Good for the Gloucester City Council. Good for Mayor Carolyn Kirk. Good for the "No Free Lunch" Committee. Good for Sam Park.
But, most of all, good for the entire city.
Wednesday night's 8-1 vote by the council to approve a "tax-increment financing" — or TIF — plan for Park's proposed Gloucester Crossing development, after nearly five hours of exhaustive debate, not only clears the way for construction of the project. It also lifts a cloud of economic stagnation, offering hope for a better future and for a better balance of the city's tax base between residential and commercial/industrial property owners.
Developer Sam Park gets a lot — an estimated $2.3 million tax break over the next 12 years. The city gets a lot, too — an estimated $3.3 million in new property taxes during those years, and more once the TIF expires. It also gets a new Market Basket and other retailers, with a hotel and assisted living facility to follow.
Opponents to the TIF, most of them from the No Free Lunch Committee, get something too — a credit to their dogged criticism of public subsidy for a private venture. The final agreement with Park demands more commitments from him than earlier versions. He has agreed to a rigorous schedule of deadlines: By the end of 2009, he must have an occupancy permit for the bulk of the project, a building permit for a hotel with at least 80 rooms, and proof of $10.5 million spent building the Market Basket. If he misses any of those deadlines, he will forfeit the $200,000 tax rebate for that year.
The vote late Wednesday night is good for all the parties involved, because it is proof that by working together — even through contentious, fevered debate — the result can be a compromise that gives a private developer a chance to make a profit, while the city preserves what is in the best interests of its citizens.
This has been a long time coming — the project had its other approvals more than a year ago, in September 2007.
Now that this last key part of the Gloucester Crossing puzzle is in place, there is reason for optimism that — even in a very difficult economic time — the future for Gloucester will be brighter, and the city is collectively moving forward.
That's the best news of all — and all of those involved deserve credit for seeing it through.
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