentives that would spur investment along the North Broad corridor.
Under a TAD, property tax increases that stem from improvements to a property can be funneled back for a set number of years.
Rome’s Redevelopment Committee gave management staff the green light to engage consultants at the Bleakly Advisory Group to study the two areas. Bleakly has done the field work to facilitate the creation of other TADS across the city.
Up to this point, TADS have been mainly driven by specific proposals, such as the RiverWalk and East Bend shopping centers, the Courtyard Rome Riverwalk hotel and the Riverpoint apartments. A TAD was also created around Mount Berry Mall, and the new Fairfield Inn & Suites at the Rome Tennis Center will be the first project there.
The first TAD district created by the city a decade ago is a huge area covering property in the triangle between Martha Berry Boulevard, North Fifth Avenue and Turner Mccall Boulevard.
Given the new interest, City Manager Sammy Rich said he could envision a new, targeted TAD.
“I’m thinking a linear area that would basically encompass the west side of Martha Berry, maybe as far north as the Harbin Clinic,” said City Manager Sammy Rich. “We might even want to cross over and do both sides.”
The crossover could potentially start north of the Fifth Avenue intersection with Martha Berry Boulevard.
The Bleakly Advisory Group would be retained to do the paperwork associated with determining the eligibility of the areas.
TADS can only be created in areas that have been state certified as suffering from blight, underinvestment or a lack of infrastructure.
Commissioner Craig McDaniel asked what kind of participation the city might have in redeveloping the Martha Berry Boulevard corridor — such as perhaps widening the road and improving the sidewalks.
Rich said the road is a state route so the Georgia Department of Transportation might have to be involved. GDOT has already acquired some right of way near the intersection of Martha Berry and Turner Mccall related to the Second Avenue widening project.
“Does it make any sense to, at the same time, do a North Broad corridor?” asked Commissioner Wendy Davis, who chairs the committee.
Commissioner Jim Bojo asked how much of the North Broad corridor would be considered for TAD assistance.
“I haven’t studied it as extensively,” Rich said.
He said the former O’neil Manufacturing site, on Anderson Street a block off North Broad, could be attractive for potential redevelopment if the city could combine some Brownfields remediation money with TAD assistance.
“These two corridors are screaming ‘ I need help,’” Davis said. “( TAD designation) doesn’t guarantee anything but it sends a big spotlight that is going ‘Hey, look over here!’”
Rich said he would make contact with the Bleakly Group to see how much it would cost to do the certification studies to create the new TAD districts.