Strategies to Attract Investment Continued There are also several programs and strategies that can be utilized to generate developer attraction and momentum, including: z Land Banking Program would allow for the City to buy underutilized, abandoned, or foreclosed properties at below market rate. In return, the City maintains the property, and identifies and sells the property at reduced cost to an approved developer, with the intent of redeveloping the parcel. Houston and Dallas are two local cities with land banks in place. An amendment to the Inter Local Agreement between the taxing entities could also allow for commercial properties, not just affordable housing to be purchased, easing this process. z Chapter 380 Economic Development Agreements can be used on project specific incentives and is a powerful tool that can be utilized for a variety of development and redevelopment projects. A 380 agreement can include several provisions - a majority of which are performance based and refund a portion of the additional sales tax and property tax created. A 380 agreement would be ideal for individual catalyst projects. z The Neighborhood Empowerment Zone Program makes tax abatements and fee waivers available for qualified projects. Fee waivers are allowed for areas that overlap with the TIF boundary, as well as those outside the boundary for up to five years. Grass roots efforts can be equally effective at reimagining and reinventing public spaces as critical gathering spaces at the heart of corridors like East Berry Street. Efforts to strengthen and further community connection between the people and places of their community are commonly referred to as placemaking. Centered around the people who live, work, and recreate in the East Berry Corridor, placemaking focuses on creating and implementing a shared vision for the future of the area. Placemaking reaches far beyond the concepts of urban design and technical planning, blurring the line between implementation and recommendations. Placemaking affords particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution, oftentimes because these efforts have been community led and have such strong support from the individuals who utilize the space regularly. As part of the City of Fort Worth’s “Full-Strength Fort Worth Revitalization Strategy” placemaking and design are included in the Revitalization Toolkit to recognize and promote individual neighborhood characteristics for locals and visitors alike. z Tactical Urbanism is a short-term, low-cost implementation of placemaking concepts that can spur long-term change. Projects can be led by governments, non-profits, grassroots groups, or residents, but generate the greatest impacts when buy-in exists across multiple parties. Tactical Urbanism can serve as a tool to build community’s capacity to help transform their neighborhoods, create ownership, build community and a sense of place, acivate spaces, or lay ground work ideas for infill development. A local example of this implementation was at “The Post at River East” - spurred by a pop-up concert, a developer saw the impact and community buy in resulting in the development of a permanent music venue along Fort Worth’s Race Street.
192 | East Berry Corridor Study
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