STAMFORD ? The Board of Finance approved $23 million in borrowing to finance the next phase of the 28-acre Mill River Park, a sum to be paid back by local property owners and developments in the area.
In seeking approval for the special bond sale, Office of Policy and Management Director Pete Privitera and Director of Administration Fred Flynn said it was needed this month to allow construction to start this summer after a Board of Representatives? public hearing and vote next month.
The board added the item to the agenda at the urging of Privitera and Flynn who assured them the proposed bond sale, expected to take place in July, bore little financial risk for the city. The board approved the measure 4-2.
The proceeds of the bonds, which are backed by a mechanism called tax increment financing, will also pay back the city the remaining balance of the $8 million it has spent on the redevelopment of the park and pay to acquire nearby property which is part of the project, Privitera said.
?The real gain is that the Mill River project gets to move forward and the city gets paid back the money it spent,? Privitera said.
Under tax increment financing ? the city would issue the bonds to fund the redevelopment with the debt being paid for using 50 percent of the property taxes of property owners near the park.
Independent board member Kathleen Murphy and Republican Finance Board member Bob Kolenberg cast the two votes opposing the measure, arguing delay was the proper move for such a large commitment to allow members to vet the financial specifics of the sale and a presentation by the firm expected to conduct the offering.
?We?re not really doing our due diligence,? Murphy told board members. ?I mean honestly have any of you read the information on the bond sale??
Kolenberg said while conducting the sale using tax increment financing might be in the city?s interest, he wanted more information before approving it to be assured the city would be protected from responsibility for the debt if something went wrong.
?We?ve heard this time and time again, we need this now, we need this now, to avoid missing a great opportunity,? Kolenberg said.
Privitera acknowledged a more extensive presentation might have been preferable, but vouched for the soundness of the deal and that the city would not suffer financially for issuing the debt.
?I can?t tell you how crazy it has been to get this structure together for this meeting so we could get it approved,? Privitera said.
Democratic board member Tim Abbazia said that he sympathized with Kolenberg and Murphy?s preference for more information, but said that finance officials had to consider the overall situation and the finance board?s earlier calls for the project to be funded by tax increment financing.
?Looking at the group here I?m confident they?ve done their due diligence,? Abbazia said. ?I?ll also say this project is critical and urgent if you look at the state of the park. I don?t think we can delay it.?
The master plan for the park calls for a $60 million overhaul that besides a park-like environment would include a glass-enclosed carousel, ice skating rink, fishing piers, kayak launch, restrooms in the shape of topiary frogs, and an elaborately designed lattice-shaped wooden canopy that will frame the park?s central walking path.
Milton Puryear, head of the Mill River Collaborative and Rachel Goldberg, an attorney for the city?s Urban Redevelopment Commission said the approval of the bonding would help fulfill the promise of the park?s concept which has helped attract developers to invest in building new housing in the area.
?Ten or 11 years ago when this project first started to come together the two things they wanted to accomplish were to incentivize the private sector to do development there and get RBS to come to downtown Stamford,? Goldberg said. ?This project is creating a big reason for people to want to work and hopefully live here.?
During the meeting, Flynn told the board that he was yet to complete his analysis of cost overruns and other mishaps during the first phase of the Stamford Urban Transitway, but said so far he found no reason to think that an independent outside audit would be required.
Flynn?s review will also consider the circumstances around the city awarding the contract to the sole bidder, Earth Technology Inc., which had been indicted in 2009 on fraud and money laundering charges related to a project at a shopping mall in New York.
An outside audit was approved by the Board of Finance earlier this year, one of five with a total cost of $375,000.
Board of Finance Chairman Jerry Bosak asked if Flynn would be able to present the board with the analysis in the near future, and Flynn said within two to three weeks.
?I have seen nothing that would lead me to believe that an outside audit is warranted,? Flynn said.
Staff Writer Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at martin.cassidy@scni.com or 203-964-2264.
Article source: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Board-of-Finance-approves-23-million-for-Mill-1379004.php
Source: http://loans.ismyblogs.name/board-of-finance-approves-23-million-for-mill-river-project-2/
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