Thursday, March 22, 2007
TIF Nonsense From Realtor
Now that the Mt. Lebanon School Board approved participating in a TIF deal for the Washington Park condo project, the next step is for the commissioners to either approve or reject the deal. A denial at this point seems unlikely.
Why? Well, they have bought into the notion that the project has satisfied the “but for” criterion, namely that without the TIF, the development would not happen. It is a statutory requirement, but it is doubtful that the school board members who voted for the plan or the commissioners planning to get on board have thought objectively about this requirement.
Instead, they listen to people like the high-ranking official of a major real estate company in the region, who said he's been involved with other high-rise condominium projects and that he does not believe Washington Park could be developed without a TIF. “The property has very, very high costs to develop because of infrastructure costs,” said the official.
OK, fine. Then why is it that of the $4.7 million being used directly for the project that over 80 percent of it will be used for non-infrastructure costs? Over $1 million will go for acquisition, $1.3 million for a “public park” that is really landscaping for the facility, and another $1.6 million for a parking garage for the condos. Those are not infrastructure uses. There were other Mt. Lebanon condo projects (such as the MainLine Development)that had infrastructure costs to contend with and did so without a subsidy. How about the fact that Allegheny County, whose TIF policy is to participate in projects “will only be utilized to support public infrastructure improvements”, is not participating in the diversion of taxes?
Too bad objective analysis did not guide this project along. Instead, opinion and subjectivity has. The real estate executive is not exactly unbiased since his company is selling the condos and obviously wants to see them get built.
Why? Well, they have bought into the notion that the project has satisfied the “but for” criterion, namely that without the TIF, the development would not happen. It is a statutory requirement, but it is doubtful that the school board members who voted for the plan or the commissioners planning to get on board have thought objectively about this requirement.
Instead, they listen to people like the high-ranking official of a major real estate company in the region, who said he's been involved with other high-rise condominium projects and that he does not believe Washington Park could be developed without a TIF. “The property has very, very high costs to develop because of infrastructure costs,” said the official.
OK, fine. Then why is it that of the $4.7 million being used directly for the project that over 80 percent of it will be used for non-infrastructure costs? Over $1 million will go for acquisition, $1.3 million for a “public park” that is really landscaping for the facility, and another $1.6 million for a parking garage for the condos. Those are not infrastructure uses. There were other Mt. Lebanon condo projects (such as the MainLine Development)that had infrastructure costs to contend with and did so without a subsidy. How about the fact that Allegheny County, whose TIF policy is to participate in projects “will only be utilized to support public infrastructure improvements”, is not participating in the diversion of taxes?
Too bad objective analysis did not guide this project along. Instead, opinion and subjectivity has. The real estate executive is not exactly unbiased since his company is selling the condos and obviously wants to see them get built.
