Downtown, Dams, Businesses, and Buses

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Feb. 10, 2024

Let’s see what’s up locally.

Traverse City’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is in search of a new executive director, Jean Derenzy having submitted her resignation. Derenzy was a strong steward of the DDA and a powerful advocate for downtown Traverse City, though not everything she and her organization proposed was supported by all.

Which brings us to the extension of TIF 97 and the ever-evolving third parking deck.

A tax increment financing (TIF) district establishes a property tax baseline and then “captures” the tax above that baseline as the property value and taxable value increases. The city’s general fund continues receiving that baseline tax, but the DDA captures everything above that. (It should be noted the county, the area district library, BATA, NMC, and veteran’s programs also have money “captured” from those property taxes.)

We’re told promises were made in 1997 that TIF 97 would be a temporary situation, even calling it a “loan.” Now, the tune has been changed, and we’re told extending TIF 97 is critical for various projects the DDA has planned downtown. They’ve even changed the name to the Moving Downtown Forward TIF, though we all know it’s the same old TIF 97 district and taxes being captured.

Front and center in this change of heart, aside from the bureaucratic instinct of self-preservation and perpetual expansion, is a third parking deck, which has long been planned for downtown. There are some questions about its necessity since the already existing Old Town deck is often no more than 20 percent full.

So, the third parking deck evolved to become a parking deck that could be “repurposed” if it was underutilized, which evolved to become a “mixed-use” project including housing and retail, which evolved into a deck including housing and retail and the DDA would give back some of the tax money to the entities from which it had been captured.

We don’t yet have a budget for the new, multi-purpose deck, but it was already around $20 million in 2019 when it was going to serve a single purpose, so one assumes it will be at least that much in any new permutation. And one does wonder if the DDA is prepared to be landlords of a residential building. Would that mean additional staff and budget? Will they decide who qualifies to live in their affordable or attainable or workforce housing? Will the DDA be the enforcer of rules? Will they be responsible for maintenance and repairs and the budget that accompanies such things? Will they undertake evictions when necessary?

Not everybody is excited about more decades of tax captures going to the DDA. Petitions to put such an extension to a public vote have been, or will be, circulated. NMC and Grand Traverse County have already declared they'd like all their money back and oppose any extension of TIF 97, regardless of what it’s called.

The DDA did tremendous work in revitalizing downtown Traverse City when it was struggling. But you might have noticed the blight is gone, downtown is thriving, and the DDA’s wish list has more wants than needs. Traverse City voters will ultimately decide whether extending TIF 97 is justifiable or not.

Meanwhile, remember back in 2021 when the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) Dam Safety Unit rated the Union Street dam “fair/poor” and we were told it needed to be fixed or replaced immediately? It was a convenient adjunct to the controversy surrounding the FishPass at the same location.

FishPass, an experimental creation to prevent unwanted fish species from heading up the Boardman/Ottaway River and supported and funded by half a dozen government and non-government entities, was temporarily halted by a circuit court ruling which was subsequently overturned by an appellate court.

So what happened? The dam, so critical not that long ago, has likely not self-repaired, yet we’ve heard little or nothing about fixing it. We were told the delays would add significant costs to the $20 million project, but we’ve not yet been informed about a new budget or construction timeline.

Alas, downtown Traverse City businesses continue changing hands with alarming frequency. Long time stalwart Diversions is gone, and Brew, a favorite place to grab some coffee and have a meeting or just meet friends, is also gone. New owners of those buildings have every right to install their vision on their property, but it was a shame to lose two businesses most everyone enjoyed.

We’d be remiss if we failed to mention the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners' ongoing shin-kicking contest with the board of the Bay Area Transit Authority (BATA). The County board decided they would fill the “citizen” appointee position to the BATA board by selecting a county commissioner, though they already have one on the board. The board’s attempts to control everything entirely misses the point of appointing citizen volunteers to local boards.