At a recent meeting, Milford City Council discussed potential adjustments to the Downtown Development District (DDD) boundaries. Milford was awarded DDD status in 2016 and the boundaries have been adjusted twice due to increases in acreage from the state.
“To date, we have seen 235 building permit applications in the last ten years, totaling $38.2 million in investment from property owners,” Rob Pierce, City Planner, said. “The state has committed or provided $4.5 million in state rebates and the city has waived building permit charges or provided tax payments for properties in the DDD of $1.2 million.”
According to information provided by the state, Milford ranked third in private investment out of all communities and second in total DDD rebates. The city was also second in the number of large projects and first in small projects compared to three other communities who were awarded DDD designation in 2014 and 2015, including the city of Wilmington.
“The state requires an analysis of several areas that originated from the initial application,” Pierce said. “We still have to demonstrate need and impact, show the effectiveness of creating the investment, like creating jobs and improving housing stock. That means we have to evaluate our local incentives, update our maps and provide the state of rationale as to why we should receive a five-year extension.”
Pierce explained that the renewal application allowed the city to identify new Key Priority Projects, identified by the state as a catalyst for other redevelopment activity. These are specific projects that are expected to provide significant positive impacts to the district. In 2016, Riverwalk Villas and RiverPlace Mixed-Use were identified as Key Priority Projects.
“The Riverwalk Villas project has since expired and was transformed by Milford Housing Development Corporation into 27 townhouses,” Pierce said. “RiverPlace, an apartment-mixed use building was proposed near the Washington Street water plant, but Parks and Recreation has done some work in that area, so that project is no longer relevant.”
Pierce worked with Lauren Swain, Economic Development and Community Engagement Director to identify potential projects for the DDD. Pierce state that many of these came from the Riverwalk Rebirth Plan created by Arnett and Muldrow several years ago as well as proposed projects from developers and property owners.
“These projects include the new Riverwalk Villas project, DE OZ Property Management which is redeveloipment of the old firehouse, a 39-townhouse and single family detached subdivision from Carlisle Lane LLC,” Pierce said. “The Northeast Front Street parking lot as a commercial or mixed-use development, the Warren Furniture lot, the Growmark FS Peninsula property and the God’s Way property.”
Pierce explained that properties can be removed from the district by notifying property owners by certified mail and holding a public hearing. A draft boundary adjustment was created to submit with the renewal application and council would determine where the DDD could expand.
“This is just a draft and there are a couple of property owners I would like to reach out to prior to finalizing this before it comes back to council as an overall renewal,” Pierce said. “I don’t know if the state will allow us to remove the portion where the parks are located as they are in the center of the map, but I think our demonstrated track record of investment will indicate that the area is off limits for any kind of rebate as it would be better used for private investment.”
Mayor Todd Culotta asked if the city gave back an area, like the portion that was now parkland, if it could be added to another section of the city.
“The draft removes about 20 acres of land,” Pierce said. “That would put us at 180 acres and we are allowed 200, so that would allow us to analyze the surrounding lands and expand 20 acres.”
Affordable housing was another benefit of the DDD.
“I think Governor Myer, in his comments about affordable housing, the DDD was an important part,” Culotta said. “I think we’ll continue to see a combination of moving boundaries, but also adding to a program that has been used well in the past could help put a dent in the housing crisis.”
The DDD allows a property owner, both residential and commercial, who will spend $25,000 or more on a project to receive rebates on the actual costs of the construction, up to 20 percent of those costs. Pierce explained that if a property owner spent $25,000, that meant a rebate of $5,000 returned to them from the state within 60 days of submitting receipts for the costs. For large scale projects, the costs must be at least $350,000. Councilman Jason James asked if city properties were included in the DDD.
“They should be excluded and the others we are seeking to remove are already completed, so we are not taking away from the area as the projects are done,” Pierce said. “There’s a couple of them that we may reach back out to property owners to be sure they don’t plan any additional redevelopment that they may want to a take advantage of the DDD.”
Culotta, who owns a contracting company, explained that he had just finished a project in the DDD.
“I think it took us three years, but we filed and got the credits back,” Culotta said. “It is a selling feature, too, because if someone wants to make additional upgrades, they can still apply for the DDD. So, we do need to review those completed projects on the periphery of the district.”
Councilwoman Nadia Zychal pointed out how beneficial the DDD was to historic buildings in the city.
“There is a good bit of overlap, well, not completely overlapping, because some of these older buildings have higher maintenance costs, higher reservation costs,” Zychal said. “That is something to consider as we review these boundaries.
Culotta stated that the overlap was one of the benefits of the program.
“Dan Bond is an expert at this, where you overlay programs,” Culotta said. “The DDD is the fastest one. Historic preservation is a lot longer process but is a very good one. Sometimes tax credits come with rules you can’t use if you plan to resell.”
Pierce will bring the final version back to council for review and approval at a future meeting.
