Station Park project moves ahead
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Michele Howey
Standard Examiner correspondent
F
ARMINGTON -- Developer CenterCal and city officials reached agreement on key issues Friday night to bring the Station Park project closer to approval.
The conference room in the Farmington City offices was filled to capacity with city officials and representatives from developer CenterCal.
The shopping center could bring high-end retail, restaurants, and movie theaters to Farmington if approved.
The special meeting was needed to resolve issues relating to the development in time for CenterCal to meet a Jan. 5 deadline it has to purchase the property.
City officials, including most of the City Council, City Manager Max Forbush and Mayor Scott Harbertson, met with multiple representatives from developer CenterCal and both parties' legal counsel most of the day Friday and into the night.
To close the purchase deal, the developer needs a signed development agreement from the city that spells out what the development will be, and another agreement, the Agreement to Develop Land or ADL, which sets out performance guidelines the developer would need to meet to be reimbursed for certain projects they are fronting the money for, such as building a water pump station, and their costs for a road to the north.
Solutions to several issues, including splitting the upfront cost of that 80-foot road to the north, were decided during the meeting Friday. The city and the developer will each pay half of the $5 million to 8 million road project with a cap of $2.75 million on CenterCal's portion of the road for Phase I.
The city has also applied for a $1 million federal grant for the project, said Forbush.
If additional acreage is purchased for the project, which is the hope of CenterCal Senior Vice President John Paul Wardy, their cap of the half would be raised to $3.75 million.
Other projects for which the developer will be fronting the money, and will be reimbursed from $18.5 million in property tax revenue from the city include improvements to a bridge and plaza leading from the development to the UTA Frontrunner stop that will be adjacent to the shopping center.
"The ADL is for public improvements; we front the money and then get it back from property tax increments," CenterCal Development Director Elizabeth Angyal said. "What it amounts to are rebates in property tax.
"If you get money back over time, what is that dollar worth 10 years from now? That difference is worth millions of dollars, which is what we're discussing today."
To be paid that money, the developer must meet certain performance criteria, said Randall Feil, special legal counsel for the Redevelopment Agency of the city.
Also decided during the meeting Friday was the use of a site plan that would be approved by the council calling for upgraded improvements in landscaping, lighting and things like water fountains and decorative paving to be included in the development. The site plan upgrade would replace a minimum dollar amount set for those upgrades.
"I am more confident in being able to get the people excited with a plan, than to settle on a number," Wardy said.
The city agreed, putting language into the contract to set standards to which it expects the developer to enhance its property.
"We're taking this above standard finishes," City Councilman Rick Dutson said.
The council is scheduled to rezone the property for the development and put the project to a vote during its regular city council meeting Tuesday night, if the city is able to come to a resolution on remaining issues concerning housing to be included the project, and the bridge and parking areas.
"Tuesday is coming fast, isn't it?" Forbush said.
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