Athens City Council met in committees Monday to discuss the redevelopment of The Ridges.
President Chris Knisely said council signed an ordinance creating The Ridges' new community authority on June 15.
The council also signed a resolution at that meeting to appoint Ohio University Board of Trustees members to the new community authority, Knisely said. She said the group met for the first time last week to begin discussing the necessary next steps for the redevelopment of The Ridges.
“The community reinvestment area program is a direct incentive tax exemption program that benefits the owner who renovates existing or construct new buildings, and both of those things will be occurring on The Ridges,” Knisely said.
Knisely said one ordinance that will be discussed at next week’s meeting is establishing the community reinvestment area for 10, 12 or 15 years.
Another ordinance that will be discussed at next week’s meeting is an ordinance allowing tax incremental financing, Knisely said.
She said tax incremental financing is part of a state program in which “real property tax exemption is granted with respect to the incremental increase in assessed valuation of certain parcels.”
“What happens is that the property owner makes payments in lieu of taxes … and then this money that is paid into that fund then is able to be used for improvements or other expenses that the new community authority may have in their development of The Ridges area,” Knisely said.
