The Lenexa City Council on Tuesday approved holding a public hearing at its Aug. 21 meeting to consider establishing a community improvement district (CID) for the Sonoma Plaza retail center on one of the last substantial tracts of vacant land inside the Interstate 435 loop in Johnson County.
The CID, requested by developer Sonoma Plaza Inc., would levy a 1 percent retail sales tax on all property within the roughly 29-acre area at the southeast corner of 87th Street Parkway and I-435 starting July 1, 2020, according to a Tuesday memo to the council from Assistant City Attorney Sean McLaughlin. Sonoma Plaza Inc. is a unit of Lenexa-based Oddo Development. On June 5, the council approved tax-increment financing (TIF) plans for Sonoma Plaza and the multifamily residential development Sonoma Pointe. The 20-year TIF plan would reimburse the developer using up to 40 percent of the TIF increment for up to 12 years for a maximum of $4 million, after which the city would be entitled to receive 100 percent of the increment and any balance for the remainder of the 20-year TIF term.
TIF is public financing tool by which a developer of a blighted property is reimbursed for eligible development and infrastructure costs using the increment of new property or sales tax revenue generated by the development. Consideration is given to whether a development wouldn’t be financially feasible but for TIF.
The council also approved on June 5 the city’s issuance of up to $20 million in industrial revenue bonds for the project.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County)