Developers of two large home sites north and east of Melissa have asked the city to create special taxing districts that could carry up to $110 million in infrastructure costs, and the City Council is set to start the clock on both requests at its meeting tonight.
Two consent items on the Tuesday, Oct. 13, agenda would accept the developers' petitions and schedule public hearings for Nov. 17. Neither vote creates a public improvement district, or PID.
Staff memos in the meeting packet say each resolution only accepts a petition, sets the hearing and approves the form of the published notice; creating a district would take a separate council vote after the hearing.
In a PID, the city levies special assessments on lots inside the district to repay the cost of streets, utilities, parks and similar improvements. Both petitions say the city would not put its own money toward the projects beyond assessments collected from the district.
Long Ranch: $60 million estimate
The larger request covers Long Ranch, about 180.9 acres south of County Road 413 and east and south of County Road 417 that sit in Melissa's extraterritorial jurisdiction rather than inside the city. The petition, filed Sept. 21 by the Estate of Priscilla Stovall Long, puts the estimated cost of design, construction, financing and district administration at $60 million.
It lists possible street and drainage work, parks and trails, entry features and water and sewer lines, and says costs not covered by assessments could come from other sources, such as tax increment financing.
The same land is moving toward the city on another track. A separate consent item asks the council to schedule a hearing at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 on the owner's request to annex 180.720 acres there. The Planning and Zoning Commission took up the Long Ranch zoning request on Oct. 8; a staff report for that meeting proposed capping the development at 750 lots.
