Ironwood EDC reviews goals, grants

By TOM LAVENTURE

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Ironwood — The Ironwood Economic Development Corporation reviewed development goals and projects at its Wednesday meeting.

In the Redevelopment Ready Communities program update, Tom Bergman, director of city community development, said that a certification extension from Michigan Economic Development Corporation has allowed the city to complete its zoning ordinance certification first, which will also extend the downtown Tax Increment Financing district plan from 2022 to 2023, he said.

A draft of the new zoning ordinance will be presented to the EDC for review along with the planning commission. Some of the content in the 250 page document will need EDC input in part to identify redevelopment sites for future MEDC grant and planning funds.

The Redevelopment Ready Communities program will allow the EDC to be instrumental in identifying city surplus property or privately owned structures where the owner is willing to sell, that would qualify for grants to redevelop the structures into more marketable projects.

“That would serve as an economic development tool to attract more business to the community,” said John Wyssling, EDC chair.

The delay will require the city to comply with a revised Redevelopment Ready Communities program process that is an improvement in terms of reporting but will also increase the duration of the process, Bergman said. The extra time will also help the city complete the zoning updates, he said.

In the meantime if the EDC can identify a potential project for the Redevelopment Ready Communities program, the work can begin with planning, zoning, design and environmental requirements that are required in order to set up matching dollars for the grants, he said.

“That helps in picking up pieces of the puzzle to, for putting things together for the future for different sites that are already being developed or are being studied to be developed in areas of downtown or along the highway,” Wyssling said of the Redevelopment Ready Communities program. “That makes good sense.”

To clarify board questions, Bergman said the brownfield development funding is a different avenue toward development than the Redevelopment Ready Communities program. Brownfield development is more of an incentive to attract businesses that would develop a site in exchange for things like tax abatement.

The goal of establishing a tax increment financing (TIF) district for the downtown would apply a flat tax rate to capture funds above that rate as tax revenues increase that are then directed toward projects within the district. The Downtown Ironwood Development Authority proposed the TIF District in early 2020 and dedicated $5,000 toward the city’s $15,000 match for consultants to aid the process of developing the TIF plan.

The city is currently informing businesses about the TIF to make them aware and the process will need to start by early 2022 in order to complete the work for the start the 2023 calendar year, Bergman said.

“We don’t want to wait too long,” Bergman said, adding that the time to start a TIFF district is when taxes are relatively low to capture revenue as the taxes increase.

Wyssling said the TIFF seemed like a good tool to attract businesses to the area.

Board discussion continued on the city’s comprehensive plan, which incorporates all of the separate plans approved by the various boards and commissions. Bergman said the comprehensive plan, approved in 2014, will be revised to note which projects and goals have been completed and to add or change the plan with current goals and projects.

The challenge is to ensure that the comprehensive plan and board or authority plans are consistent and not in conflict with one another, and an update requires an opportunity for public input, he said. The current comprehensive plan is considered a model that is used by consultants with other communities, he said.

“There is a lot of information that is presented in a very user-friendly format,” Bergman said.

Work is ongoing with the marketing, outreach and education for hospitality industry opportunities, Bergman said. The city is looking for unique perspectives and is open to suggestions, he said.

The Ironwood Area Chamber of Commerce has had success with training and professional education programming in the past, Bergman said. The city is exploring ways to partner with Gogebic Community College to conduct productive programming.

In the COVID-19 business update, Bergman said the city emailed and called every restaurant in Ironwood prior to the federal Restaurant Revitalization Program opening on Monday. The purpose was to inform them of the opportunity to try and recoup all business losses from the pandemic from the program and what information they needed to gather ahead of time to complete the application to be more competitive for the limited funds.

“It’s a great opportunity but it’s highly competitive,” Bergman said.

The early funding is prioritizing women and veteran owned businesses. Additional funds will be targeted for restaurants with a smaller annual revenue in order to ensure that large and franchise businesses do not take all the funding, he said.

“Hopefully this is something that will help out our businesses in town,” Bergman said. “This is a unique opportunity and a way to help get restaurants back on their feet.”

In the adult-use marijuana establishments license application update, Bergman said that the city Planning Commission will conduct site plan and conditional use permit reviews for the remaining retail and growing establishment applicants at the May 5 and May 20 meetings. All applicants will be informed if they qualify for a license in order to comply with state licensing requirements and development plans as the competitive scoring process is finalized in June.

The planning commission and city commission should complete the process and be ready to consider awarding the limited licenses in early July, Bergman said.

“The applicants are aware of the time frame and the finish line is near,” Bergman said.

The next regular EDC meeting will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 2.