Rockdale City Council on Monday passed a Tax Increment Redevelopment Zone (TIRZ) for the downtown and eastern highway corridors in hopes of encouraging cleanup and new investment.
The council held its regular meeting Monday at Rockdale City Hall and approved the TIRZ as a funding source for cleanup of properties along with eastside corridor. The zone would stretch from downtown to the western side of US 77.
The zone will not levy any additional taxes, but will create a fund from new construction and appraisal increases from improvements. This would provide a small fund to begin making improvements, said Jim Gibson, Municipal Development District executive director.
“ This entity will establish a dedicated funding source for the city to make some much-needed improvements in downtown Rockdale and clean up the East Cameron Avenue corridor,” said Brett Boren in a news release. (See map on 2A.)
The improvements, City Manager Barbara Holly added, could include anything from property clean up, to drainage improvements, and “placemaking activities.”
In 2022, the MDD commissioned a study to create a vision and plan for the East Cameron Avenue (US 79) corridor. One outcome was to install new infrastructure, clean up blighted properties and revise its code structure. “This provides a funding mechanism to implement elements of this plan,” Holly said.
Gibson said the TIRZ “would inject some public funds for improvements — whether that is a road or knocking down a dilapidated building — which would then be followed by additional private investment.”
Gibson said Tuesday the plan would slowly address the blight that has been witnessed by tens of thousands of motorists traveling through Rockdale and begin to repair the town’s reputation to travelers.
“This starts to get us a little bit of money to make small, marginal improvements that begin to turn the ship in a different direction,” Gibson said. “We won’t have a lot of money initially — maybe enough to knock down a couple of [unoccupied] houses. But as appraisal values go up, we’ll have some more in the fund.”
Chamber
The council also okayed a $32,882 disbursement to the Rockdale Chamber of Commerce from its Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues. The funds will be used for Visitors Center activities.
Other action
The council also:
• Approved members of the city’s parks board as recommended. Appointed to new three-year terms were Brett Boren and Elissa Benford- Roberts, while two-year seats will go to Dave Melton and Mary Lou Loehr.
• Approved merging two plots of land after a request by Shannon Kornegay.
• Okayed a lease of vacant city property to Jamal Williams for $100 a month to use for equestrian operations.
• Approved an ordinance creating a historic landmark preservation program for the city.
• Okayed a tighter visibility rule at intersections, as recommended by the Planning & Zoning Commission. To help traffic safety, plantings within a 30-foot “site visibility triangle” at intersections must be no taller than 30 inches.
• Amended an ordinance for landscape and screening requirements requiring two trees per 1,000 square feet, instead of 600 square feet.
• Amended its fee schedule for building permits and inspection fees for third-party review and inspection services. The city anticipates a large increase in volume for permits with additional housing and development.
Reports
• The council also received a report from Robert Echols of Uni-Vista, the city’s information technology contractor. “The city’s in pretty good shape,” Echols said of a question about threats from hackers. He said work continues upgrading the software and working with the city staff on a five-year longevity plan for computer cycles. Police Chief Jerry Meadors said the difference with UniVista was “night and day” compared to the town’s previous I.T. vendor.
• Heard of a $100,000 preliminary budget for the city’s sesquicentennial celebration. More details will be released as the 2024 celebration draws nearer.
• Heard from Tymon Locklin that the 2023 Milam Music Fest brought in more than 215 fans and filled 47 hotel rooms, not including one hotel that did not tally attendees.
• Councilman Dave Melton issued a report in the absence of Elissa Benford-Roberts about city parks. He said electricity should be installed at Moultrie Park by the end of the school year, work on restrooms at Sumuel Park continues and the committee is looking at the addition of pickle ball courts. Mayor pro tem Lin Perry, sitting in for Boren, asked about trimming dead trees and limbs to lessen the risk of injury and potential lawsuits. Perry a sked t he c ity s taff to look into additional tree trimming maintenance.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.