No Representation on Old Town Developer Choice or Plan

Categories:

Tuesday evening, October 25^th the majority of our city council, including Mesquite District’s appointed councilmember Brad Shafer, ignored their constituents and voted in favor of a developer’s special interests and profits for the “Old Town Redevelopment” agreement.

What’s Wrong With This Approach?

How does a developer create a design without any input from the community impacted? The secretly agreed to plan has been approved by the majority of the sitting Peoria City Council at the Oct 25th, 2022 session. The developer will now make a design that suits them. The only thing added is 60 day review which the public and residents can comment on but results in minor modifications at best.

Peoria deserves transparent representation that it does not have today.

Whether I am at the podium or have the honor of sitting on the dais as your city council representative I will always put the residents of Mesquite specifically and Peoria as a whole over developers and special interests.

What’s the Issue?

Zero Public Engagement
1. Zero Public Notice
2. Zero Public Meetings
3. Zero Public Outreach
4. Zero Effort to ask citizens what they want or what they thought of the project or the company
5. Zero Public Input
6. September 13^th – CLOSED DOOR, executive session held – ZERO Public Input. Discussions held in executive session can NEVER be revealed to the public.
No Project Information, Concepts, Designs, etc. Provided
1. No site plan provided
2. No renderings provided
3. No Proposal by Developer provided
4. No Information on Developer provided
5. No Development Plan has been provided. Makes absolutely no sense to enter into a contract without a development plan.
6. No information on the permitted uses of the properties
7. No information on the density and intensity and the maximum height and size of proposed buildings
8. No information on the provisions for preservation and/or restoration of historic structures.
This is a 20 year development agreement
1. 87 Page Development Agreement Given to Council Only 5 Days Before Council Meeting
2. No Economic Impact Report
3. An 87 page, 20 year contract, with no public input, no project information, and given to Council 5 days before a vote. Seriously?
City Leasing, Not Selling Sites 1 and 2.
1. Lease is only $1.00 per year for the first 3 years
2. Lease Term is 20 years (Initial Term is 10 and automatically renews for 10 more years)
3. City has option to sell or lease “site 2” but there is no purchase and sale agreement included in the exhibits, only a lease agreement
City is selling Sites 3,4, and 5, but again there is no purchase and sale agreement included in the exhibits
Agreement includes $1.5 million in reimbursement for public infrastructure
1. Demolition of NAPA building is included – although owned by the city this does not qualify for reimbursement of public infrastructure. How do you reimburse a developer for destroying public property? The intent of the statute is to reimburse for public infrastructure that is created, not destroyed. This violates the gift clause
2. Includes Core and Shell Improvements which are improvements to City owned buildings that will be leased or sold to the developer – this violates the gift clause
3. The Goldwater Institute will likely file suit on this agreement, and they’ve already beat the City at the Supreme Court on violation of the gift clause. Although despite this “win” the Peoria taxpayers were NOT reimbursed for the $2 million + gift given at our expense.