By MATTHEW RALPH
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
June 17, 2008 11:14 am
—
While there haven’t been any major developments on a sale of the former Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant since it closed earlier this year, the Clarksville Town Council finalized a measure Monday aimed at redeveloping an area that has served as a manufacturing hub since the 1920s.
The council voted 6-0 to expand the existing tax-increment-financing, or TIF, district by nearly 20 percent to include the shuttered plant and areas along the waterfront. No public comment was offered.
A TIF district enables a municipality to use taxes collected in the district to fund infrastructure improvements.
Council member Greg Isgrigg — who is acting as council president while Paul Kraft recovers from knee surgery — said the expanded TIF will help the council promote redevelopment efforts in the south Clarksville area.
In addition to the plant — which has an asking price of $13.3 million for 942,000 square feet of industrial/office space and 60 acres — the expanded TIF will include parts of the Ohio River Greenway.
Tax revenue generated in the expanded district could, among other things, help fund a sewer-plant study for which a contract was awarded Monday. The contract was given to HDR Quest, of Louisville, which submitted the lower of two proposals — $92,996 to evaluate every piece of equipment and study the town’s sewer plant inside and out.
A draft report is expected to be completed in 12 weeks and a final report four weeks after that, Isgrigg said.
on monday, the council also:
• Approved an expenditure of $5,654 for installation of a permanent gas generator for a water pump in an Evergreen subdivision retention pond.
• Approved a change to the public records fee structure to make the town’s ordinance line up with a new state code taking effect July 1. The measure will change the fee per copy from 25 cents to 10 cents and limit any additional chargeable fees for the retrieval of records.
• Approved a stormwater grant not to exceed $550 to fund a third-grade class trip at George Rogers Clark Elementary School to Bernheim Forest for Dr. Drip Drop’s “Wacky Water Ecology Show.” GRC teacher Karen Moore, who presented the grant proposal to the council, said the class she took last year took to heart the lessons they learned about water conservation.
• Approved a change in zoning from residential 1 to residential 2 for three properties near Lewis and Clark Parkway. The measure was opposed by three attorneys representing property owners, who raised questions about issues surrounding an easement near the properties and the impact the zoning change would have on property values and traffic flow.
Attorney Mike Bell cautioned that the council could be “opening Pandora’s Box” by approving the zoning change.
Council member David Fisher, however, said the council was only acting to change the zoning and was not issuing a decision on the easement.
“All we’re voting on is a rezoning issue,” Fisher said, noting that more time and energy had been spent researching the issue than any other he had encountered in his 12 years on the council.
The zoning change was recommended by the town planning commission after several months of discussion.
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