Agenda - 02-21-2013 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the Boards can discuss issues related to this item as necessary. Attachment 3 – Downtown Hillsborough Maps 4.Update on Waterstone The Stratford entities, who are the current owners of the Waterstone property, have proposed a modified (reduced) version of a special assessment district to finance the cost of completing the infrastructure remaining to be built in Waterstone. The remaining infrastructure consists primarily of construction of Cates Creek Parkwayfrom the western boundary of the Waterstone land, to Old NC 86 (South Churton Street) at the existing intersection of Lafayette Drive in Cornwallis Hills, as well as completion of a community park. Included in the proposed special assessment district areproperties still owned by Stratford and located within Waterstone (so, not the Durham Tech property, or the UNC Hospital site, or the Little School). If the special assessment district is approved, then revenue bonds (estimated at about $4.6 Million) canbe issued and sold, the proceeds of which will be used to pay for the cost of the improvements and administrative costs. The current proposal is to repay the bonds over 10 years through the collection of assessments from the properties located within thespecial assessment district. A key component of the special assessment district proposal is an arrangement with the Orange County Tax Collector to administer the collection of the assessments each year. Stratford representatives have spoken with Tax Administrator Dwane Brinson about this issue. The Town understands that the County must make a policy choice about whether to administer the special assessment collection process. The Town expects that if this arrangement can be made, the Tax Collector would receive a percentage of the assessments collected each year (similar to the agreement between the Town and the County for tax collections). The Town understands that there may be some software and instruction costs at the front end of the collection/administrationprocess to set the program up, and these costs would be paid for by the District out of bond sale proceeds. If the Town Board does agree to move forward with the special assessment district as currently proposed (initial Town Board action to decide whether to move the process forward was expected on February 11, 2013), details will be finalized and approval from the Local Government Commission will be required before bonds can be sold. The Town forecasts that if the special assessment districtmoves forward, the process will take several months, with potential bond sale in late May or June 2013. Staff will provide any other information at the meeting, and the Boards can discuss issues related to this item as necessary. No Attachments 5.Update on Hillsborough Vision 2030 The Town has just begun work on a new policy plan to replace and update the Vision 2010. The Town held a “by invitation” input session involving advisory board members and representatives of local organizations to garner preliminary comments from which staff will develop a draft plan. The draft should be ready for public review in late March, with various opportunities for wide public comments to be offered and the document to be revised and updated. It is hoped that a draft document will be ready for formal public hearing and consideration during late summer.