Memorandum
City
of Lawrence
City
Manager’s Office
|
TO: |
Thomas
M. Markus, City Manager |
|
FROM: |
Diane
Stoddard, Assistant City Manager |
|
DATE: |
April
24, 2017 |
|
CC: |
Casey
Toomay, Assistant City Manager Britt
Crum-Cano, Economic Development Coordinator Scott
McCullough, Director of Planning & Development Services |
|
RE: |
Follow
up from City Commission Discussion on Possible Expansion of Catalyst Economic
Development Program Beyond Lawrence VenturePark and East Hills Business Park |
At its April 4, 2017 meeting, the City
Commission adopted the Catalyst Program to spur economic development in
Lawrence VenturePark and East Hills Business Park. The program includes
providing a ten year 50% property tax abatement, expanded to 70% for
LEED-Silver equivalent projects, along with Industrial Revenue Bond financing
and no cost land for qualifying projects. More information on the Catalyst
Program available on the website here.
The program as adopted is geographically bound to lots within Lawrence
VenturePark and East Hills Business Park and provides the benefits for business
investing in one of the following: 1) a
new 75,000 square foot facility in Lawrence VenturePark, 2) a new 25,000 square
foot facility in East Hills Business Park, or 3) a 15,000 square foot expansion
of an existing facility within East Hills Business Park. During discussion, the
City Commission requested information on possible expansion of the program to
other areas of the City.
In order to gather information about the
possible impact of increasing the covered geographic area of the program, staff
reviewed currently vacant I-G zoned parcels within Lawrence that could likely
either accommodate a new 25,000 square foot facility or a new 75,000 square foot
facility. See map. Staff determined that a good rule of thumb
was a parcel of at least two (2) acres would be needed to accommodate a 25,000
square foot building. A parcel of at
least eight (8) acres would likely accommodate a 75,000 square foot
building. The attached map shows all of
the currently zoned I-G tracts in Lawrence, outlined in red. Vacant I-G zoned tracts between two (2) and
eight (8) acres are shown in green and vacant I-G zoned tracts eight (8) acres
or larger are shown in blue. The map
demonstrates only five (5) I-G zoned tracts capable of accommodating a 75,000
square foot facility outside of Lawrence VenturePark and East Hills. Only nine (9) I-G zoned tracts would likely
be capable of accommodating a 25,000 square foot facility. Regarding industrial tracts with existing
buildings that might be capable of accommodating a 15,000 square foot
expansion, staff believes that it is difficult to estimate because of all of
the variables to determine whether a sizeable expansion could be accommodated
on an existing developed lot. These
variables may include things such as effect on parking, effect on required
green space, setbacks, etc. So it would be difficult to determine the possible
impact of this element of the program if it were expanded City-wide. Also,
staff did not presume the possibility of either rezoning to I-G or combining
lots to accommodate size thresholds.
In conclusion, it appears that if the
program were expanded to only currently existing I-G zoned tracts and included
a minimum new development of 25,000 square feet, approximately 14 parcels would
be eligible. If the threshold were
increased to 75,000 square feet minimum, only approximately 5 parcels would be
eligible. Again, it is difficult to measure the possible impact of the
expansion of the program to include all I-G parcels with current facilities
capable of a 15,000 square foot minimum expansion as these would need to be
evaluated on a case-by-case basis due to variables involved.
Possible
Options: