In a July 3, 2010 News Journal articled titled "Delaware communities: Darley Green developer offers move-in help", the article describes a $300,000 dollar program to provide a subsidy to public employees to move into this struggle redevelopment project claiming is is being done "with no money coming from taxpayers".
"It's something that allows us to give back to those people," said Don Robitzer, chief operating officer and project head for The Commonwealth Group. "It creates an avenue for us to help them out."
While this paints a Rosie picture of the project, the reality of the public subsidy and tax payer cost required to make this project possible may be viewed very differently.
Quite simply, without the short sighted relaxing of the County Code and cutting deal after deal at the taxpayer's expense, this project would not be occurring.The truth is that the project went forward only as a result of something could "tax increment financing", which is a sort of loan/bonding that the County Government approved with underwriting from County taxpayers. All indications are that this is not working out, and the public will now be paying the bill.
Despite the claim that this is being done without "with no money coming from taxpayers", you can rest assured that county tax payers will be paying much more out of pocket. The question is whether or not this is a legal way to "give back to those people" that work on and approved these special interest deals.
Civic League Board Member Fritz Griesinger provides a detailed perspective, without the political correctness of the News Journal, below:
According to News Journal article 3/1/07 by Basiouny, this development began in July 2005. The purchase price of $31 million is widely regarded as being as much as twice the realistic price. What is an inexperienced developer to do? One is to involve county officials in possibly self serving support. Another option was to sell the project to builders but there were no takers. Yet another plan was to sell the project to private investors but again there were no takers. Part of the rezoning plan was to set aside 10% of the homes as "Work Force Housing" (WFH) selling at 10% below market prices. The developer's commitment to provide a $5,000 assistance for "Homes for Heroes" will still leave the developer with the requirement to come up with an additional $15,000 to cover the $20,000 10% on a $200,000 Work Force home.
The site had severe drainage and sewer issues which the county waived or expedited. Additionally, putting 1226 dwelling units on 66 acres is 18.5+ dwelling units per acre. As a comparison, Appendix G of the County 07 Comprehensive Development Plan notes that Wilmington density is 4.2 dwelling units per acre. Such a high density will cost far more in services than it will generate in taxes. Allowing for roads and 50,000 square feet of commercial and a bit of open space, will make this a very crowded project. DelDot chipped in with waivers and favorable street design. The site had severe drainage and sewer issues which the county waived or expedited.
Indeed, the project, known as Brookview, then Renaissance Village and now Darley Green has a design manual. George Losse was an original supporter but there have been so many cheapening changes that he now is concerned about quality of construction, safety, amenities and aesthetics. Much of this is covered in NJ 3/1/07 by Basiouny who now works for Coons.
Due to continuing financial problems, in order for the developer to proceed, a complex financing procedure known as Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) could be used. This was done with the agreement of Coons and County Council since no private lender would participate with conventional financing. This was the first time Council and Coons participated in such a scheme. It involves a bond sale to reimburse the developer for infrastructure costs and will be repaid to the county in 20 to 30 years with increased property taxes and then revert to the county. "In Renaissance Village, that fee will be about $700 per year for home owners." See NJ article 9/17/08 by Basiouny.
While this is a visionary project backed by planning fads, it sadly appears to fail the reality test, with the County responsible for the costs of administering a program with which it has no experience.
Fritz---as usual your long community experience is quite correct. The previous Brookview townhomes- had become a slum after 55-58 years because of absentee owners. The new project was named Renaissance Village and PUSHED by Councilman Bob Weiner who promised the world . Smart Growth-- It DOUBLED the density 667 or so to 1226 Units PLUS Commercial and god knows what else they will propose. The construction is cheap (my husband used to do plans for builders in the 50’s and is a retired “rocket” engineer. His concern is the crowded townhouses, very limited egress and access, parking under the buildings, just skinny (4x4 or so) columns holding up the porches—what happens if a car rams one?---fire (most of the building are frame-and 6-8 buildings attached to each other.etc) Where is the open space??? I would be happy to give any one a tour. I went down to measure the distance from house to street when the first ones went up, went to the county and looked at the plans, was told changes were made. It is denser than the densest parts of Wilmington. Townhouses on King Street at least have a little back yard. All of this is very close to the existing single family residential long time folks across the street and right up to the small commercial strip. PLEASE COME—I would be happy to show you the new city!!!!!! Frances West 911 Darley Road, Wilmington DE 19810 (The railroad separates Claymont from Northern Wilmington.)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your views. I was considering purchasing in the development sometime ago but have continue to be reluctant; now I have even more reasons not to move forward, especially at their current pricing...
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