Get started here.

Our first order of business is to elect a new chair of the IDB.

Our um chair former chair, Carrie Hayes has moved to Nashville.

So we will begin the meeting with the election of a new chair.

There's no Madam Cairn.

But under the circumstances and looking at the bylaws, it looks to me like it could be either we elect a new chair person or you step up as the current vice chair.

And we elect a replacement for you as vice chair.

I've made city attorney aware of uh my point or concern there, so I'll defer to him what he thinks.

But I think the bylaws are unclear feel.

Well, I I think it's up to this body, and this body uh by vote can elect uh at least uh uh a chair for this position.

If your vice chair becomes uh chair, then there's an opening for the vice chair spot.

Uh there is also uh I guess we gotta make sure if you want to have any other uh appointments at this point in time if there were just a move up type situation, that could also be a situation where you might need to have a new uh uh guess assistant secretary if everybody moved up in position.

So that that's up to this body to decide in this meeting, and that's why I thought it needed to be one of the things early on your agenda.

Okay, I'd like to nominate you, Thea Jones for the position of chair.

Can I do that?

Yes, you can.

Okay.

There is a nomination on the floor for um myself, Althea Jones to be chair.

Is there I'll second that a second?

There is a a second, any discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

All right.

Okay.

So with that, we need to um elect a new vice chair.

Yes.

Okay.

So um at this point we'll um elect a new vice chair.

Are there any nominations for vice chair?

I nominate Gordon Parker.

I second that.

Any discussion there?

All those in favor for Gordon Parker as vice chair?

Say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, well, Gordon will be vice chair.

So then we need um a secretary.

See, my way was um are there any nominations for secretary?

Our current secant secretary, Jim Floyd, right?

Yes.

Jim, would you be willing to serve if you step up?

I nominate Jim Floyd.

Is there a second?

Thank you.

Any discussion?

All those in favor of Jim Floyd being secretary, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

Okay, Jim.

The secretary.

And finally, uh an assistant secretary.

So are there any um nominations for assistant secretary?

Not you.

Sure.

Okay, I nominate Nadia.

Is there a second for Nadia?

Second.

All those in favor for Nadia, Assistant Secretary.

Aye.

Okay, Nadia is will be our assistant secretary.

Now see, that was easy.

All right, very good.

All right.

All right, great.

Okay, um, our next item is just confirming that this meeting was advertised and we have a present quorum.

So thank you all for being here.

Um our next item is the approval of the minutes from the August 4th meeting.

Um, I know that those were all sent.

Is there um motion to approve those minutes?

So moved.

Moved and second.

All those in favor?

Thank you.

Motion approved, minutes approved.

Um, next we'll recognize any um person wishing to address the board at this time.

Sure.

Good morning, board, Helen Byrne Sharp, accountability for taxpayer money, wanting to speak briefly about an item coming up on your agenda, and that is the North Gate TIP application.

Uh I realize that we're very early in the process and there are lots of steps, but the reason I bring this up now is in case you think there are a couple of issues that maybe need to be addressed before the application gets forwarded to the application review committee, the city council, and the uh county commission.

So this is the first step in the process, and uh and there may be questions raised later, but as I said, I will wondered if now there's a there are a couple of fundamental questions I think that that you might want to discuss.

The developers are requesting a 20-year TIF involving property taxes.

They're also requesting that a portion of the local option sales tax received by the city from certain mall sales be contributed by the city to the IDB pursuant to an economic development agreement.

And the sales tax actually is a major funding piece.

It's about 10 million, whereas the property tax incentive is about five million.

So my question is does state law allow sales tax revenues to be used with TIFF for a project like this?

Your great staff person Sharita says yes, and she points to a section in state law which essentially allows the city to pledge any non-vulorum tax revenues, including sales taxes to assist with public infrastructure projects.

So she makes a good point there.

Brown fields and convention tourism facilities.

So it does not be does not check one of those boxes.

I believe you need a written legal opinion from an attorney with expertise in TIFFs to put this issue to rest, otherwise it may keep popping up.

The second question is does the city need the impartial third party review call for in your adopted TIFF policies before proceeding with the application.

The applicant requested a waiver of TIFF policy 4.11, which requires an applicant affidavit and an independent third party review.

The city council denied this waiver request.

They approved a couple of their waiver requests, they denied this waiver request.

So there will be a third-party review, and there is an applicant affidavit in the application, which basically the applicant certified they would not undertake the project unless the requested incentive was provided because it would not result in a reasonable return on investment.

One of the purposes of the independent third party review is to evaluate the applicant's financial projections for the project to evaluate whether the amount and allocation period they request is required for them to receive a commercially unreasonable return on investment with respect to the project.

But it seems like we need to know.

The city used this tool in a recent TIFF, and my understanding is that it lowered the amount of the taxpayer subsidy.

Might not hear, but you know, it might.

So anyway, it's a timing issue.

I know timing is always critical.

I wondered if if the staff makes the case that time, you know, timing is critical.

You know, you all could theoretically continue this meeting.

You wouldn't have to wait until your next month, and maybe you continue it to a date certain, you know, if the city thinks they will have this written legal opinion and a third-party opinion in the you know not too distant future.

So thank you for your consideration.

Any questions?

Any questions for Ms.

Sharp?

Okay.

Thank you, Ms.

Sharp.

Next item is the quarterly finance report presented by Miss Eleanor Liu.

Good morning, members of court.

Um Ellen Alan Oliu, uh, Finance Department of China City of Chattanooga.

Uh I have a few reports to present.

The very first one is the longest one, that's the BW grant.

Actually, there's no change at all since uh July when I presented the same report.

Everything still stays the same.

Uh percent of spend encumbered and the contingency is still at 99.0%.

Okay.

Uh let's go on to the second report.

Second one is the IDB Economic Development Program summary.

For that one, um, in total of all the funds that we have.

Uh remaining balance to submit it right now, it stands at 2.2 million 45,000 dollars.

Uh if I may, I will actually briefly touch on the agenda number 13.

There's a confirmation for the $588,000.

That dollar amount has been received.

And if you look at the column four for fund 14, that $1,584,000.

That balance does include that particular transfer of $588,000.

Where was the transfer from?

Uh that was previous balance held at CNE.

Small business funds for many years.

I believe they finished with the activities in that and has been sitting the fund for a few months, and it was determined to be transferred back to the IDB.

Okay.

So that that transaction exit was concluded uh August 15th.

So I just want to point out to you that 1.5 million dollars does include that balance transfer.

Okay, if no question, let's move on to this next report.

The TIFF.

Again, this TIFF report is exactly the same as the one I presented to you back in July.

All right, the next report is the wastewater program summary.

Uh this time we see there are two programs right now we're running.

One is the E2I2, one is SPOI, and both programs right now are really high activities.

Uh to date, we spend about $33 million.

Of course, this is like passed through.

So whatever we spend, IDB spend, we'll get a reimbursement 100% from the city of Chattanooga.

And so far, we have received every single penny of it.

Okay.

That concludes the older report.

But I do need to bring your attention to the letter from the state control office.

Give a little bit of history.

Uh back in FY23, we recorded a counts payable for interest of $313,000.

And the end of that report, the state controller sent us a letter.

Said we should not report a negative net position.

So we'll correct made the correction.

We removed it from the statement, and we include that $313,000 interest payment into note section of the finance report.

So far so good.

Uh except I in the one I removed that from the statement.

I use a language called prior appear prior period adjustment.

And just so happened last year was the first year we adopted a gas view statement 100.

In that report, uh, in that standard says the prior period adjustment cannot be used, should be used.

Error correction.

So for that we got in the letter this day this July.

So in this year, FR25 financial statement, we made that correction.

We changed the wording to the error correction.

So just want to bring that letter to your attention and uh to ensure that we have made the correction in this year's financial report.

Elner, that'll be correct uh corrected on any future reports, right?

Uh actually it will only show up once because in our financial uh financial statement we should prior year and the current year.

The correction was made on prior year.

Okay.

So by next year roll around, we won't have this correction anymore, so we shouldn't be seeing it again.

Okay.

And we won't do it as a note on which we try not make any mistakes.

All right, no problem.

Thanks.

Any questions I can answer?

Okay.

Thank you, Ms.

Lynn.

Yeah.

Okay, our next agenda item is the Northgate Multiff.

Um, this item has two parts.

Um, the first part is a resolution accepting the application and attachments from Higgs Mall LLC and BI developments LLC for a tax increment incentive and authorizing the submission of the tax increment instead of application for the Northgate Mall redevelopment project to the city to to the Chattanooga City Council and Hamilton County Commission to adopt a resolution of intent to consider an economic impact plan.

Start with that one.

Thank you, Sharita.

Good morning.

Good morning, how do you do members?

Sharita Allen, Senior Advisor for Economic and Workforce Development here at the city.

Um I have included in your packets a staff report.

That's just a one-page overview of the item on which we are speaking today.

Um staff is recommending to approve accepting the application.

We we list in that staff report the authorizing state statutes for that.

We include the city county policies, and then we will go through the presentation after that.

We talk a little bit about the alignment with economic development plans in the staff report, including alignment with the RPA plan for regional centers and corridor approaches.

We talk a little bit about the RPA and RPA City Council adopted plan in 2003, which encourages the revitalization of the existing commercial centers.

And then we talk a little bit about the Plan Chattanooga Hicks and Red Bank plan that's in draft form from 2024, which talks about facilitating redevelopment of Northgate Mall and surrounding commercial areas into a compact blockable center.

And so those will be in the presentation once we get that pulled up.

But in the meantime, we will talk a little bit about the project and how we got where we are.

Okay.

Why are you going to be aware of that?

Correct presentation wrong cover.

So here we here we are.

So we're talking about the proposed Northgate Mall tip.

What's the city's best vested interest in the infrastructure?

The first piece, if you look at this particular graphic, the orange areas show the stormwater runoff, and then the which is which is city infrastructure.

And then if you look at the gray box in the center, that is uh Northgate Mall property.

And so that's a private sewer infrastructure.

And so as it stands now, we have public infrastructure flowing into a private system.

We're looking at our vested interest from a public health standpoint, where that's that public infrastructure to fail, the public infrastructure then becomes the city's responsibility.

We're looking at the benefit from accessing private capital.

This would be a public-private partnership in that the developer would do a city-backed TIFF that would fund the infrastructure up front, and they're asking for the public sales tax and the local option public property tax and local option sales tax to repay the um fronting of that particular infrastructure.

Accelerating project timelines.

We're looking at proposed construction, which would be January 1 of 2027, completion January 1 of 2028.

That would be ahead of any capital project that the city would have.

It would be ahead of any capital project that wastewater would have as well.

And then sharing risk.

Again, we'll talk a little bit in this presentation about public-private partnerships.

Economic development standpoint, we're going to go over with you some of the benefits for revitalizing them all as it relates to previous sales taxes and how those have dipped and previous property taxes and how those have dipped as well.

And then looking at enhancing future revenue streams.

Again, rebuilding existing infrastructure, looking forward to future development, what that development looks like is all based on the existing infrastructure and the future infrastructure that's in place.

Talk a little bit about it.

We talked a little bit about the history.

So it's once a thriving urban center, it was a center of activity.

It was built in 1968 with private sewer system.

Hickson at one point was annexed into the city of Chattanooga in 1973.

And so when that annexation happened, it still remained a public uh infrastructure system.

It did not come into public uh infrastructure.

Current status, there has been some existing redevelopment of the mall.

That is limited limited based on the laterals and the existing infrastructure.

So again, what that looks like is small standalone development on the perimeter.

If we would ever want to have, for instance, multifamily housing or revitalized town center, if you wanted to do class A office buildings, those require upgraded and replaced infrastructure, and that's currently not viable with this particular private system.

And so again, take a little um we give you some numbers here talking about the dip in appraised value.

So 2017, looking at that $50 million figure, 2024, currently appraised at 28 million, and what why that's important to us as as a city and as the industrial development board is that's that's a loss of property taxes when you look at that.

And then looking down at the sales tax piece, looking how sales taxes have declined from their peak, and the developer will present after this, and he will talk a little bit about these numbers as well.

But again, that that loss in sales tax revenue is a loss in sales tax that goes into our general fund that funds some of our operations for the city of Chattanooga.

So again, we're looking at it from these are two revenue sources that impact our city services overall, and we have seen a steady decline in this particular region.

And we say region because it's not just Northgate Mall proper.

There are 13 private owned properties around it that also generate sales tax and property tax that go to the city of Chattanooga.

Talked a little bit about the benefit.

This is a proposed TIFF boundary, and again, this includes Northgate proper and some private property owners.

You see there, the clover leaf that's uh in the top corner there.

That clover leaf is where the storm rock with stormwater and uh public rights of way feed into the private system.

And so again, it's it's upgrading and replacing the infrastructure.

There's a safety, public safety aspect to it or uh for the city, it's achieved achieving a vision of town center.

Again, as malls are being redeveloped, and I will point to a couple of malls that are that are in this particular presentation.

As malls are being redeveloped, they're not being redeveloped so redeveloped solely for retail.

There are other functions that are happening there: the multifamily, the mixed use, there's some other services that happen with it.

You'll also see in the upper right corner the tail end of that TIFF boundary.

That's a Northgate public library, which is at the end of its life.

So at some point, that library will be redeveloped in the next three to five years as well.

And then looking finally, um new sewer and stormwater infrastructure would be dedicated to the city after completion.

So again, private system replaced, upgraded to city standards.

Um there's a component which is uh owned by the Hickson Utility District, it would be built to its and utility district standards that would be dedicated over to them.

We did staff did have conversations with the utility district.

They did not have in their capital budget or their capital plan any projections to replace any of their water lines for the next three to five years.

The same with the city infrastructure, it's not in the capital plan for replacing in the next three to five years as well.

And then let's talk a little bit about the TIFF.

I mean, this board has worked on a number of PIFs in the past and understands the process, but again, it is looking at the property taxes in the existing boundaries of the TIFF district.

That's that green portion in this graph.

Whatever's currently being paid in property taxes will continue to be paid.

As a property gets redeveloped, there's that orange piece, that's the increment.

That only happens if the developer builds the infrastructure that encourages future development.

So it's not just putting in infrastructure and having it sit, it's putting in infrastructure to drive future growth.

That future growth, that's the tax increment.

That's what's discretionary, and so that's what this TIFF is about.

This these next five and six steps to get a TIFF, a proposed TIFF in place.

That's looking at how much is that increment, what does it look like?

How much of it is a project entitled to to pursue, and how do we make that happen?

And then at the end of the proposed 20-year term, that green piece, that's where all of that extra valuation, that extra TIFF increment, that comes back to the city.

And so again, it's looking at we're getting taxes, we know we're receiving those, they're starting, they have historically been declining, and they will probably continue to decline without significant investment and redevelop development.

How do we put in the infrastructure to encourage that orange piece to happen so that as we get to the end of it, we get all of the green afterwards, and so that's kind of what this graph looks like.

And again, the discretionary piece is what's in orange.

And then we talk about the waivers.

So this is the presentation that was presented to city council last week.

We went to city council, we asked for waivers or certain policies in the city by the TIP policies that were approved by city council, they're allowed to waive any and all policies as they determine.

We asked for these three waivers, they waived the first two, and the last one was that independent 30 third party review.

And so the city council said, you know what, we still want that.

Like, like we get timing is of the essence, and and we understand all the other pieces, but that's something that the city city council was not willing to waive.

And so our TIFF, our TIFF council, you know, I get city council and TIFF council mixed up sometimes.

So our TIFF legal team is already reaching out to a third-party reviewer to provide that.

It's not a reviewer that we've worked with in the past, so it will not be younger associates, it will not be our current legal team, it's an outside third party.

So they've already reached out for that.

What's required for that is that that piece be in place when we get to the point where we are negotiating the EIP, and that's what happens in November.

That's November 3rd.

And so the economic impact plan, and that's in another uh presentation.

And so on November 3rd that's when the IDB will see that legal document.

And that's that requires a public hearing that'll happen here and then it goes to city council and it goes to accounting commission if if applicable and then the final step that is it will come back to the IDB.

And so what's important for us is that third party review piece we need to have that by the by November 3rd which is when we will start looking at what are the numbers that's where and I'll give you the the four main pieces of the EIP that's where we're identifying the boundaries do we have the boundaries that we need or do they need to be changed.

We're identifying the location of the project we're talking about the benefits to the municipality we're talking about the anticipated tax receipts we're talking about job creation all of those are the legal components that will go into the EIP again that's November 3rd.

So that third party piece we don't need that today but we need that before November 3rd which is where we start looking at the legal document.

So for today what we're asking is review accept the application as complete to start the process set a date for an application review committee appoint two members from the IDB keeping in mind the mayor will designate two members city council will designate two members and then we'll be a member for the chamber those are the pieces that we're asking for today to start the process and so there is an affidavit in the in the application which says from the company that the project that this infrastructure is needed to make the project happen and this third party review which we're saying we will have by the November 3rd EIP draft that piece will verify that affidavit.

So for that one what we're saying is we don't need that now but we do need it before we get to the EIP portion.

And then let's talk a little bit about the public public private partnership.

Some of you have seen some of these before you voted for some of these we're about to have a public hearing to amend one of these and again this is this is uh the public private partnership and how that works for for the city and the IDB it's a contractual agreement between a public agency and a private sector entity and so in addition to sharing resources we're also sharing the risk and so I'll give you this first example the ML King blue goose hollow TIFF.

So this one the developer came to us the developer was going through the land development office process the developer was working with CDOT department of transportation and someone in that department said hey just so you know if you maintain ownership of this and you close off this boulevard the public will not have access to the riverwalk and the city and the county had just spent tens of millions on that particular portion of the river walk.

And so that's where that public private partnership came to play and it was there's a public benefit we'd like to partner with you or or developer if would you partner with us to make sure the public benefit is maintained and so this was a tip roughly a four million dollar tip that allowed extension of ML King Boulevard to the river to the river wall and it also provided parking landscaping infrastructure all of those other pieces that go along along with that sort of public piece.

Access road tip and I know we have a public hearing on on that one here shortly again this was infrastructure that the city never would have funded on the front end it never would have acquired the rights of way to do that.

It worked with a developer who was doing a project in the area and we said hey just so you know there's a soccer complex and there's limited roadway and access and there's no signaling so people are coming out of this road they're making left turn against four lane traffic there's no signaling we'd like to to revitalize that infrastructure it's not something that was in the capital plan and probably would not have been for a long time but again developer at the table developing a project and we said would you consider building out our infrastructure we'll provide increment to repay you for that and that's where we're seeing this this piece.

So again looking at how public private partnerships work there's a public benefit for us for the city and the IDB on the Northgate mall tip because again we have public infrastructure that is flowing into a private system and for the private system to ever fail we're we then are in a critical standpoint to say now we have to address this public system on our own on our dime on our timeframe what would that look like absent a public private partnership where you already have a developer who's a who's doing work and and in and around that area and again I talked a little bit about this while we were waiting for the presentation to load and again this is just project alignment and so how this works is when the chamber has a plan or RPA has a plan there's a plan Hamilton when those plans are put together with public input those plans then get disseminated to all of the economic development entities that are located in our ecosystem we then flag the ones where we feel like there might be a potential P3 that's involved.

When those plans are put together with public input, those plans then get disseminated to all of the economic development entities that are located in our ecosystem.

We then flag the ones where we feel like there might be a potential P3 that's involved.

It doesn't always happen.

Sometimes it aligns, sometimes it doesn't, but again, when you start to look at the Hickton Red Bank plan, I mean it it points out there's a section in a bullet point that says, you know, facilitate the redevelopment of Northgate Mall.

Well, what does that facilitation look like?

It could be private, it could be public dollars that go directly into it, it could be public infrastructure that goes into it, it could be the facilitation of a high-rise project that includes a public library into it.

It could look like any number of things, but what's important is that we flag these items, and as they come to us, we bring them forward to the elected bodies for the elected bodies to decide whether to decide whether these are projects that we want to see happen moving forward.

And then again, these are some recent, one of those is not so recent because it's 2007, but these are other Tennessee shopping mall, shopping center tip projects.

And again, you're looking at Rivergate, 42 million dollar tip, Oak Ridge, that's a $13 million tip, Bellevue 10, Eastone Comms, King Sport, $9.5 million tip.

These are for some of them are infrastructure, some of them are vertical construction, some of them are demolition.

They're just just total use our dollars to demolish this eye sword that's been vacant and abandoned.

Just take it off.

So again, all of these tips are a little different, and so the tip that we're proposed tip we're bringing to the table is is a combination of some of those, but at its core, it's infrastructure.

So that if you want to redevelop it to an outside type mall, if you want to have a town center, uh, if you want to have multifamily housing, if you want to have a hotel, none of that, none of that could happen with the existing infrastructure at the core of the facility.

Okay, and then the proposed timeline, kind of where we are with everything.

Need glasses for this one.

Okay, so we we just finished the two C piece with the council where we basically went to them and said this is a TIFF, it's not like previous TIFFs you've done, it doesn't have a big project attached to it that's generating increment, it's mainly for infrastructure, it's going to be using property tax and local sales tax from smaller projects that are happening in and around it.

It's different.

We need some waivers.

So the council again approved two of those waivers, said no to the other one.

We're moving forward and we're reaching out, and we're we will comply.

Obviously, the the applicant will comply with that.

And then again, um, here we are accepting the application and the $8,000 application fee that goes along with that.

That fee can cover any resources or any any studies or special items that the IDB might need to review this particular application.

And then the Tuesday the 14th, we would go back to City Council, reviewing it for TIP.

Again, those are those are all the steps.

Those are proposed application uh committee that has to happen on October 20th.

That's where roughly you've got seven people sitting around the table uh sitting around the table in the JB Collins meeting room for two hours, and they're just reviewing the TIFF application.

They're asking every single question about every single answer.

They're looking at all of the studies, they're looking at all of the supporting documents to say, okay, we get it, we've asked asked all the questions.

There's a reporter that attends that meeting that takes notes, and then anything that comes out of that meeting gets incorporated to into future documents.

So if there's a question that needs to be asked, they typically will ask it, it's recorded, and then we get that answer, and then that's in that's incorporated into future documents moving forward.

And so we go from application review committee to the public hearing by the IDB and the vote on the EIP.

Again, that's where the legal document that says we think we're doing a tip, we're not sure yet, but this is a legal document, and here are the items that need to be debated and reviewed, and that would come before this board November 3rd, and then passing and voting of it from the IDB, it then goes back to city, and if appropriate, it would go to county for review and approval, and then the TIFFs in place, and then after that, there's a development agreement.

That typically would happen late December, January.

I think we've had one that's gone to March or so, and then that kind of goes over the parameters of the development, what it looks like along with all of those pieces.

Perfect.

And then I'll have the developer come up and talk a little bit about the sewer piece.

Thank you.

There's a another presentation in there.

Can you switch to it?

Sorry.

John Michelle, CBL Properties.

Appreciative of the uh the board today and the opportunity to speak to you all, Sharita.

Thank you for your presentation.

Perfect.

That's the right one.

As the city stated, we are seeking a developer backed TIFF.

We are proposing to finance the work with a reimbursement funded by real estate tax and sales tax.

The proposed sales tax contribution would be capped and limited to new retailers that will open on the former Sears land.

Retailers that are already under development and will open later this year.

Well, I'll keep going.

With our comments today, we intend to provide some additional color to the city's presentation and to address some questions that have come up.

Northgate Mall has long served.

Let's see.

We have this right in front of us.

So we did pass out the presentation to the IDB members.

Let's see.

Right and left, huh?

Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

Sorry for the uh the interruption.

Northgate Mall has long served as a cornerstone of the Hickson community and was built prior to Hickson's incorporation into the city, as Sharita mentioned, during a time when public services were not available.

This means that to support the mall's development, a private system had to be constructed.

I would like to note that had the mall been built a few years later, the system would have been designed, constructed, and dedicated to the city.

As the quarter has grown, it became necessary for this private system to expand to serve other businesses and landowners.

Now this failing private infrastructure system serves not just the mall, but 12 other adjacent properties and nearly 20 other businesses.

CBL purchased the mall in 2011.

And since we since then, we've invested over 40 million dollars in and around the mall.

Tens of millions of additional dollars have been invested by others on parcels surrounding the mall into the benefit of the community.

However, like many aging retail centers, the campus now faces a critical challenge.

It's infrastructure, particularly the water and sewer systems, both outdated and still privately owned.

As a critical infrastructure system that serves not only the mall property, but 12 additional properties owned by other entities, a failure of the system will create a significant disruption for all of the businesses served by the system, including businesses such as TJ Maxx, Aubrey's, Kava, Miller's Alehouse, and many others.

In the years since CBL purchased the mall, the retail industry has changed significantly.

Malls similar in size and market position have had to evolve.

Anchor stores on our campus, such as JCPenney, Sears, and Burlington have closed.

National retailers inside the mall, such as Children's Place, Victoria's Secret, K Jewers, GNC, Justice, Christopher Banks have also closed.

Simply put, the mall in its current format is not sustainable.

The financial impact is real and detrimental to the city.

As the city stated, the real estate taxes related to the campus have declined from a peak of 1.1 million dollars in 2017 to 575,000 in 2024.

This is nearly a 50% decline.

We reinvested in the property by redeveloping around the periphery and working to preserve its value and tax revenue.

But we have reached the limit of what this infrastructure, what this existing infrastructure system can support.

The combination of the deterioration of the existing retail format in this location, coupled with the costs associated with the failing private infrastructure, make meaningful redevelopment that aligns with the city's existing vision for the area, as outlined by one Chattanooga, Plan Chattanooga, and Chattanooga Regional Planning Agency impossible without public private partnership.

I want to reiterate a meaningful redevelopment of the closed mall enclosed mall cannot support a public infrastructure project that serves 12 additional property owners and numerous other businesses.

This is infrastructure work that the city needs to support its businesses and its taxpayers.

To address this, CBL in partnership with the City of Chattanooga is proposing a developer backed TIFF.

Importantly, this is not a request for existing public funds.

CBL would fund the improvements up front, assuming 100% of the financial risk, with 100% of the TIFF being repaid by new revenue generated from the ongoing development on the former Sears parcels once they are reassessed.

Once complete, the new infrastructure would be dedicated to the City of Chattanooga and the Hickson Utility District.

The benefits of this proposal are immediate and tangible.

The improvements will help stabilize a tax base that has eroded significantly over the past decade and create new revenue streams for both the city and the county.

The project is a strategic investment in public infrastructure that supports existing businesses, prevents urban sprawls, and aligns with long-term planning goals for the Hickson Corridor.

In this proposed public-private partnership, with work being completed by the developer, the city avoids the complexity of managing the project.

The city bears none of the financial risk, gains a modern utility, a new modern utility system necessary to continue to effectively and safely serve its customers, and the community will get a revitalized commercial center.

A future revitalization of Northgate Mall hinges on this infrastructure work.

Without it, the future of the mall is bleak and likely to be repurposed into low value uses such as self-storage that do little to support surrounding businesses, create jobs, or generate meaningful tax revenue.

This is not alarmism.

It's reality as seen in other communities.

Malls that lacked coordinated public-private investment have become blighted and underutilized.

There are numerous examples of malls being returned to lenders and public entities needing to step in and purchase parcels just to prevent further decline.

Chattanooga has an opportunity to avoid a negative outcome by supporting a plan that stabilizes the tax base, protects public infrastructure, and positions Northgate Mall for meaningful community centered development.

Ultimately, this proposal is about more than just Northgate Mall.

It's about preserving a central city services to the nearly 20 existing businesses, ensuring that Hickson continues to grow in a way that benefits everyone, residents, businesses, and the city alike.

CBL is invested in this project and the future viability of the Northgate campus, a future that will only be possible if this critical infrastructure work is completed.

As I'd mentioned at the beginning, we are seeking a developer-backed TIFF.

CBL will be financing the work and taking the risk.

Thank you.

Chairwoman.

Mr.

Michelle, CBL properties owns the owns this particular piece of property.

Is that do I understand that correctly?

We own the middle of the property, the mall portion of the property, and we own some of the parcels around the property, but not all of the parcels.

Okay, since the resolution is explicitly dealing with Hickson Mall LLC and B1 Developments LLC.

Explain for us who are those people.

Hickson Mall LLC is the entity that owns the mall, the enclosed mall.

There are 12 other properties around the campus, one of which is BI developments LLC, which CBL is a managing member.

So the idea is that CBL's entities, the mall will pay for all of the infrastructure that supports the mall and the other businesses around the mall.

Does CBL have an ownership interest in Hicks and Mall LO?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Okay.

Does it also have an investment in the BI?

Is it okay?

Because all those are attached, correct?

All of the parcels are taxed.

Give me the previous slide.

So 13 and 10 are the two entities making the application?

Right.

It looks like they're attached to me.

This is not a clear parcel map.

It's a utility map with an overlay.

They are adjacent to each other.

That is correct, but they're separately owned entities.

CBL purchased 10 from JCPenney when JCPenney closed.

Excuse me.

So to clarify, this would benefit all of these parcels.

It's kind of what we're saying.

You're just the applicant, but this is going to be beneficiary, obviously, to all of the surrounding members.

They're not going to have to have access separately to this.

It's going to be a public utility now.

That's correct.

So just to re restate it and explain it again.

All of these parcels are served by the private line owned by them all.

The entity, the mall entity, which is owned by CBL.

And they're all served by this private line today.

They're served by the private line.

They pay the city and the Hickson utility district.

The and and so what we are talking about is putting new public lines to serve all those customers and to serve them all.

The um economic challenge for them all is that 13 property number 13 in the middle cannot support the infrastructure project that benefits all of the existing businesses.

It's too much money for 13 to support.

And there won't be any kind of additional expense to those surrounding businesses for this work.

It's just all going to be financed through this TIFF project.

That's the way it's proposed, correct?

Madam Chair.

Yeah.

So one question I have is about the road.

So what is there a plan for the Northgate mall drive loop?

Because that's privately owned, correct?

That is correct.

By CBO.

Yes.

There's not a plan proposed as part of this scope of work.

I think when when you when we look forward when you think about redeveloping it into a mixed-use town center, uh that that will have to be considered as part of improvements in order to achieve the vision that we're looking forward to.

I assume some of the infrastructure is underneath that road.

That's correct.

So that's just one, I mean, that would be one concern I would have I would have generally.

I mean, I think that's something that needs to be looked at as part of the EIP.

You know, that I just know that road's been talked about at least since 2013, since I've been involved in any any local government.

Um it seems like it would be short-sighted not to transfer that road to make it a public road as part of this process.

So we we have looked at that, and I don't think that there's enough um width on the road in order to comply with the public road standards that the city requires.

Uh but it's been a while since we've looked at that, and we definitely can take another look at that while we're in the process.

Uh I think we we would love for it to become a public road.

I'm just not sure that it can become a public road.

It's gonna be in the middle of a TIFF district.

I would say it's a great time to look at that road.

It's a great point.

And of course, city council has the ability to waive road standards as they see fit.

That's my understanding.

Okay, it's gotta be 26 feet normally for fire trucks.

Yeah, good comment.

Another question, uh, and this may be for Sharita.

Have we asked PSM to do a third-party review?

Uh that would be a suggestion I would have.

You know, they they do this, they look at this kind of work regularly.

I would think from an infrastructure standpoint, they would be able to help with projections for especially with sales tax.

I mean, that's the one that's gonna be in my mind.

The biggest question is what those projections might look like.

Hi, I'm not Sharita, I'm Betsy Knotts with Fast Bearing Sims.

I'm on the TIFF legal team with Mark Mammantoff.

And so we have been talking with uh Water Street Public Finance group, um, and we have proposed an engagement with them to do the third-party review.

They are very familiar with doing TIFF reviews.

Um, I think they did one for the Rivergate Mall recently.

They've also been involved in some Mountain Knoxville as well.

So I think they're well equipped, and um, based on his workload, he's able to turn it around pretty quickly, which is kind of important for this project.

But PFM is fabulous, and I think they should always be engaged as the city's financial advisor to review projections and um anything related to the financing.

Betsy, what's your last name?

I'm sorry.

Knott's A N O T T S.

Like non-NOTS.

Okay, gotcha.

Um, and what's your take on uh Ms.

Sharp's concern about the um she had two prongs as I understood sales tax.

What's your take on that?

So we've already drafted that legal opinion.

Um that was something we looked heavily into before we got to this part of the process.

Um it's we're relying separate from the TIFF statute.

So I think that's where there's some confusion.

We're relying on 753 315, it's a completely separate statutory provision for jurisdictions that have central business improvement districts, which Chattanooga has, um, they have the ability to grant through their IDBs um revenues other than Avalarm tax revenues.

So that includes all types of sales tax, local option sales tax.

Here we're being more conservative and just using the increment.

So the statute would allow the IDB to utilize essentially citywide local option sales tax that's available.

But here we're just using from the property directly an increment portion of the sales tax.

So I think once people understand that there's legal authority for it and we're being very conservative here, they they'll probably be more comfortable.

But yes, we've already drafted that legal opinion.

That's yeah, I may be wrong, but is it the isn't that the same situation for the stadium sales tax?

No.

Um I don't want to talk off the cuff about the stadium, but I don't think that's what we use there.

I just know a certain portion of sales tax.

Yes, and I think the stadium was a brownfield.

And so you're right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you provide us a copy of that at legal.

Yes, we it's just not finalized yet, but yes, we'll be signing off on all of this.

Okay.

Um thank you.

Yep.

And then I only had one one more question.

For the term of the TIP, is the 20-year term determined based on projections of when it'll pay back.

Is I just wonder why not 15.

Yeah, it it is projected based on a conservative underwriting of a payback, and it is also not assumed, it assumes that there's no increment associated with the middle of them all.

So I think it's our goal, and that's hopefully our our stated goal and our desire would be to pay it back a lot sooner uh with additional development that comes online in the middle of the property.

But but it guarantees that it will be paid back with what's underway.

Any other questions on the question?

Uh yeah, I was gonna have one for Ms.

Knott's on here the only issue, and I guess we we need to probably there's there's no AG opinion on this, at least.

Is there as to the use of 753 315 for sales tax?

No, there's no AG opinion on that.

And I was wondering because it it specifically is talking about uh situations where there is a central business improvement district, and this is outside the central business improvement.

Right, it's it's a pure statutory construction analysis, and it does not require that the property be within it, the central business.

And I did look at the legislative history, it dates back to 2010 when this was originally enacted.

Right.

Um, and it really is a focus on public pure public infrastructure, and for communities that have these central business improvement districts, they're obviously focused on uh revitalizing areas of their city so it fits as a policy matter, and they may have extra funds outside of their you know avalarm taxes that are available to be used to put in new sidewalks and you know whatever type of infrastructure is needed in certain parts of the city.

So there is a special carve out, I think, for um parking facilities and sports facilities.

Those have to be in the center city area, but all other public infrastructure is eligible.

It does not have to be in the center city area.

And and this uh I guess sewer system that was developed was before the Clean Water Act occurred, and because of that was initially going into the river with a private system.

So it is since that time has been hooked on to our regional wastewater uh system here.

So outside of this area, it is being treated at this point in time much differently than it would have been in 1968.

So the city and the regional area has provided that level of improvement, but we're also talking about 5,575 linear feet of sanitary sewer that is in connection with this tip, which is a whole lot of pipe underground that's got to go.

And if that pipe is going underground, there may also be disruption to the roadways or whatever area it's going in.

So just think about if you're looking at an economic improvement plan.

Thank you.

It's one of the things clarify for us who's paying you and your firm for your services in connection with this project.

So we have an engagement with Chad Nuka, that's how it works, and then if the project goes through the developer does pay our fees, and ultimately the developer does.

Yes, but we are ethically and you know binding to representing the city and the industrial development board, and we enjoy that.

And we will try to make sure they do a good job.

Any other questions from the board?

So just to clarify, I'm sorry.

Thank you again.

Um so this is just kind of like um we're just approving that we're gonna move to the next phase of the application process.

We're gonna move forward, so we'll have you know the opportunity for more questions, like I said, we'll have that, you know, how well going over everything, all of the details for this application review.

Okay, I just want to clarify.

We're not really approving movement, we're just approving process.

Absolutely, yeah.

And um, like Sharita said, the economic impact plan public hearing is on or will probably be on on November 3rd, and that's sort of the high-level document.

We always call it like the constitution of the agreement, it just sort of guides the process to get city and county approval if we can, and then after that's done, the tip is established and we put all the details in a development agreement.

Gotcha.

So this is just the very beginning.

Yes, I have a couple of just my questions.

So the timeline we think with November 3rd being the public hearing, we think we'll be able to get a third-party review by that.

Yes, okay.

And the timeline, there's two different timelines.

I don't know who are we sticking with the one that the one that you went over, Therita.

This other one is not one that we're considering because it's a much faster.

So it's there may be a second timeline for the North River Commerce Center project.

Yes, okay, that's what I got.

So this is the timeline.

Okay.

Unusual, but yes, we have two tips before us at the same time, right?

Similar areas.

Uh that was my one.

Um, okay, that's actually all I had.

Yeah, and um, your uh current resolution here on the second page in section two has actually got the reference to 411 applicant affidavit and third party reviews.

We need to strike that, I think, at least as an amendment here on this resolution that's going on the prior forum because the city council's action this past week that to be done.

So I would recommend that you you make a I guess a motion to amend to strike the last one.

Where are you, Phil?

Unstrike on the second page of your resolution.

It's the actual resolution on which you'll be voting, and so we want to strike the waiv of the third party review because council did not approve that.

Correct.

So you would be approving the item with the amendment to strike that we didn't learn about that until September the 30th, so that's where we are.

That happened last week.

So if there aren't any more questions, um are there any more questions?

So for the for item A for this number seven um on our agenda.

So we are um painting a resolution to accept the application and the attachments, and then also with this um amendment to 41 applicant affidavit affidavit and third party review being striked.

So we'll entertain make a motion that we approve the resolution with the striking of the 411.

I think it's correct on my what I'm reading.

Yes, on resolution.

It's been updated.

We did send that page second page.

Yeah, section two.

I don't see four.

Already gone.

Okay.

And the chairs changed and everything.

It's gone in the new packet.

Wow, okay.

My package is still got it.

Section two waiver.

Yeah, okay.

So I think the copy of me and you have okay.

We're talking about the one two and then red six.

Right.

It's those two, that's all.

Okay, perfect.

So there's no, so we have the correct resolution.

Yes, in an amended packet, yes.

Yes, we've got to do that.

Okay, we do other than we do for the secretary.

Um, but other than that, yeah.

So repeat your back.

Your motion.

I say I make a motion that we approve the resolution accepting the application from the Higgs and Mall LLC and the BI developments LLC for the tax increment incentive authorizes in the submission of the tax agreement instead of application for the Northgate Mall redevelopment project to the city of to the Chattanooga City of Council and Hamilton County Commissions to adopt the resolution of intent to consider the economic impact plan.

Is there a second second all in favor?

Okay, great.

Resolution passes.

Um, for section B of this, we need to um have a resolution of the board of directors of the IDB and of the city of Chattanooga to set an application review committee meeting on our about October 20th, 2025 to review the application for the public infrastructure improvement to support the the revitalization of the North Gate Mall.

So we need to identify two people, right?

Yeah, they're available on October 20th.

Yeah, and two people that are available and just appoint those as the representatives of the industrial development board.

And we were looking through our minutes concerning this matter, and the only uh appointments that I saw was June the 5th of 2023, and by your uh requirements on here, the application, the board has to be appointed two members before the end of each calendar year for the following year.

So I think you need to do that at this point in time.

So is it through the end of June, you're saying?

Well, you know, it says that before the end of the calendar year for the following year.

And the last time I saw an appointment was June 5th, 2023.

If there's a more recent one than that, y'all let me know.

And so, board, what we're asking is for two representatives from the board to serve on the application review committee.

We anticipate that it is roughly I would say a four-hour commitment.

There's a two-hour meeting, but we send you all of the materials ahead of time that we would ask the two members to review.

And so it would look like the application packet, all of the attachments, reviewing all that before arriving to the meeting, and then sitting sitting through the two-hour meeting to ask the developer, the finance team, and the city staff any questions related to the proposed TIFF.

And so that meeting we're proposing is October 20th.

Um, and that would be from 9 30 to 11 30 in council committee room recognizing this board would have two representatives, the city council is appointing to, the mayor's appointing to, and then the chamber will have a representative as well.

Madam Chairman, this is in my district, so I don't know if you can take volunteers.

Yes, yes, I wasn't addressed to the to me, but yes.

Oh, does it need to be to you?

So we'll now um elect those two members.

So I'm hearing one um recommendation.

Is there a second recommendation?

You and I'll bring this the week before I'll be on a cruise Disney cruise.

Otherwise, yeah, October 20th at 9 30 from 9 30 week.

We you're passing up application review committee for Disney Cruise.

I don't mind to attend, I think I was representative at the last.

There you go.

Okay.

So um Nadia and James would be our two representatives.

Um is there a second for them?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Perfect.

Thank you two for representing us um on October 20th at the application review committee meeting.

And so has the board officially selected October 20th as a committee meeting day.

It's just a motion and a second, unless it council says otherwise.

Okay, I'll make a motion to accept October the 20th, 2025.

Okay.

Oh, those in favor?

All right, great.

This will be a notice meeting as well, won't it?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you, board.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Moving on to our next item, uh public hearing for the economic impact plan for the development of the North River Commerce Center Industrial Park.

Um, this is a resolution of the board of directors of the IDB of the City of Chattanooga approving a second amendment to the impact economic impact plan for the development of the North River Commerce Center Industrial Park and the redevelopment of the North Access Road and submitting the amendment to the city council and city commission, county commission for approval.

Okay.

Well, good morning.

Morning.

Um I'm Winston Brooks, economic development director for the city of Ted and Newton.

It's a pleasure to be here before you today to talk about a great project that many of you are probably familiar with.

That's the North River Commerce Center.

And um, it was alluded to in Shreita's comments earlier about some other TIFS that have been successful in the community with some of the I think there's 9.4 million dollars in public utility infrastructure that's been associated with that project with the road alignment, uh river walk easement uh and infrastructure there.

So the reason that we're here today is that uh for the North River Commerce Center resolution is basically an administrative change to an economic impact plan, which was finalized in 2022 because it's an amended economic impact plan.

The change must come before the city council and the IDB to be voted on uh later this month.

Today's the public hearing.

So the slide uh in front of you there, those are the parcels.

Um the um two of the parcels uh have been developed uh currently and are very successful, have met their um capital investment as well as the jobs uh requirement that exceeded their job requirement.

Uh so basically been a hundred uh four hundred thousand square feet of class A industrial space built there.

There's 9.4 million dollars of public infrastructure.

This new space was partially occupied, the other spaces fully occupied.

And then what has happened is that along the way the logistics sector has experienced a downturn, and there's some other macroeconomic uh issues that have caused a need for this type of uh large facility to change.

And so that's why we're here to look at how to amend this economic impact plan so that it can continue to be successful.

And so the solution uh is to amend the TIFF economic impact plan to broaden the scope of the project to include additional commercial uses, extending the deadline to complete the full build out by five years, and also adding some additional performance requirements.

And then these changes will also help support some financing uh for the developer.

So, as I mentioned, um it's actually kind of interesting if you're not familiar with the Great Freight Recession.

That was sort of the start in 2022 when things started uh to take a downturn, and then it just continued.

And so now we want to extend the construction deadline to December 31st, 2031 from December 31st, 2026.

And we also want to um put in an additional um performance requirement.

Um this uh original economic impact plan was written very with a very narrow scope, and so the only um performance requirement was 800,000 square feet of Class A industrial warehouse like you see today.

And so we're asking that um that be changed to also include a hundred million dollars of capital investment.

So those would now be two um performance requirements that would be added, and then also we want to broaden the scope to include other commercial types of businesses, not just industrial.

But um that commercial has been uh carved out, and so it's gonna go from distribution only to uh additional commercial uses with restrictions, so that means no hotels, no retail, no gas stations, no vape shops.

Um and then if there is an item that's not specifically called out, it would come back before the IDB.

So, for example, think of office spaces and lab spaces and things like that that have had some interest out there, but because of the way the um TIFF is written or the economic impact plan, you can't do it.

So most of you are familiar with what an economic impact plan.

Um I love what um Council Betsy Knotts um referred to it as the constitution of the financing agreement.

So I do like to um refer to these as increment financing, not to focus on the front end, but the economic impact plan is really what uh call it if affects the uh development, and so it identifies the boundaries which we just looked at with those spaces and some of them across the river, some of them north of the the road.

It um it also identifies the industrial park or project located within the area, so there has to be a project, and those uh construction of those buildings would be the project, and then you have to discuss the benefits to the city as well as identify where the increment and what parcels those increments are going to come from.

So that's kind of the um high-level overview of what an economic impact plan is.

It does require a public hearing, which we're at today.

Um it must be approved by city council and the county commission, and it's the final step final step for that TIFF approval, and it may be amended.

Um we all kind of are familiar with this chart now.

I think uh it was covered earlier, but that's um basically how the increment is generated, but it does stabilize the base, and it's important for many projects.

Um, in terms of policy project alignment, this um North River Commerce Center Industrial Park does align with all the planning that's taken place within the city of Chattanooga, including uh the Chattanooga One Vision Plan, the RPA plan, as well as the Chambers Climb Higher Plan.

So it fits in well with the strategy that we're all aware of.

And then this has a little shorter timeline since it's an amended EIP, doesn't require as many steps as a new application.

So here we are on the sixth, the uh presented to the city council to make them aware of the uh project, and then we'll be preparing for a vote on October 28th to amend the um North River City Economic North River Commerce Center Economic Impact Plan.

That's a mouthful NRCC EIP, and then finally on November 3rd, um it'll be finalized with the the IDE votes on the amended development.

And that's it.

Do we have any questions?

Otherwise, I'll ask the developer to uh step up.

Any questions?

This is to extend from a 15-year to a 20-year TIF, right?

So um, so it's it's gonna remain a 20-year TIFF.

They're extending the deadline of construction within that 20 years and moving it out from December of 26 to December of um sorry or December 2026 to December of 2031.

So that's a five-year shift.

And I'll let the developer speak on that too.

Any other questions for me?

Thank you.

I'll make sure.

Good morning or good afternoon now, I guess, technically.

First of all, I want to I want to thank the board for your support from the beginning.

Many familiar faces from we first talked about this in 2022.

Some of you are new.

But without the support of the board, the city, the county, um, we are still uh looking at a blighted property on Access Road instead of what's really become a hub for business, industry and and jobs.

So I want to thank you from the from the get-go.

Um we think what's happened at um North River Commerce Center is a model for for public-private partnership.

Um and so uh what have we done since 2022 when we had a groundbreaking?

Well, we've we've invested 50 million dollars in class A industrial space, uh, one of which is here on the screen, that's building 100, um now fully occupied, and I'll talk about that here in a moment.

We've um invested 9.4 million dollars in public infrastructure, um, some of which has already been mentioned, but the North River Soccer Complex uh now has full access to a new road at a signal, which is great.

Um get to act, I get to use that myself when I go see my nephew play soccer.

So you know, and then there's been some road improvements along Access Road, utility improvements.

As I mentioned to the city council, this infrastructure was put in place um just after World War II.

So it was uh much of the underground infrastructure wasn't able to be utilized for this type of redevelopment.

So uh the the TIFF, the public-private partnership that we established allowed those things to occur.

Um we uh let's see if I can figure this out.

There we go.

That's what it looked like before.

We touched a little bit up on that the before if you were there at the groundbreaking, um, you know, big empty parking lot, uh, the old softball fields that were covered in kudzu, um uh graffiti everywhere, that sort of thing, and then also acres upon acres upon acres of good rail served M1 land that was literally locked behind uh barbed wire fence that that this TIFF was able to unlock for future development.

And and for us, those of us in the real estate business, good M1 rail served land in Chattanooga is hard to find, uh, really, really hard to find.

And so we were able to unlock that with this with this public-private partnership.

The beginnings of the after um look again, look look like what's on the screen.

Uh we're not finished here.

We that's why I'm standing in front of you today.

But I am excited to uh say again that building 100 is fully occupied.

Um that's the building on the top here, and what's interesting is the makeup of those businesses that are in that building, are a exactly what we'd hoped they'd be.

Um it's a mix of uh businesses that we were able to retain in Chattanooga because of our project.

It's uh businesses that are new to Chattanooga because of our project, and in one case, it's uh a business that's new to the United States.

Um is a Canadian manufacturing group that was able to plant a flag in Chattanooga, uh their first facturing operation because of uh because of this project.

And so very proud of that.

And and uh we also and this has already been mentioned, but I'll say it again, we're also ahead of ahead of schedule on jobs from what was expected in the economic impact plan back in 2022.

So all good stuff, all all good news from that perspective.

So again, I I I can't thank you enough for your support.

Um and if I may, I I'll touch on the question um that was asked.

Again, this is this is not a extending the life of the TIFF.

This was a 20-year TIFF to begin with, it's gonna remain a 20-year TIFF inside the documents.

Um was a construction completion date of December of 2026.

The request is to extend that construction completion date to 2031 so that there's not an and what we would think would be a premature clawback.

So um I'm here to answer any other questions.

Thank you so much for for all your support.

Any questions for Mr.

Phillips?

Um I have one when you revise the scope and general description.

So are we going to be uh adding a different type of structure into this area?

So right now you have these large um facilities, and so is it going to kind of recreate restructure the type of buildings you're going to put in over there?

Um not outside of the the intent of the project to begin with.

I would say, I mean, we always you know I've mentioned the M1 land that's real served.

I mean, that's great manufacturing opportunities.

Um, but if if we were to choose a hypothetical hypothetical example based off the letter of the agreement, if we were to uh do a uh a deal with uh seat belt manufacturer that's gonna make seat belts for for Volkswagen and manufacture it right there on site and have rail come pick it up and create a bunch of really good jobs.

Well, under underneath the definition of the project, that's not allowed.

Um, if we were to recruit a great laboratory space, good high-paying um jobs for scientists and others, um, which is actually somebody that approached us for parcel C, it's not allowed.

And so I'm I kind of joked in in front of the city council that we were all moving very fast in 2022, but we didn't have a great crystal ball around that language.

Um we in hype, you know, in hindsight, we should have been more broad about how we defined the project.

The project was really defined as industrial distribution, and that's very limiting when you think about what could potentially be done and what would be great for the community.

Okay, any other questions.

If not, we'll um entertain a motion.

Thank you.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor?

Uh any opposed.

Okay, great.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

What happened to the public here?

Um because it's a public hearing.

Okay.

My apologies.

anybody from the public wish to speak.

Helen Burn Sharp accountability for taxpayer money.

I supported this project in 2023.

I support this amendment, and I will say, as an aside, it's really nice to have a normal TIF in Chattanooga.

And this is one I think it's been a good one.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Sharp.

Anybody else wish to address the word about this?

All right, thank you very much.

Public hearing.

The public hearing is closed.

Madam Chairwoman, I apologize, but I've got to step out.

Yeah, we're running.

Thank you.

Okay, our next item, um, high growth, high jobs incentive grant, a resolution amending the industrial development board resolution dated July 14th, 2025 for the master machine high growth, high jobs incentive to change the definition of wage amount of new employees and the amount of $58,639 to match the higher wage and the amount of $2,330 as previously referenced in exhibit A of the agreement and accompanying staff report.

Sorry, thank you, Sharita, for addressing this item.

Thank you.

This is an administrative item after this item was passed in July of 2025 by this industrial development board.

We discovered when the documents were signed that there was an incorrect wage amount in the definition section.

And so this is an administrative clerical provision to fix that error.

And so again, the amount that was listed is lower than the higher required amount, and so this just replaces that in the definition, and then we will resign, we will have a new agreement that needs to be signed by the chair or representative of the board, and then it will go back to the company for signature as well.

And so there is not to, and I will ask our staff council whether we need a vote on this or whether it's just a clerical fix.

So you're just um making a clerical change in the amount of for the money that they actually provided, which is more than they said they would do.

I think that's just a clerical issue here for this body.

Okay, perfect.

And report it to this body.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Our next item, bridge COVID 19 revolving loan fund, a resolution authorizing the chair or vice chair to execute a letter address to the Southeast Tennessee Development District requesting repaid IDB bridge COVID 19 revolving loan funds to be returned to the City of Chattanooga IDB fund account number NR 14 for the approximate amount of 358,000.

Okay, board.

This item is a follow-up to the item where this board allocated 1.5 million in economic development fees to the one West Side project, and as part of that, we we covered in our overview that we had additional funds that would be coming back into the board that would replace some of those funds that were being sent out, and so this is one of those.

And so we we at this point just need for the board to authorize the chair or vice chair to sign a letter requesting the funds be moved over.

We staff is not allowed just to go to the IDB and ask them for money.

And this does need action by this board to make sure that the comptroller is satisfied with how that works.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

I'll entertain motion.

Motion.

Is there a second?

Okay.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed.

Great.

Motion passes.

Nice.

Our next item, Southern Champion Trade pilot, a resolution authorizing the industrial development board to convey and transfer certain real and personal property and to take further action in connection with the termination of certain lease agreements and agreements of payments in lieu of tax ad valorem taxes in connection with certain Southern Champion Trade projects.

Terrific, thank you.

This is an administrative item again, and so this happens whenever a pilot reaches the end of its term.

And so once those incentives reach their end, because the properties are held with within the IDB, once the incentive is over, the IDB has to transfer those properties back over to the legal entity that applied for them.

So this is just a moving of the property out of the industrial development board and back into uh Southern Champion Trade.

Okay.

And and the good news is that after that occurs, normal taxes will be required to be paid for these properties.

And while it's with the IDB in there, there are not normal taxes.

That is the payment in lieu of tax that is paid.

Didn't go.

Um a motion entertain a motion.

I make a motion to accept.

Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes the next item, E2I2 project.

A resolution rectifying action to taken by the vice president to execute us a sanitary sewer easement and temporary construction easement with VTR Shallerford LLC for property located at 7127 Lee Highway related to the E2I2 project.

I make a motion to approve this resolution.

I'm assuming this is just for a property for the project that we'll hold, correct?

Yes, it's a sanitary sewer easement that needed to be done, and the vice chair has already signed it, so that's the reason you need to have ratification.

Yeah.

Make a resolution to ratify that action.

Second, is there a second?

A second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Just a couple other business items.

Um the first one is an update on the June 2nd, 2025 agenda approving Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce requesting requesting the amount of 70,000 as a funding match for a site selector LED competitive analysis.

The IDB was invoiced was invoiced under budget and the amount of 60,000 as a final cost.

The IDB retains the previously committed amount of 10,000.

Good.

No, I guess you want to if anyone has a question about whether you want to keep the additional 10,000, you could ask that.

But beyond that, it's just clerical number.

Anyone have any questions on that one?

And staff um board, I'm staff is bringing this to your attention just because when the IDB awarded this amount, it had awarded an amount up to 70.

And so it came in under and I just wanted to report back that it came in under thank you.

I think my Miss Lou covered the section B in her report.

Are there any other questions about that?

I know Miss Lou covered that okay the last thing I wanted to do before we adjourn was to recognize Brent.

I probably should have done that at the beginning but um Brent is our newest member representing district nine um thank you for being here we had a lot to cover on this this meeting agenda but um appreciate you being here welcome you to the to our group and if you have anything you wanted to say I'll open it up.

Thank you and it's my pleasure to serve look forward to working with all of you.

Great all right anybody have anything else before we adjourn if you want to remember October 20th thank you two for agreeing to represent us October 20th and so I know we will you will do well and let us know um report back anything that you have for us.

So again thank you for doing that.

All right thank you all for sticking with us on this um today's meeting meeting adjourned at 1229 thank you