BRUNSWICK
After more than a year of negotiations, delays and communication breakdowns, town councilors Monday approved a pair of tax increment financing districts on the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
The districts — one encompassing Brunswick Executive Airport, the other surrounding Brunswick Landing — were approved in two separate votes, each unanimous.
They will allow the town to retain a portion of the taxable value of development within them until 2043, and use the revenue — estimated to be as much as $14 million — to pay for capital improvements, municipal infra- structure, funding for the town’s schools or other similar projects.
Monday’s vote only established the physical boundaries of the TIFs. A series of upcoming meetings between councilors Ben Tucker and John Richardson Jr. and their Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority counterparts will determine the details of the TIF revenue percentages and uses.
Richardson said a meeting already is scheduled for April 4 to begin that process.
Now that the town has set the TIFs, it’s up to MRRA to keep bringing in new sales and lease tenants to start generating revenue.
“The success of MRRA is vital to the town and the rest of the area,” Councilor David Watson said. “We’re talking about job creation and protection of our communities.”
Monday’s vote also beats the state’s April 1 deadline to establish a baseline valuation for Brunswick Landing and Brunswick Executive Airport. The state Department of Economic and Community Development still must lend final approval to the TIFs.
In other business, councilors set April 1 public hearings for the town’s plan to purchase two ambulances and rebuild College Street, as well as for Bowdoin College’s request to amend the town’s zoning ordinance to allow renovation of the former Stevens Home into a college housing unit.
jtleonard@timesrecord.com
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