Kaysville presents downtown CRA plan; board offers conditional support to advance discussions

City officials from Kaysville on Feb. 7 presented a proposed Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) for the city's downtown (Main Street and 200 North) and asked the Davis County School District board for feedback and support to proceed to other taxing entities. The presentation was led by community development director Melinda Greenwood and city manager Jason Christiansen; Mayor Tran described the downtown's historic context and the city's interest in catalyzing redevelopment.

Kaysville proposed a 15-year project area with a $10,000,000 cap on tax-increment financing. City materials presented an estimate of roughly $5.1 million in total incremental tax revenue to the redevelopment agency over the period, with an estimated $2.21 million allocated to the school district as part of the taxing-entities split described to the board. The city noted state law requires 10% of increment be reserved for affordable housing and said it would propose that amount be used for a down-payment assistance fund for city employees.

City presenters described streetscape, utility, façade and parking investments intended to make Main Street more pedestrian friendly and to attract private investment. They noted coordination is needed with UDOT (which owns parts of Main Street and 200 North), and that the city plans a small-area planning process funded in part by a Wasatch Front Regional Council grant. The city also said it expects to seek agreement from other taxing entities (county, mosquito abatement district and others) and that the county commission is a required approver of a project area.

Board members asked detailed questions about timelines, the district's projected foregone revenue during the 15-year term, whether residences would face eminent domain (city said no eminent-domain powers would be used through the CRA), and return-on-investment assumptions. City staff said the numbers used in presentations are projections based on proposed development scenarios and agreed to provide the board with underlying spreadsheets and ROI calculations. The board unanimously agreed to support Kaysville moving forward to discussions with the county and other taxing entities, with the caveat that any formal interlocal or revenue-sharing agreement would return to the board for action.