Letter to the Editor: Gast: An open letter
As regards designating the new Brandon “Aspen Ridge” project as a TIF district is concerned, to qualify as such either. It must provide significant public benefit (defined either as industrial, commercial, manufacturing, agricultural or natural resources) to be in an area defined as “blighted.”
As proposed, the development will consist of 75 to 80 percent residential housing with approximately only four acres of the 90-plus devoted to businesses (and the proposed businesses are service-oriented not industrial or manufacturing). The TIF requirement stipulates that at least 50 percent of the area be of public benefit.
As to the qualifying “blighted” stipulation, at least 25 percent of the area must meet that requirement. Given that the project is on land previously devoted to agricultural production, I wonder how many farmers would consider their cropland as “blighted.” Blighted means the area is in disuse or its use is below local standards. the vast majority of this previous farm field is classed by the USDA Soil Survey as loess derived Flandreau loam (on level or nearly so slopes). Flandreau loam is a productive soil, which few, if any farmers would decline to till unless offered better alternatives. My concern is not whether the land is developed but rather how any farmer would not object to its being classed as blighted (and thus be eligible for taxpayer assistance in development).
Hence, having said this, I must ask the question why the city is so willing to gift the developer $12 million taxpayers’ dollars to develop it. I simply cannot comprehend why the city is so (apparently) anxious to follow in the footsteps of our big neighbor to the west. Is it because the construction industry is about to run out of Portland cement, steel to make nails or trees to fell? Progress is one thig but wholesale development is quite something else altogether.
Is the city so awash in tax dollars that it intends violating all TIF rules to (apparently) dispose of the excess $12 million. All growing bigger will do is present City Hall with additional problems such as providing vastly more water (and sewage disposal), and after three consecutive years of drought that should be a concern as to the drawdown of water levels in the aquifer to, perhaps, alarming levels. I come from a generation, now many years past, whose peoples were reluctant indeed to assume increased responsibilities when it is questionable whether resources or the wherewithal exists to follow through, and in the end thus produce unintended consequences which made previous decisions unwise in the extreme.
I have been told more than once that Brandon is the most affluent community in the state and the above unwise largess by City Hall tends to make me believe it. What with the above noted concerns plus the fact that the local school district pays cash for two new construction projects it does, yet, appear to be the most affluent community in the state.
The taxpayer is owed an answer: Why is the city so desperate for development that it is willing to divest itself $12 million? Would it not be wise to do as the school district has done and hold those monies in reserve so as to accommodate future needs such as dealing with development caused aquifer drawdown amidst continued climate change?
William Gast
Brandon
