At the March 8, 2021, City Council meeting the public can speak to five resolutions required for the building of the new Market Basket and other stores at Whitney Rd., along with a new roundabout at the intersection of Rt. 4 and Whitney Rd. Information about the meeting will be posted on the City’s Calendar web page. For those unable to attend, I encourage you to write in at cityclerk@concordnh.gov with your thoughts. If the resolutions are then approved by Council at their April 12, 2021, meeting we can expect the NH liquor store to open early 2022, Market Basket to open late 2022 or early 2023, and the roundabout likely to be completed by the end of this year.
As you know, Whitney Rd. feeds off Rt. 4, which is a State road. The State has a say as to how the road improvements can be made, improvements that are necessary before any new development on Whitney Rd can happen. The State has agreed on the roundabout design. However, the State does not view this project as a priority. Therefore, if the City wants to build the supermarket, we need to find a way to pay for the roundabout. We have two ways of doing that.
Money for the improvement can come from the City's General Fund. Using the General Fund would mean an increase in the municipal portion of the tax rate of about 1% or more per year, starting in fiscal year 2023. There is a lot of uncertainty associated with adding a mandatory increase onto the City's unknown financial obligations in future years.
The other way to finance the roundabout is what's being proposed to Council by City Staff, which is to expand the area of the current Penacook Village TIF District to include the portion of Whitney Rd. proposed for the supermarket, then pay for the roundabout by issuing Penacook TIF District bonds.
With this approach, in the short term, residents will not be hit with a tax increase. Penacook gets the supermarket and other stores it's wanted for so long. In the long-term, Penacook also gets tax rate benefits once debt service for the roundabout is paid off, or when growth of captured assessed value in the TIF begins to greatly exceed the TIF’s annual costs. When we get there, hopefully in 10 years or so, the City Council can incrementally release tax revenues. That's how the City's North End Opportunity Corridor TIF District has performed, where the City releases 66% of its captured property taxes annually to support the City’s General Fund and other taxing authorities. However, we don't want to release funds too early, otherwise the TIF District will fail financially.
Of note is that taxpayers will be benefiting immediately with an additional $1.1 million in assessed value from the Whitney Rd. property proposed for construction that is no longer in current use designation.
For those of you who would like to read more details, there is a Resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into a Development Agreement with Interchange Development. Key within this item is Matt Walsh's Feb. 3, 2021, report, which explains the entire project in depth, but you will also find information about the development itself, including plan documents. Next is a Resolution authorizing the City Manager to accept a corporate guaranty from Demoulas Super Markets for construction of the new supermarket at Whitney Rd. We then have a Resolution adopting an amended and restated Development Program and Finance Plan for the Penacook Village Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District, which calls for enlarging the district to include the Whitney Rd area. The Resolution appropriating the sum of $4,780,000 for the Hoit Road / Whitney Road Intersection Improvement project is for funds for the roundabout that are proposed to be raised primarily through issuance of Penacook Village TIF District supported bonds and notes. Finally, there is the Resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into a Maintenance Agreement with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation concerning the infrastructure improvements.
