New tax district could be key to Warner Robins hotel, conference center
WARNER ROBINS — The Warner Robins Redevelopment Agency is preparing to move ahead with long-standing plans to create a tax allocation district in hopes of attracting a developer to build and operate a hotel and conference center beside City Hall.
First proposed in 2012, the special tax district would allow property values within a defined district to increase incrementally over 15 to 20 years. Taxes collected on the original property value would continue feeding into the city’s general fund, while the overages collected when the values increase over time would go into a special fund for redevelopment in the district.
The proposed 355-parcel area includes a portion of land beside Ga. 247 spanning from Duke Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard, stretching east between Young Avenue and Robins Drive before ending near Davis Drive and Commercial Circle. The total taxable value of the 170-acre district is $55.5 million, according to a draft report.
To create the district, the agency must first have the consent and support of the city, the Houston County Commission and the Houston County school board. That’s something it lacked in 2012. However, Mayor Randy Toms said all of those entities are now on board.
“I think the other government bodies just wanted to make sure they had a say-so in it,” Toms said of the failed proposal in 2012. “As safely as I can say, this is almost a done deal and we’ve done it in plenty of time, because that was one of the drawbacks last time. It was thrown in at the eleventh hour, or at least that was the impression (other government bodies) got. ... We have complete buy-in right now. Everybody’s on the same page.”
Attorney Blake Sharpton, of Macon-based Butler Snow LLP, presented some options Monday for how the agency can get the ball rolling again. “There’s a firm called NYSA Capital that is interested in and has proposed an engagement agreement to help with the development of the hotel and conference center,” Sharpton said. “What NYSA will do is facilitate ... the development of the hotel and conference center. They won’t use their own money, and they won’t personally develop it. But NYSA is interested in it and qualified to help.”
NYSA will network with several other developers and bring back different visions of what the hotel and conference center may look like, Sharpton said.
The next step will be for the council, redevelopment agency, commissioners and school board members to pass individual resolutions agreeing to creation of the district.
“Ideally, we want to have everybody approved and resolved and signed up by the end of November. Candidly, before Thanksgiving,” Sharpton said.
To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.
This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 10:21 PM with the headline "New tax district could be key to Warner Robins hotel, conference center ."