| KOZ designation granted to 37 Wilkes-Barre City properties By Denise Allabaugh and Erin Moody (Staff Writers) Published: May 29, 2009 WILKES-BARRE - Wilkes-Barre City Council and School Board approved 37 new properties as Keystone Opportunity Zones at simultaneous noon meetings Thursday with the goal of spurring economic development and new housing. The properties - 10 of which are city-owned - will be exempt from property, business privilege, mercantile and earned income taxes when developed and occupied, until at least the end of 2010. They include vacant commercial space at 62-64, 70 and 72-78 S. Main St. at University Corners; the city-owned Ice-A-Rama at Coal Street Park; floors 4-11 at the PNC Bank building at 11 W. Market St.; the closed Blum Brothers at 27-29 S. Main St.; the Spring Brook Water Supply Co. building at 30 N. Franklin St.; a building owned by RCMP LLC at 71-75 S. Main St.; CityVest's parking lot on North Franklin Street next to the Hotel Sterling and 16 properties which make up the fire-damaged Murray Complex owned by Thomas Murray on Courtright, Court and Darling Streets. Council and school board members also approved KOZ designations for properties at 38-30, 42, 44-46 and 54 Carey Ave. and 444-446, 445, 447, 450 and 452 S. River St. The city acquired these properties to develop housing. Mayor Tom Leighton presented the resolutions to the school board. The zones expire Dec. 31, 2010, but could be extended, said Deputy Administrator Marie McCormick. She said the goal is to make sure the properties get developed. "KOZ is effective to encourage investment," McCormick said. "A lot of properties downtown would never have been developed if they were not in Keystone Opportunity Zones. The benefits to getting our downtown revitalized and getting some new housing are immeasurable." Luzerne County Commissioners will vote on the KOZ designations today. Leighton said the Ice-A-Rama was added to the list to "help us get good quality A-rated tenants." "It will help us with construction costs and sales taxes," he said. "It just helps us in getting this project up and running." The parking lot near Hotel Sterling, formerly owned by Ali Kazimi, was added because it could be a site for future development, he said. A developer also has expressed interest in vacant fourth through 11th floors of the PNC Bank Building, he said. The goal at the Murray Complex is to create housing, McCormick said. Council removed Hollenback Park as a KOZ to replace it with the new properties. City Administrator J.J. Murphy said the 100-acre golf course, playground and baseball field area is flooded repeatedly and not developable. "If a property is already designated as a Keystone Opportunity Zone but cannot be developed due to developing restrictions or environmental issues or other issues, the state is providing an opportunity for that property to be decertified as a Keystone Opportunity Zone property and for an equivalent or lesser amount of acreage to be swapped into the program in the same municipality," said Larry Newman, vice president of community and economic development for the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, who spoke at the Wilkes-Barre Area school board meeting. The majority of the properties are not bringing in any money from taxes, Newman said. "The substitutions that are being talked about today ... are primarily owned by public or nonprofit bodies, so therefore you are not receiving any taxes from them right now," he said. Newman said the benefits of the KOZ can be seen in successful properties that will be placed back on the tax rolls when the benefits expire at the end of 2010. While he did not have a projection for the amount of money the city and school district would receive from those properties, he indicated it was significant. "If a property has been developed and is occupied, as of September 2008, its KOZ designation cannot be extended beyond the termination date of Dec. 31, 2010, so in other words it goes back on the tax rolls," Newman said. "So what goes back on the tax rolls? Things like Schiel's supermarket on Hanover Street. Things like the occupied portions of the Northampton and Main theatre complex, the movie theater. The innovation center and Barnes & Nobles go back on the rolls." Wilkes-Barre Area School Board members were upset and frustrated when city officials told them the resolution needed to be acted on Thursday, shortly after the board members learned about the KOZ property swap. Upon learning the city knew in the fall that the swap must be approved by June 1, board member Lynn Evans asked why they waited until the last minute to present the district with the resolution. Board member Theresa McGuire told city officials they almost always come to the school board at the last minute for approval. While the resolutions are typically items the board would agree with, she doesn't appreciate being handed a resolution and told to act immediately. "This is always the case for the six years I have been on this board. We're always the caboose, but we're always being told we're the engine because if we don't do it then the next piece of the puzzle doesn't fall in," McGuire said. "Each of the times we have conceded and tried to cooperate to the best of our ability, but each of the times we have asked, 'please come to us in a timely fashion,' and once again, it's not in a timely fashion." dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115 emoody@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2051 "If a property has been developed and is occupied, as of September 2008, its KOZ designation cannot be extended beyond the termination date of Dec. 31, 2010, so in other words it goes back on the tax rolls," Newman said. "So what goes back on the tax rolls? Things like Schiel's supermarket on Hanover Street. Things like the occupied portions of the Northampton and Main theatre complex, the movie theater. The innovation center and Barnes & Noble go back on the rolls." Wilkes-Barre Area school board members were upset and frustrated when city officials told them the resolution needed to be acted on Thursday, shortly after the board members learned about the KOZ property swap. Upon learning the city knew in the fall that the swap must be approved by June 1, board member Lynn Evans asked why they waited until the last minute to present the district with the resolution. Board member Theresa McGuire told city officials they almost always come to the school board at the last minute for approval. While the resolutions are typically items the board would agree with, she doesn't appreciate being handed a resolution and told to act immediately. "This is always the case for the six years I have been on this board. We're always the caboose, but we're always being told we're the engine because if we don't do it then the next piece of the puzzle doesn't fall in," McGuire said. "Each of the times we have conceded and tried to cooperate to the best of our ability, but each of the times we have asked, 'please come to us in a timely fashion,' and once again, it's not in a timely fashion." dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115 emoody@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2051 |