Ly 15th, 2026, and the time is 2 p.m.

I'm Mayor Pro Tem Castex Tatum, the chair of our economic development committee, and I'd like to call this meeting to order.

I do want to welcome the committee and council members, staff, and guests in attendance today.

Vice Chair Flickinger is here, Councilmember Ramirez, Councilmember Huffman, Vice Mayor Pro Tim Peck is here.

We do have staff from Councilmember Castillo's office, staff from Councilmember Salinas' office, staff from Councilmember Martinez's office, staff from Councilmember Carter's office, and also staff from Councilmember Panzarella's office.

This meeting is open to the public.

It's being held in person and virtually.

We're also broadcasting live on HTV.

Council members, if you're attending virtually, you can of course use the chat pod to communicate.

Vice Chair Flickinger, do you have any remarks you'd like to make as we begin?

No, ma'am.

Thank you.

There are two members of the public who have signed up to speak today.

One member has communicated that she will not be present.

If there are any additional public speakers present in chamber that would like to speak, there is a sign-up sheet at the front table to your right.

Public speakers will have a chance to speak at the conclusion of the presentation.

Any questions can also be mailed to the district K office at District K at Houston TX.gov and we'll reform we will forward those to the respective departments for responses.

First on our agenda today, we have Jennifer Curley, who is our assistant director with the mayor's Office of Economic Development here with us in chamber, and she will present on fiscal year 2027 tax increment reinvestment zone budget schedules.

Ms.

Curley, thank you for being here, and we are ready to hear from you.

Thank you so much for having me today.

A little bit of time with you to let you know that the TERS 2027 budget will be placed on council's agenda beginning on August 12th.

Next slide, please.

As you're aware, tax increment reinvestment zones are authorized by Chapter 311 of the Texas Tax Code.

TERS were created by the city to encourage the redevelopment of underdeveloped and or undeveloped commercial areas by attracting private investment.

The city has 27 active TURS.

Our current increment partners are Harris County, Houston ISD, Spring ISD, Aldean ISD, Houston Community College, and Lone Star College.

City Council in the last couple of weeks just approved the interlocal agreements between the city, Harris County, and the Gulfgate, Greens Point, Hardy, Midtown, OST, and Sunnyside TURS.

So all in all, Harris County participates in St.

George Place, Midtown, Downtown, OST, Greens Point, East Downtown, Uptown, Southwest Houston, Hardy, Harrisburg, Greater Houston, and Sunnyside, Tursas.

This will allow this participation by the county, will allow more funding for projects in these geographies and increase funding for the city's homeless housing fund.

Next slide, please.

So this slide reflects the steps in project development as just a reminder to council how the projects typically work.

All projects, of course, begin with the approval of the project plan and reinvestments on financing plan by city council.

These plans are required by Chapter 311, and they include broad categories of projects that the zone board will allocate funding to address issues that impair development or redevelopment in an area.

So when you're taking a look at the project plan, that's where the ability to do affordable housing or drainage or sidewalks.

So typically one that we won't see that often is affordable housing in a project plan for a TERS that is a non-petition TER.

So TERS that are created by petition are have to set aside one-third of their increment for affordable housing.

And so they always have affordable housing in their project plans.

But TERS that were not created by petition, they don't typically have affordable housing in their project plan.

But if they wanted to do affordable housing, it would have to be in their project plan to do it.

Once the project plan is approved, um specific project development begins through a collaborative collaboration with the city and the TURS and RDA.

So for example, just recently, as you all are aware, Medical Center Area TURS is a brand new TURS, and so what they did was they met with the city, Houston Public Works, and talked about what the city's priorities are.

Then they went and talked with the medical center and then they talked with Herman Park so they can kind of get a laundry list of projects that they need to do in that particular area.

So what happens is now they're developing their CIP and looking at which projects they can fund with the revenue that is coming with in with the TURS.

So once that is all done, they're preparing their budget and proving that budget at the board level to submit to city council.

So then once we receive the their budget, what we do is circulate that budget with um Houston Public Works, because they're now looking at the specific projects that have come out of the discussions, along with the mayor's um chief policy offer officer to take a look and brief those two areas about what projects they intend to do in the coming fiscal year.

And so once that particular process is complete, we prepare the budgets for city council council's agenda, and through that process, we will start um we will start reaching out to the city council offices to see if the council members would like to have a briefing on the budget.

And so once that particular process is done, then you will see the budget on city council's agenda.

After that particular piece, the council approves the budget, then the real I wouldn't say the real work begins, but the once once city council approves that budget for that particular for the projects, then the board of the TURS redevelopment authority begins pursuing that particular project.

It starts with the design process, going through public works, meeting their DCR process, then their 30, 60, 90 percent design process, 100% design.

After they get the hundred percent get to 100% design, they're talking about bidding the project out for construction, then construction begins, construction ends, and then that project is put back on the city.

Once they complete the project, the finished project is conveyed back to the city because then it becomes a city asset.

So that's kind of the in a nutshell in a very non-complicated um way of saying it, that's kind of the project development process.

Next slide, please.

So the highlights for the 2027 TURS budgets.

Um, so for fiscal year 2027, we're looking at 300 and three hundred and thirty-four million, which is primarily adequate allocated towards street projects, pedestrian infrastructure, parks, and flood remediation projects.

Project cost in the total five-year plans for all of the budgets is 1.4 billion.

And so in this particular graphic, I'm showing the East Wall Eastwood park improvements.

That total project over five-year period will be 6.5 million.

That's in the Harrisburg TERS.

Next slide, please.

So here's the proposed um budget schedule.

As you take a look at the budget, we're budget schedule, we're pretty firm, except for maybe midtown might be moved up.

I'm giving them we're we're giving them enough room if there's any questions or any comments that need to go back and forth between the city and the TURS.

We're leaving just room for for those conversations to occur.

If we can move it up quicker, we will definitely move that up quicker to the earlier groups.

That concludes my presentation.

Does anyone have any questions?

Councilmember Alcorn.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Jennifer, um, for always being so responsive to our jillions of tourist questions.

I um I was gonna ask you about the are any planned annexations or like enlarging you know boundaries planned for this next year.

I've heard something about um downtown perhaps getting um a portion of like what what remember how the um Sam Houston Park was got uh was part of the fourth ward tours and then it was de-annexed, and I heard the the um downtown tours might take that area in as well as some other areas.

Are you do you know about that or is that just the rim or mill?

I maybe in Andrew questions he's he's gonna be up up next.

Okay, Andrew.

He's got the list.

Uh I know that there are um project plan amendments that are gonna come forth.

Um City Park, oh no, not City Park, I'm sorry, Old Six Ward.

Okay.

Um they're looking to come up.

Um anybody else.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Ramirez.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Jennifer, thank you for the presentation.

Um just looking at the proposed budget schedule, um, this this would be um quite a change from this past fiscal year, it seems where we had some budgets that were presented very late or even after uh or almost uh when the fiscal year was was done.

Um so it on the surface it looks pretty ambitious to me.

Um what is the difference between this proposed schedule and the one you had for last year?

So most of the budget so much of most of the budgets have not changed year over year.

So that's probably that that's one of the main reasons why um we believe that we can get those moving quicker than we did last year.

Um when we tell when I when um we looked at compared to what the the current the 2027 submissions against what council approved in 2026, there's not a lot of differences, they're very minor differences in the in the budgets.

Um so there's no significant change, and so there shouldn't be a reason for delaying any of the budgets going into council.

Um last year we were working with some projects that uh the mayor's team wanted us to put in some sidewalk projects, so some of that was a delay in getting those budget passed, and I believe we wanted to change and increase the municipal service fee.

So we had to in order to do the municipal service fee, we have to have an agreement in place first.

So we had to get the agreements in place and then um put the the budgeted amount for that municipal service fee in the budget.

So that caused a delay too.

So I don't foresee those items happening again this year, not saying they won't, but I don't I don't foresee any of those things.

All right, and you mentioned municipal services fee, which I know was recalculated recently to the 2021 uh valuation, if I remember correctly.

What is what is the policy on how frequently we recalculate that municipal services fee?

Well, that's something that we were looking at.

In fact, um Ms.

Tillotson asked me to relook at that calculation again, so we're taking a look at it again.

Typically, when we look at that municipal service fee, we're trying to balance the increase versus what the TERS has available because for example, I was looking at the calculation just last night, and some of the calculations will eat up a hundred percent of the increment.

So we can't charge anything that's gonna eat up the entire increment, especially if they have debt service.

So we got to balance out and look at okay, we want to increase this fee, but will they be able to pay it?

And so we can't increase it if we increase it so much that they they just don't have an ability to pay given their outstanding um um debt developer agreement and even projects that they are planning to pursue.

So it's kind of a balancing act with regard to the frequency of how um how much and how many times we're going to increase it.

That's always been I wish it was really very simple, but it's not because the increase can based on how we perform the calculation, it could eat up the increment.

It could grow faster than the actual increments.

Well, what's what's the idea behind that fee?

What's what's the purpose?

What's it intended to do?

The municipal services fee.

So I I'm not prepared to answer your question about the municipal service fee.

Um, because it it's it's it's um it's based on the statute, and I I didn't read the statute before I came here.

So it's based on the increased in services provided, municipal services provided in that area in in that particular geography.

Because the way that tours is work, the way we calculate increment, it's not including them we we're not taking a set aside from the increment for the municipal services costs that are incurred in that area due to development.

Um and then the question is how do we how do we quantify that?

And so what we did or try to attempt to in this municipal service calculation itself, and I I can speak to that, but I can't the theory I get I I gotta go back and read my notes, but um we're trying to develop a way to equitably across all TURS, not equ equally, equitably is a totally different thing, but equally apply the same format for all of the TERS, so all of the TERS are actually contributing to the municipal service fee.

So those are the some of the things that we thought about when we when we created it.

Okay, I'll I'll go back in the queue.

Councilmember Alcorn.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, and and thank you, Councilmember Ramirez.

I I I have um asked a bunch of questions about the municipal services fee, and uh I know that um you guys have sent me a bunch of information I need to review on that.

I think it's also worthy uh if it is the chair wants to have a committee meeting just strictly on that municipal services fee because I think I think what it's designed to do is to capture the funds that we would that we're using, like city resources, not TURS resources are paying for police and road repair and blah, all the stuff.

And um you said to to have it done equally, but then you've also said we do we base it on what people can afford.

So that makes me worry, like, okay, well, if this TURS has a ton of debt, but they're still using a bunch of our services, but they can afford, and then you've got another one that's maybe has more, you know, cash, and we're gonna get them because they've got all this cash they can pay, and it might not even be fair, you know, like to what or or to what the actual services were providing.

You know, I mean there's gotta there, I don't and you can you could do by I don't know how you even do it, because different parts of town require different amounts of services, and you certainly don't want to penalize uh an area that you're trying to grow, it's complicated.

So I'm not sure I have all the answers at all.

I I do I do think that it's should be based on more than just what uh what a TURS can pay, you know, like oh my gosh, that TURS has a lot of money, let's get all that money in municipal services fee instead of like a good project, perhaps, you know, or you know what I mean?

And I don't want a TURS to think, well, I'll just issue a bunch more debt because then I don't have enough money to pay this big huge fee.

So it ca I want to make sure however we're doing it.

I just think I just think and I appreciate all the information you've you've sent that I haven't even read yet.

So let me go through that, but but um I I do think there's there should be uh more clarity about how this fee is charged and and what's the basis for it.

So one thing in your and you're absolutely right, and I and what we're doing with the calculation, if one TERS can't afford it, then we're not rolling it all the way out to 2025, for example.

Um councilmember Ramirez's question was why we weren't uh why do what is our policy with regard to stopping at 21?

And I know that he's asked why didn't we go all the way over to 25?

But one of the reasons why we didn't grow it out to 25 is that if one TURS can't afford it because of debt, then we can't really apply it to all of them.

So we're trying the calculation.

But I felt like even the 21 one was wasn't applied across the board.

Oh, wait, well, the the 2021 was applied across the okay.

So every every TURS is paying that 2021.

Every TURS is being charged that there's still a TERS that uptown can't afford that, for example, believe it or not.

And and the reason why is because at the time that we instituted the municipal service fee, they were in the process of doing postdoc drive, memori uh memorial park, the transit center, all of those at the same time, and the the um the the debt that they issued for housing.

So all of those projects came in at one time and basically took over their cash flow.

So right now we you know we're billing them, they they have to pay it.

It's just from a cash perspective, they don't have the funding to to pay that.

And so, you know, when we look at it, we're saying, you know, do they have the ability to pay when we're looking at the calculation, we're saying do these TURS have the ability to pay that?

How much are we allowing them to contribute to the missile municipal service fee and to do their projects at the same time?

So it's a bounce.

When you're figuring out kind of the calculation, like what what services as a city providing outside of TURS funding, is it just kind of you do it citywide, like I think it's an extra 10 percent or whatever on police or that is it just like a citywide thing and then you divvy it up or how or do you actually look at the actual um zone and to determine what services are.

So I'm doing uh so it's not based on services.

So we're making assumption that if the TERS It's not based on services, it's not based on our extra.

Well, uh uh like what we're providing that that like they're grabbing all the increment from for in for their area.

Yes.

And so we don't get to spend that increment on the other stuff that they don't do, like police and parks and all or they do do parks, but police and fire and dog catcher and all the other things.

So I always thought that that was to help with this supplement, that fee was to help cut recover what the city is paying, you know, from non-TURS dollars to to provide services in that area.

Correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

But but it's not based on kind of what that number is.

Well, we uh the data for specific services is not as uh robust as we would want it to be.

That's why I was asking if maybe you kind of just put a number to it citywide.

Yeah, and so we were and I'll have to um think about my answer to your question because we looked at several different data points.

We looked at the cost of providing services, so we looked at the growth of the um expenditures in the general fund over a 30-year period to see on average how much that would be.

And I believe that's how, and I say I believe I need to look at the notes to make sure that I'm right.

But the growth rate we got was around four half percent.

So that's what we're using.

Okay, so you basically like that.

And I don't I don't mean to.

I'm sorry, Chair, I don't mean to get too much in the weeds of this.

That's not right really what this presentation is about, but but I appreciate the information you sent and look forward to more discussion.

Yeah, we can have a dish but yeah, we looked at some of the things and we can talk about all of the little different things that we looked at to come up with the assumptions that we came up with for for the calculation.

But absolutely um, you know, we we we appreciate the feedback.

Yeah, I appreciate the feedback.

Councilmember Ramirez.

Thank you, madam chair.

And Councilmember Al Corin hit the nail on the head, you know, where I was going with that uh because the municipal services fee is intended to recoup the cost of providing services that all of us um have to pay for.

And if the valuations are based on 21 levels, then the rest of us are in essence subsidizing uh to some extent the the city services that are supposed to be recouped in the municipal services fee, because the rest of us are paying at current values.

So we're picking up the tab uh to some extent for those who live in in a TERS, which strikes me then that if you live in a TURS and you've got a double benefit, right?

Because you've got extra resources being spent on infrastructure in your area.

And months ago, you know, Andrew admitted that if you live in a TURS, you're more likely to have better infrastructure than if you don't live in a TURS.

So not only do you get better infrastructure, but you're paying less than your fair share of the services like police and fire that that the rest of us who don't live in a TURS have to pay.

So so to me it's it's very important that these municipal services fee uh be assessed in in a fair manner.

And when I hear, and Director Tillotson basically said as much in an email to me, well, the reason we don't have it at current levels, we have it at twenty year 21 levels because the TURS couldn't afford to pay it.

Well, that to me that just means they should plan better so that they can afford to pay the municipal services fee at the current what the current level should be.

So I hope that going forward, you know, we'll we'll make the TERS plan accordingly uh for having to pay the appropriate municipal services fee.

So um that's fair.

I would also kind of think about with regard to the areas that we're talking about, while they may not pay the full municipal service fee, and I don't know that to necessarily we'd have to run the numbers to to make sure that that we'd have to run some numbers on that, but also consider the sales tax revenue that they would be generating in their particular geographical areas.

Because remember, TURS are created mostly to attract private investment to redevelop commercial property.

So what they're doing is they're attracting with the redevelopment of commercial properties in those areas.

What they're doing is increasing the sales and ex beverage tax and in some cases the hot tax revenue as well.

So we'd have to kind of take a look at all the different revenue sources, not just uh because while they may not let's assume for a second that they aren't paying their fair share on um municipal services, they are providing additional revenue to the city so the city can pay municipal services that other areas aren't generating.

So, you know, we'd have to kind of look at both sides of the equation, not just the expenditure side, but also the revenue that's being generated in those particular areas due to the fact of that private investment coming in.

I hear what you're saying, uh, but but you're not telling me that though those calculations are figured in.

What I'm hearing is that you know um the municipal services fee is is determined by what the TURS is can afford to pay.

I mean it may be an added benefit that we collect more sales tax revenue or hot uh in those areas.

Um but anyway, uh just something.

We can schedule a time to talk about um the municipal service fee.

Um Director Curley.

Does the age of the TURS play a factor in that um municipal service fee?

I mean, because I know the TURS in our district, um we can't say that we have better infrastructure because those are fairly new TURS, and we are just getting those projects on the ground.

And really, but for TURS, they would we wouldn't have those infrastructure projects.

So what we did in the very beginning is if you did not generate we generated less than a million in increment, the municipal service charge did not apply to you until you hit that million dollar increment amount.

So it would give you enough time to at least come up to that particular area because we figured a million in increment would allow you to issue 10 million in debt, and that would allow you to put in more projects in your particular area.

So that's why we didn't do that.

So one I think everyone came online um last year, I believe, or maybe the year before.

I had to check my notes.

But that's some of the things that we did um with regard to trying to um with the understanding that we had brand new TERS on on deck and would not be able to at least have the the um the runway that the other TERS did because we didn't start doing this until fifth fiscal.

Well, we started with the calculation in fiscal year 16.

Prior to that, what was happening is that it came into this um division in fiscal year 11.

And so there were amounts charged to TERS, but we didn't know how those amounts were derived, and it was only certain TERS.

So in fiscal year 16 is when we came up with this particular formula.

So those are some of the things that we looked at to kind of give them some runway, the newer Turses some runway.

And to your point, though, you still didn't give them 30 years to develop before we started changing the municipal service fee.

So we we look at those things too.

We're trying to give them enough money so that they can they can operate as well.

Thank you very much.

Um we were were joined by council member Davis, um, and of course, Councilmember Alcorn came in.

Um staff from Councilmember Thomas's office as well.

So thank you all for being here.

Uh our next presentation, um assistant director Curley, thank you very much for the information.

Thank you so much, everyone.

We'll be from Andrew Busker.

He's our senior staff analyst with the mayor's office of economic development, and he will present on tax increment reinvestment zone project plan amendments.

So, Mr.

Busker, we are ready to hear from you.

Good afternoon.

Um I'm Andrew Busker and the Mayor's Office of Economic Development.

Um as mentioned, I'll be talking about proposed project plan amendments.

Um and so the first few slides of my presentation, actually.

Next slide, please, T D.

I'll go over why project plans are important statutorily, and then we'll talk about how project plans are kind of organized, then we'll go into the proposals and our general timeline for what these proposed amendments look like.

Next slide, please.

Okay.

So this is a graphic that we have used quite a bit in our office to try and describe how the TURS program works as far as legal framework and structures go.

So everything TURS is due is structured under Chapter 311 of the Texas Tax Code.

And that chapter specifically covers the eligibility requirements to create a zone, the functions a TURS can and cannot do, as well as how tours should be administered and managed.

And then internally with the City of Houston, we uh passed ordinance 2023-726, uh, which expanded um the TERS's financial policies to include TERS.

And so that's section N of our financial policies document.

And then on top of that, our office has internal administrative procedures that look at um how we're going to manage the TERS program on a day-to-day basis, as well as when we're looking at annexations, um deannexations, life extensions, creations, all those sort of things for managing the TURS program citywide, what that criteria looks like, how we're going to evaluate it, that sort of stuff.

Next slide, please.

So in chapter 311, it's describing the financial, the sorry the project plan and financing plan as the TERS's guiding document.

Uh in order for a TURS to be created, the project plan and financing plan has to be approved by a city council.

And then any time a change happens within the TERS, whether that is changing in development priorities, whether a taxing unit is going to participate, or if the boundaries are going to change, any of that stuff warrants an update to the project plan and financing plan, which is why almost every year we come to you all for a public hearing about amending uh a project plan.

Next slide, please.

Then functionally, a project plan and financing plan um describes the zone and the priorities using general categories to allow the redevelopment authority some flexibility in their projects.

Um it also describes the development goals and objectives that that zone is um intending to do with um the increment that they generate.

Uh then you know the core piece of the financing plan is really the financial projections and funding sources that um are used and reviewed for when a redevelopment authority is seeking to issue debt to do its large-scale capital projects.

Um as Jennifer mentioned, only projects identified within this project plan can be included in the zone's capital improvement plan.

So, for example, when we've had um I think like Montrose TURS was interested in doing affordable housing, we updated their project plan to then include that in their project plan.

So there's there's times where we amend a project plan because we see that the development priorities of the zone are shifting, and so we need to incorporate what that development is going to look like.

Next slide, please.

So this is a very long list, but we're kind of breaking through.

This is the general outline that all of our project plan and financing plans follow.

And so they all start with an introduction and then the current plan.

If they've been amended, we talk about what the previous versions of the plan were, uh, and then you know what their redevelopment efforts are, these uh redevelopment goals, and then we go into the statutorily required project plan and financing plan, and then in the back of the document, then we have a bunch of exhibits which are you know maps and then the schedules for revenue and project costs and that sort of thing.

Next slide, please.

So in the core component of the project plan are these legally required sections, and that's the existing and proposed uses of land, uh, proposed changes to zoning master plans, building codes, and other municipal ordinances, estimated non project costs, and the method of relocating persons to be displaced if applicable.

Next slide, please.

On the financing plan side of things, this is um where a lot of them meet is I would say so.

This is where we're looking at uh what the estimated project costs are going to be for a TERS to do all of its capital projects that it intends to do.

And then from there uh what are those public improvements, um, whether or not doing these sort of improvements uh will be economically feasible in the zone, um, if they are issuing bonds, uh what those amounts would be, or if they have issued bonds in the past, what those issues were and when and why.

Um and then we're looking at um the methods and sources of financing project costs and the percent of increment from taxing units anticipated to contribute to the zone.

So in some of our zones, we have the city's portion of um tax increment is going 100% into the TERS.

We have other zones where after a certain number of years, the city's participation decreases from 100% down to 80 percent down to 75 percent onward.

Um and then on top of all of these things, we also look at the appraised value of taxable real property.

Uh we also um have a section about the captured appraised value uh for each year of the zone's existence, and then the zones duration.

So at what year do we plan to terminate this zone?

Um and so all we have only one tours so far that's been fully terminated, all of our other ones are still going strong because they still have either capital projects going on or they're still paying off debt, that sort of thing.

Next slide, please.

So these are all the proposals I am here to talk about today.

They are related to all the interlocal agreements that you've been looking at over last week and this week.

Um Harris County is interested in participating in our tourist program, which is great for the redevelopment authorities.

This means uh additional revenues coming online for them to use for capital projects.

Um so as you see here, we have eight uh project plan and financing plans that uh will need to be amended to reflect Harris County's participation.

And so when we're looking at the structure of the project plan and financing plans, the certain sections that are going to be amending will be the current plan, the project cost section, and our revenue schedules in the back of the document.

Next slide, please.

And then when we look at kind of each uh tours a little bit more specifically, um we have here on the table the um estimated first year of increment that'll be going into these tours is from um Harris County participating.

Fortunately, with with the way um uh taxi unit participates is they get to start their increment based on the year the zone was created, not when they joined.

So we're seeing these redevelopment authorities are getting a decent amount of money for uh fiscal year 27 that they can start using.

Well, it's gonna they're approving it this year.

I believe they don't actually get the money that they'll use until FY28.

So it takes a little bit of time to roll in, but it's going to be effective uh for the TURS starting um, I think tax year 2027.

Um and so then um that uh second to the last column on the right is looking at when we do our projections about what um the tours is should be generating an increment through the life of their zone.

Uh we have those projections there for what uh as a whole um Harris County's participation in these units should be generating for us to do capital projects and that sort of thing.

And then the far column on the right, uh we are coordinating with um Harris County's uh staff to determine you know where is this money going to be used within the zone and for what purpose and so we have those uh listed here.

And so you know a lot of it is looking at um, I mean, it's still the bread and butter of our program is infrastructure, whether that's through parks or through drainage or mobility, streets.

So it's still the the core functions of what our tours is do.

Um next slide, please.

And then finally, I have this timeline here.

We're expecting most of these tourists to approve their project plan amendments um over the next couple of months.

We do have some tours that take breaks during the summer.

Um but once we have those um project plan amendments at our office, then we review them and city legal also reviews them, and then we conduct public hearings, and then that's when it reaches you all on the city council agenda.

And then on top of that, as um Councilman Alcorn was mentioning for in the previous presentation.

Every year we also uh will consider um proposals submitted to us by the redevelopment authorities, whether that is annexations or life extensions, and then we'll consider those proposals and we'll probably do those considerations plus these uh project plan amendments kind of around the same time.

So at this time I'll take any questions.

Any questions?

Uh council member mayors.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, Andrew, for the presentation.

Uh you mention annexations and um it it is possible to do non-contiguous annexations, isn't it?

That is correct.

Yeah, what are what are the policies surrounding that?

So the statute has some room for interpretation on it, but the core function in the statute and with our practice is that there has to be some sort of like common nexus or some continuity in need for us to do a noncontiguous annexation.

I mean I know m Memorial Heights, if I'm not mistaken, is kind of a crazy.

Yeah, so there's there's a lot of like squiggles on Memorial Heights, but we'll do like right-of-way annexations and through.

Uh TURS 24, which is Greater Houston, that is a non-contiguous zone.

We have three different sections of that TURS that those three sections are not connected by right-of-way.

Um some of that includes um George R.

Brown convention center.

It also includes energy park in that area, and then there's another piece that's kind of in tucked away on the east end, kind of close to um George R.

Brown.

And so there, the common nexus was these are um high trafficked facilities that have uh public uses as well as private uses, and there's a lot of infrastructure components that are needed to keep those areas um I guess accessible and um easily, easily trafficked for the amount of people than volume that come through there.

They're also all connected on the uh red line for Metro.

Yeah, no, I I have in mind uh parts of the city that really need um development infrastructure, but they're not in a TURS, and and maybe it's possible to annex some of those areas into an existing TURS because it doesn't seem like we're gonna shut any of our current TURS down any time soon.

Am I right on that?

Um we'll approach that kind of case by case.

We do know that um TURS six is set to expire in 2027, and so it's a matter of whether or not there's development need to see if that continues onward.

But it was originally created to uh to fund a school, and so now that that zone is ending and the school's funded, we um we may terminate that one.

Um that was that's kind of a one-off project TURS.

Correct.

Which is unusual, right?

All the others are different.

Yeah, our earlier TURS is often focused on kind of one-off projects, but there's a collaboration with the school district or something like that, where our later TURS is more looking at uh neighborhood or commercial corridor level and what investments could happen at that location.

The others seem to be more permanent, if you will.

They would just keep extending them.

Um and the um the ability to um create new ones is is limited, right?

Because we can only have a certain percentage of uh the city within a TURS, right?

What is it, 25 percent?

Correct.

Yeah, 25 percent of the city's overall taxable value cannot be um sorry, it must the TURS program must stay underneath 25 percent of the the cities wide taxable value.

When we last did that calculation, I think we were somewhere between 21 and 22 percent.

So which is still we're still talking billions of dollars of taxable value.

So even though the percentage number is high, that monetary value is there's still a lot of legal room there.

Okay.

And when we do project plan amendments like uh the ones that are that you're presenting to us, we're including in this instance uh Harris County Precinct 1 participation, precinct two participation.

Um it it seems to me that it adds to the complexity and and makes it uh a little more uh a little harder to actually shut one of these down.

Am I am I right on that or not?

I think that's a logical conclusion.

Um I don't necessarily know if it's it makes it necessarily easier or harder, but it does add another party with vested interest in the TURS program.

And I say shut one of these down.

I mean I'd like for all of the city to benefit from uh you know these sorts of zones and and in programs that the city has available.

Uh so thank you.

Staff from Councilmember Panzerbrella's office.

Thank you, Chair.

Thanks so much, Andrew.

I just had a couple of very quick questions.

You had mentioned um, and I know this wasn't necessarily the topic of today's presentation, but with the Montrose TURS, when we meant you mentioned we modified their project plan to include affordable housing.

I understand I believe that's different from a TURS being required to put funding towards affordable housing.

Could you walk through does that it being a part of their project plan, does that mean that it's more of a goal, it's not a requirement, or what are their obligations to push projects forward through that funding if it's just part of the project plan and not part of the actual initial agreement?

Yes.

So if a TERS is created by petition, which means that a group of property owners came together and requested a TURS was created, but those TERS are required to put a third of their increment into affordable housing, right?

Um the Montrose Church was not created by petition, and yet they still had affordable housing as a goal.

And so in the project plan, um in the project cost category, they'll say, like we we have this much kind of um philosophically budgeted for affordable housing based on the increment that we expect to generate.

And then how they go about that is kind of up to the redevelopment authority.

So some of our Terrizers that participate in affordable housing will send their increment to the city's housing community development department, or some uh Terzas will manage their own affordable housing program themselves.

And so I believe Montrose is still uh figuring out their best approach on how to get that done.

And so it can be in the project plan without uh requirement to spend that money on that category just yet, but it does give them the option to do it when they're ready to.

Got it.

So there's no like official requirement, you know, to put that.

Okay, great.

Um, and then related to the topic today, um, for the mid.

I know we I believe we passed it this morning at council for the precinct one participation, and the third of that's going to order to affordable housing, which is amazing.

Do we know where those TERS is stand on, like is that similar?

Will they send it to HCD or they may manage their own, or do we know the nature of that and when we'll see those investments coming to fruition or development happening or where those stand?

Yeah, the um the approximate third of the county increment going to affordable housing is gonna go into the county's affordable housing department for them to do their projects.

So it won't go to the city's department, um, but we can still coordinate uh any sort of information that you'd like from them.

No problem.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you again, Chair.

No other questions.

Um, we will call our public speakers is um Mr.

Adorento in the audience.

Olawana FEMI Adorento.

Not here.

If there's anyone else in the audience that would like to speak going once, go on twice.

Closed.

All right, colleagues, if there are no other comments or questions, I do want to thank you all for joining us.

Um before we adjourn, I'd like to let everyone know our next scheduled economic development committee meeting is August the 19th, and it'll be at 2 p.m.

If you're interested in receiving any information on the economic development committee meetings, you can contact the district K office at district K at Houston TX.gov.

The time is 2.49, and our meeting is now adjourned.

Thank you for being here.