Council further mulls extending Norwalk Enterprise Zone
What incentives to offer and how to apply them remains under discussion and likely will remain so for some time.
"The Planning Committee was presented statistics for the area at last week's meeting and the consensus was that it's worth looking at this further," said Council Majority Leader
Kydes sits alongside District E Democrat
At issue is whether the city should expand the
Within the current enterprise zone -- in place since 1982 -- property taxes are deferred on a seven-year sliding scale to encourage private investment.
"There was general consensus within the committee that the census tract deserved consideration of a development incentive program because there's an economic need for it," Sheehan said. "Now the question that they're moving onto is, 'OK, what's the structure of that?'"
Committee members were left to chew upon population trends, income levels and poverty, the job market, commercial vacancies, housing types and quality, blight and zoning for the census tract.
Between 2009 and 2015, the
As of 2015, the median household income in the
The agency identified
Hempstead said the city first must decide what type of development it wants to incentive in the
"We have a lot of apartment buildings under construction, or under approval, so it doesn't seem at this phase in the game necessary to subsidize any housing," Hempstead said. And "the committee, my understanding is that instead of doing a broad-stroke enterprise zone it would be a case-by-case evaluation."
Hempstead said checks and balances must be included in any incentive program. "I don't want to see it become a political decision. It should be data-driven."
Tax breaks controversial
Tax breaks for developers remain controversial. Proponents argue that underutilized properties bring few property taxes to pay for schools and other services. Critics maintain homeowners are left to pick up the tab when developers are given tax deferments.
"We also shouldn't give city assets away or provide taxpayer-funded incentives," said
Rilling, a Democrat who is running for a third term, has pointed to apartment construction in
"I think
Under former Republican Mayor
Hempstead anticipates that the discussion about whether to extend the
"I think there's more discussion about this for sure," Hempstead said.
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