Jasper Redevelopment meeting minutes Feb. 2
-Heard the annual reporting on the tax increment finance district in Jasper would be completed by Umbaugh Associates as per the contract signed last year. The report will include evaluating the assessed value of the tax increment finance area.
-Discussed creating a budget for upcoming expenses associated with projects the redevelopment commission is overseeing. City Attorney Renee Kabrick explained the redevelopment commission has not had an appropriated budget like other departments in the city but will need funding to cover expenses associated with the River Centre and Downtown Square redevelopment projects. Board member Andrew Seger suggested creating a budget that would accomodate current projects as well as those projects that pop up in the future.
-Heard that the city will meet this month with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to discuss the possible uses for the land the city owns in the floodplane between First, Second, Main and Jackson streets north of the Patoka River. According to Kabrick, there are no plans specific to the land in relation to the River Centre project and it has some restrictive covenants on it due to the flood area. Commission President John Bell stated the developers were not as far along in their planning as he had anticipated but they had secured some potential tenants and are in negotiations with some larger tenants in the project to turn the Jasper Cabinet building into commercial and residential center.
-Bell also explained that although the contract had been signed with Rundell Ernstberger Associates to complete the design on the Downtown Square improvements, the timeline they were following was a bit out of line with the commission’s expectations. Bell and the commission were insistent on hitting a January 2017 construction deadline and were concerned with the 60-day timeline Rundell Ernstberger gave Cash Waggner Associates to complete survey work for the project. A meeting with officials and Rundell representatives will be scheduled the week of Feb. 15 or the week of Feb. 22 to discuss the project scope and timeline.
