New TIF district kickstarts development

Painesville City Council, during the closing hours of 2018, unanimously approved the creation of a tax increment financing incentive district along Shamrock Boulevard and State Route 44.

The TIF district resulted in the wake of several legal disputes concerning land parcels previously owned by Leimco Development. After Leimco fell behind on its taxes, the city foreclosed on their property. A special assessment was done on the parcels but another company that Leimco also owed assets to challenged the assessment and wanted compensation.

Encore Development eventually purchased the parcels after a settlement was reached where several potential developers were offered a chance to buy the property previously owned by Leimco.

Encore subsequently offered to pay $125,000 in outstanding liens that were delaying the development of Encore Estates and an independent senior living facility that is to be constructed within

the TIF district.

The housing that will be developed includes 166 single-family houses across 55 acres and 119 senior housing units on approximately seven acres.

Property owners whose parcels fall within the TIF district would pay annual service payments to the Lake County Treasurer in lieu of property taxes. Furthermore, 100 percent of any increase in assessed value to parcels is of public purpose and exempt from real property taxation.

These assets would then be funneled to fund public infrastructure improvements. City records claim the ordinance’s passage will “generate funding for public infrastructure improvements within and around the district.”

The slated projects stemming from the TIF district’s funding include “funding to bond out the construction of the State Route 44 Interchange. Funds could also be used to conduct a traffic study, extend water, sewer, and electric lines, install trails, make roadway repairs and widen roads, etc.”

Also benefiting from the TIF’s creation are the Riverside School District and Auburn Career Center. The city’s Community Development Director Doug Lewis explained that the facilities will take in “50 percent of total revenues” but adds that it will be “based on the percentage they each bring in.”

Any funds garnered from levies which would affect either school will not factor into additional TIF revenue.

The ordinance is awaiting final approval from the Ohio Development Services Agency. The measures would go into effect following final agreements currently underway between city administrators and Encore Development.