Developer Mark Nicholas received about $909,000 in tax increment financing reimbursements from Starkville after the board of aldermen accepted his Cotton Mill Marketplace plat Tuesday despite future upkeep worries for a private road connecting the development to public infrastructure.
In a 5-2 vote, aldermen accepted the Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission’s Sept. 28 recommendation to accept the plat, which contains infrastructure and a seven-unit retail storefront, with certain conditions: a portion of nearby Mill Street must be paved and have curb and gutter improvements installed, and Cotton Mill Drive — which connects the retail storefront to Spring Street — will be deemed a private road.
Nicholas will be responsible for all future upkeep of the road as long as it remains a private thoroughfare.
Ward 5 Alderman Scott Maynard and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins opposed that measure and two others dealing with Nicholas’ development.
Aldermen pushed Nicholas to dedicate Cotton Mill Drive to the city Tuesday, which would allow Starkville to maintain it, but the entire development would have been forced back through the Starkville Board of Adjustments and Appeals, as it doesn’t meet city code.
Specifically, the retail strip sits too close to the road, and the parking lot is detached. Therefore, the city would have to waive those issues.
Additionally, the road was not constructed to city standards, but Nicholas assured the board it was built to last and would be maintained.
Going through that process would further delay the issuance of TIF reimbursements, Mayor Parker Wiseman said. Both Nicholas and Wiseman said the city had already eclipsed a 30-day period to issue funds.
Further delays, Wiseman said, would place Nicholas in an unfair position since the city didn’t force the developer to go through the variance processes in the beginning of the project.
Nicholas said he is willing to pledge the road to the city in the future, but he needed the plat approved Tuesday so he could receive a TIF reimbursement and “get the project to the finish line.”
“This was the process that the city had advised me given me to take and was agreed upon by the planning and zoning commission and approved, in the end, by the board,” he said Wednesday. “I appreciate the board with way the way they support development, and we’re looking forward to finishing the hotel development” on another 2-acre parcel adjacent to the marketplace property.”
Backward process
TIF funds are issued to developers as a way of reimbursing them for building public infrastructure — including water, sewer and access roads. Before a developer can receive reimbursements, the associated public infrastructure must be constructed and dedicated to the city through a process of platting, which clearly defines their locations in land records.
Miss. Code Ann. 21-45-9, which deals with rules on TIF issuances and agreements, states municipalities may also fund private improvements if their governing bodies make a finding of fact that subsidizing such projects is in the best interest of the city.
The Dispatch was unable to confirm which infrastructure improvements Nicholas submitted for reimbursement Wednesday, as City Clerk Lesa Hardin was absent from City Hall and Mayor Parker Wiseman did not have the associated documents with him when contacted.
Platting usually occurs in the beginning of a development project, and Starkville officials previously noted the unusual order of platting Nicholas’ retail property after it was already built and housing seven businesses.
Hotel update
Once headed toward foreclosure, Nicholas now said his 2.03-acre parcel to east of Cotton Mill Marketplace is back on track to becoming a 117-bed Holiday Inn hotel in the next 10 months.
His Mobile, Alabama-based attorneys previously confirmed a property sale scheduled in September at the steps of the Oktibbeha County Chancery Courthouse was “delayed,” and now Nicholas says the project is moving forward with a new bank and contractor.
The Dispatch was unable to independently confirm the new financial status of the development Wednesday.
Construction should begin this month, he said.
“We had a contractor that could not deliver on the pricing that we all agreed upon when we started planning. I fired him and hired another. In between that time, the bank out of Minnesota pulled the plug on me,” Nicholas said. “We’ve secured other financing and are moving forward.”
The hotel, he said, was redesigned from a five-story structure to four floors, will house a steakhouse and could create about 60 full- and part-time jobs.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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