Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The proposed redevelopment at Kenrick Plaza, which calls for a mix of public and private financing, has been a divisive issue in the community.
The Shrewsbury Board of Aldermen approved using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for a planned Walmart development Tuesday night in a special meeting. A Community Improvement District (CID) for the area also was created. The vote was 4-2 in favor of the plan. Aldermen Elmer Kauffman and Alderwoman Dee Wiecher voted against the plan. Wiecher said she opposed Tuesday's vote both on principle and procedure. "I spoke against the plan at the TIF Commission meeting," she said after the meeting. "But tonight I opposed it on procedural grounds." Wiecher was upset that the city held two votes in one evening, as opposed to holding the first reading at Tuesday's meeting and the second and final reading at the city's next scheduled meeting. She argued …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The proposed redevelopment at Kenrick Plaza, which calls for a mix of public and private financing, has been a divisive issue in the community.
The Shrewsbury Board of Aldermen approved using Tax Increment Financing for a planned Walmart development. The vote was 4-2 in favor of the plan. On Jan. 9, the St. Louis County TIF Commission rejected the request for $15 million in public financing for a controversial re-development of Kenrick Plaza that would bring a Walmart to Shrewsbury. The commission voted 9-3 against a motion to recommend the proposed development agreement for the blighted property and the request for $15 million in tax increment financing. In this case, the TIF would have generally split any increase in taxes collected as a result of the $46 million development 50-50 between the city and the project’s developer, G.J. Grewe for a set period of time. The action by …
The proposed redevelopment at Kenrick Plaza, which calls for a mix of public and private financing, has been a divisive issue in the community.
The Shrewsbury Board of Aldermen has a work session scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the aldermanic chambers of the Shrewsbury City Center. Items to be discussed are as follows: Ordinances The meeting is open to the public.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
See what your neighbors have been talking about in this round-up of comments from Patch's latest coverage of the TIF commission vote.
Days after the St. Louis County TIF Commision voted against $15 million in tax breaks for a new Walmart in Kenrick Plaza, Patch readers are still talking in the comments about Walmart, taxes, and the identity of Shrewsbury. We've gathered a few of the most salient comments so you can see for yourself. Read what your neighbors have to say and join the conversation by adding your own comments below! From Kurt Odenwald, on Should Walmart Come to Shrewsbury?: I do not like TIFs, but the alternative is frightening. Without a TIF, there is no redevelopment given the current state of the law in Missouri. Cities like Shrewsbury could say, we do not like these rules, take our ball and go home, and not play in the game. That may make us feel good …
Monday, January 21, 2013
"The answer is plain to see through the Walmart Trees," advise Craig and Terri Diliberto.
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Monday, January 21
The members of the Shrewsbury Board of Aldermen have a “life changing” decision to make when the January 23rd Board of Aldermen meeting takes place next week regarding the Kenrick Plaza Development. These members, five of six who live in the Affton School District where their friends, neighbors and children also reside, will have to face and share the same space with these people if they in fact put the Affton School District and tax paying citizens on the financial hook for the next 23 years. Moreover, the Board of Aldermen members also work and make their living in this community, some selling real estate in the same exact area that will be affected by their vote. How can you face the people and not get shunted? Shunted to the point that…
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The commission voted 9-3 against $15 million in tax breaks for a 172,000-square-foot redevelopment of Kenrick Plaza. A public hearing before the vote drew emotional testimony from residents for and against the project.
The St. Louis County TIF Commission has rejected the request for $15 million in public financing for a controversial re-development of Kenrick Plaza that would bring a Walmart to Shrewsbury. The Wednesday night meeting at the Shrewsbury City Center drew an audience numbering in the hundreds and entailed more than an hour and a half of impassioned written and oral testimony during a public hearing from residents eager to weigh in on an issue many see as vital to the future of the city of around 6,000. The commission voted 9-3 against a motion to recommend the proposed development agreement for the blighted property and the request for $15 million in tax increment financing. In this case, the TIF would have generally split any increase in …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
"Shrewsbury has a spending problem not a revenue problem," writes M. Eileen Dorsey. "They have overbuilt and overextended and now expect taxpayers to bail them out."
Shrewsbury resident Eileen Dorsey sent the following letter to Patch. She has also sent it to the Shrewsbury city clerk's office as written testimony for tonight's TIF meeting. As a Shrewsbury homeowner and an owner of three properties in the Affton school district, I am adamantly opposed to Tax Increment Financing. It is none other than a tax subsidy of corporate giants and greedy developers – an unnecessary corporate bailout. A business should be built or not built based on its own economic merits. Unfortunately, the Shrewsbury city government is dominated by people who have an agenda. Their agenda is not the welfare of the entire Shrewsbury community but their own little clique community. When I moved back here in 1999, I was totally …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Wednesday's Tax Increment Financing Commission meeting should be interesting. Are you going to go and voice an opinion?
Tomorrow night should be interesting when Shrewsbury looks into giving Walmart a TIF to build on the location of the defunct Kenrick Plaza theater. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently talked to some small business owners: “The largest corporation in the world — and they want a TIF,” said critic Susan Favazza, co-owner of a small business that she points out was launched with “no government handout, no government bailout and no assistance.” Patch will be at tomorrow night's meeting to give you full coverage of the ongoing controversy. Will you be there? Read more on Patch about the issues Shrewsbury has with redeveloping this area:
38.579794
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Value Village Thrift Department Store
101 Kenrick Plz, Saint Louis, MO
/articles/should-walmart-come-to-shrewsbury
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/locations/8551975
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Ward 2 alderman is racing for reelection today. His opponent is John Bub.
Ward 2 Alderman Ed Kopff has been on the board two years, and says he’d like to finish what he started. He’s referring, of course, to the stalled Kenrick Plaza redevelopment project and the contingent efforts to salvage Shrewsbury’s troubled financial prospects should the project not come together. The Walmart-anchored redevelopment plan has been the most contentious local issue in Shrewsbury in recent years, but Kopff stands behind it as the best option to bring in sales tax revenue to sustain the city’s dwindling coffers. “If this development doesn’t come through, what can we do to gain some time before we eat through all our reserves?” Kopff said in an interview, referencing Shrewsbury’s continuing budget deficit. “If we don’t address …
Monday, March 26, 2012
New bills in the state house would require TIF proposals be put to a public vote.
Keith
9:12 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Paul Revere, "brilliant" thinking on your part: "Demand City Payroll Cuts and keep every employee working. Those are the NEW TERMS in these NEW-TIMES." WHY cut the employees' salaries? You think that would solve all the problems and then Walmart wouldn't have to be built?! Gee, you're smart. WHO'S terms are those? Yours?! Sure, let's cut their salaries and then they wouldn't even be able to shop … more ›