City to Subsidize "Workforce Housing" at $1400-1600 Rents

BRADENTON – On Wednesday, the Bradenton City Council voted to approve a parking agreement for an upcoming apartment complex at 920 Manatee Avenue West. The project is receiving around $2.7 million in subsidies. Rents are expected to be around $1,400 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,600 for a 2BR unit, leaving one council member to question the deal.

The site was owned by the county, which had put out a request for proposals. Ron Allen's NDC Construction was awarded the project and a workforce/attainable requirement was memorialized in a land-use restriction.

As the city stated in an agenda memorandum, "in order to help make this a successful project, the developer has requested that the City of Bradenton enter into a Development Agreement that will aid the attainable aspects of this project."

The city will waive around $400,000 in impact fees, as well as somewhere around $1.4 million that would otherwise have to be paid into a special tax district known as a TIF. The developer will lease parking next to the nearby post office at $10,000 annually for the first seven years and then get 91 years at a nominal fee of $10 annually, sending the total subsidy to somewhere around $2.7 million.

Councilman Bill Sanders was the only member of the council to seriously question the agreement, complaining that he'd only gotten the most recent agenda packet 48 hours before the meeting and that many of the details were not included. Sanders also complained about a lack of council.

The city's attorney, Scott Rudacille, is a member of the firm Blaylock Walters. That firm also represents the developer. Because Allen and NDC do far and away more business with the city than any other developer, it was previously decided, at Sanders' request, that outside counsel would be used when the conflict of interest presented itself. However, that attorney was not present at the meeting, though council members were told that they had reviewed the documents.

Sanders didn't feel as though the rent prices being floated were realistically "attainable" for those earning the city's typical "workforce" earnings ($40-60,000 annually was the target) and questioned whether it was a good return on investment, considering the amount of money the city is giving up.

"It looks like a great project," Sanders told TBT, "and I'm sure it will be. I just don't know that we're getting a good deal in terms of how much money we're giving up and I was frustrated that we were asked to vote on it without having all of the information in front of us. The city needs to know what it costs us, and we need to communicate that to the public. If everyone thinks it's a good deal, then that's great, but I'm all about transparency and making sure the taxpayers know what we're doing with their money."

Sanders had similar complaints about the new downtown hotel and city parking garage. The Spring Hill Suites project is receiving $162,000 in TIFF abatements, as well as the first floor of the garage, rent-free. NDC wants an additional 60 parking places in the city garage and said it would pay the city's rate, but Sanders says that's yet to have been set, adding that he's heard complaints from citizens that so much of what was promised as a "public" parking garage that would increase downtown parking access is being locked up in such long-term agreements.

As it was clear that the item had enough votes to pass, Sanders ultimately voted in favor of the project, with exception, giving him the ability to ask that it be reconsidered at the next meeting though he'll need a second for that to happen.