Commission delays decision on remaining LITA Fund 105 allocations amid competing housing and business requests

City staff told the commission that roughly $1.8 million remained in LITA Fund 105 after previous allocations and that two pending LITA applications each request about $2 million, meaning available funds would not cover both requests.

The applications discussed were: a request tied to a multi‑family project identified in the meeting as the Sundora Apartments (an applicant-led development described as contracting directly with the U.S. Department of Defense, which staff said may qualify it for LITA), and a second pending request from a commercial applicant (identified in the transcript as Extreme Amplitude). City staff said the Patriot Point project would only qualify for LITA if it first becomes designated a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area, which would add an administrative timeline.

City Manager Stephanie and staff explained that LITA awards are discretionary and bounded by available fund balance. Stephanie said the commission could allocate funds with conditions — for example, “you can allocate that money in a project … with the caveat that it needs to be designated MRA” — but commissioners stressed they wanted the full commission present before making a decision on the competing requests. The commission directed staff to return with the missing analyses, including job-creation figures, precise request amounts and options for alternate funding sources such as general fund-supported grant/incentive dollars (often discussed as “grip” in the meeting).

Commissioners discussed whether smaller caps on incentives would be practical and noted that some grant-like incentive programs previously paid out sums in the $20,000–$25,000 range; staff said a larger cap might be necessary for the program to be attractive to developers, but that general fund limits constrain how much the city can shift to incentives. A formal allocation was not approved; Commission members agreed to consider the requests at a future meeting when the full seven-member body is present.