City Council could have a couple of tough decisions on its hands tonight, the first relating to the seemingly ever-criticized mobility plan.
The latest issue has council members weighing whether to provide developer Toney Sleiman with an $11 million-plus tax credit.
Sleiman, one of the Jacksonville Landing owners, is seeking the credit for roads he has and will construct to support his retail development near the busy Atlantic and Kernan boulevards corridor.
Called Atlantic North LLC, the development has a $3.8 million assessed mobility fee that could be offset by the mobility credit Sleiman wants for building the roads. The remainder could be used for other projects or sold to other developers.
Developers in the past paid for their “fair share” of transportation improvements that supported developments they built. That was overhauled in 2011 to a mobility plan system, with fees assessed based on a development’s transportation impact.
That was further tweaked last year, when the credit system was implemented to allow developers to build their own transportation improvement projects and receive credits — the thought being they could make projects better.
Only a handful of projects have sought the credit, but the Sleiman case has caused questions and some pushback over waivers needing approval.
Council member Lori Boyer last week questioned why council should grant $5.4 million in credits for a road Sleiman already had built. Doing so, she said, could set precedent for other developers to come back asking for the same treatment.
“I have a real problem with that,” Boyer told members of the Finance Committee.
Sleiman representative Mike Herzberg told council members said the road always had been planned with the mobility credits in mind, but a series of delays impacted the legislation being passed.
Herzberg said the roads will allow people to completely bypass the need to use traffic-laden Atlantic and Kernan boulevards to enter the development.
Atlantic North is slated for 916,500 square feet of enclosed retail, 300 multifamily residential units and 300 business hotel rooms on 150 acres.
Much more public and ongoing has been the elusive first part of pension reform. It’s back on the table tonight, although in two forms that have support from different sides.
The governance and benefits side of the deal agreed upon by Mayor Alvin Brown and Police and Fire Pension Fund administrator John Keane called for a 10-year pact during which council members can’t impose benefit changes. Council initially cried foul, changing it to three years and calling anything longer illegal. But the pension fund board came back and again changed it to 10 years, with members saying anything less effectively is a deal killer.
Back to council it went, but the initial 10-year stance has waned. Now, two versions of the same bill reflecting both time frames will be up for debate and, likely, a final vote.
If the majority says 10 years, it’ll be on to finding a funding source to pay down in excess of $1.6 billion in the plan’s unfunded liability. Without that, no deal is effective anyway.
If council members stick to their initial stance and vote for three years, the deal heads back to the pension board.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466