One project already nearly complete
The Sulphur Springs City Council approved 380 agreements for three development projects at their Tuesday night meeting, bringing the possibility of three new single-family homes.
The properties involved are lots located at 306 South Moore, 222 Craig and 832 Alabama streets. The South Moore St. and Craig St. projects have the same developer, and the South Moore project is nearing completion, community development director Tory Niewiadomski said. According to the November 2020 building report, the project cost is $100,000.
Under a 380 agreement, a developer will be reimbursed for building fees, like water taps, and any city tax liens at the project’s completion. The completion window is three years.
“Each of these projects will have different incentive amounts awarded to them based on the conditions of each property,” Niewiadomski said. “There’s a few factors that will go into what the incentives entail. The building permit fees, for example, are based on square footage.”
The Craig St. project has a variance request, Niewiadomski said, which will be handled by the Zoning Board of Adjustments later this month. The variance request is in regards to Wilson St., which is not developed, could affect development.
“At this point, there’s really no advantage to that street being developed,” Niewiadomski said. “At one time, it looked like it could have been a city-maintained street, but it’s very narrow.”
The property at 832 Alabama has roughly $8,800 in city liens, which would be reimbursed on completion. Niewiadomski noted the city can only waive their portion of the lien.
“Unfortunately, in a lot of these cases, the liens when they were applied on some of these properties, they may have only been $2,500 back in 2001, but as interest grows, that becomes a large number,” Niewiadomski said. “It’s making it difficult to develop these lots.
Council member Jay Julian asked about when developers should apply for the agreement, and Niewiadomski said there is less risk in having an agreement in place before any construction or even property purchase.
“What I’ve been advising applicants is that if you want to go ahead and get started building, that’s at your own risk,” he said. “You don’t have a contract with city council yet. If you want to have absolute certainty before you go through and acquire the property, we should have this agreement in place.”