A Rare Moment of Brilliance from City Council

WWBT NBC-12 reported this evening that the City of Richmond is preparing to up the ante -- in a significantly big way -- for developers interested in building in and new home owners willing to move into areas of the city with a large number of vacant lots. I was tipped to the story by the Church Hill People's News and Richmond Good Life, but the reporting machine known as Rachel DePompa delivers the goods:

How about paying no real estate taxes for five years? The city of Richmond is considering a new ordinance that would do just that. The goal of the tax exemption is to help spur growth in certain neighborhoods in the city.

The ordinance being considered says if you build a house on an empty lot, in designated areas around the city, you would not have to pay real estate taxes on the new home for five years.

John Murden at Church Hill People's News cites North Church Hill, Carver, and Highland Park as several of the neighborhoods being considered.

What should be exciting about this for residents of the city is that we're essentially talking about taking tax money that does not exist and leaving off the books for five years. It's a net neutral tax proposition, essentially -- with significant tax gains for the city kicking in after year six.

It should also drive down blight in certain neighborhoods, and decrease the absurd number of vacant, residential properties that make our community less safe, less attractive and less livable. The current number of vacant residential properties in the City of Richmond? Somewhere north of 1,500.

Comments

[paul_h]

Agreed!

[Sundagger]

A good idea? To continue to shift all city development resources to a very few census tracts? This proposal would require the rest of the city to pay for the services provided to these new houses. The houses can be flipped, because the abatement travels with the real estate. Tell the people in the eighth and ninth districts they should pay more to help the areas that already get all, ALL, the city community development block grant funding.