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City OKs grants for downtown
Programs to help owners renovate aging buildings
April 3, 2007
By Lowell Brown / Staff Writer, Denton Record Chronicle

Denton city leaders hope a new grant program will help property owners revitalize aging downtown buildings.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a program to let property owners in Denton's central business district apply for city funds to recoup some of their redevelopment costs.

The council will decide later this year how many grant dollars will be up for grabs.

"The purpose is to encourage the development of downtown, basically, and to help those property owners that are buying older properties and trying to renovate them to make our downtown more vibrant," said Linda Ratliff, the city's economic development director.

Eligible work includes refurbishing a building's facade, erecting new awnings or signs, and upgrading utilities such as water and sewer lines. Qualified projects could seek compensation for half of their eligible costs -- up to $50,000 per project -- after the work is done.

The city's Downtown Task Force asked the council to allocate $250,000 the first year of the program and additional funding in subsequent years to keep the fund balance at $250,000.

But the actual amount of grants won't be determined until each year's budget is prepared, Ratliff said. The first grants should be available by Oct. 1, she said.

Mayor Perry McNeill said he believed the grants would be high on the city's list of budget priorities.

"I would hope that we would fund that, because I think that's a good investment," McNeill said, adding that the projects would raise properties' taxable value, thereby bringing more money into the city.

City employees and members of the Downtown Task Force and Economic Development Partnership Board will review projects on a case-by-case basis to determine applicants' eligibility. The City Council will have the final vote.

The grants will not replace the tax breaks already available to property owners who revitalize downtown buildings, Ratliff has said.

The Downtown Task Force also has discussed creating a downtown tax-increment financing district, so new tax money raised in the area could pay for upgrades to streets, sidewalks, drainage improvements and other downtown infrastructure.

The council is expected to consider that proposal later this year, Ratliff said.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com.