If approved, the city’s income tax rate would increase to 2.5% beginning January 2024. The ballot measure would also implement a 100% credit for taxes paid by residents to other municipalities.
All funds generated by the total 2.5% tax rate would go toward “general municipal operations and functions,” according to council documents.
Before voting on the ballot issue, Vice Mayor Tim Gorman raised concerns about a potential tax increase.
“During the workshop, (we) discussed that if we get enough development we won’t have to raise the income tax, and now we’re doing both of them in the same meeting,” Gorman said, referring to a rezoning request and housing development proposal up for consideration by council earlier in the meeting. “I don’t see how we can fairly and adequately do both.”
The proposed housing development project would include construction of 125 single-family homes on a 43-acre parcel of land at the southeast corner of Phillipsburg-Union Road and Haber Road, west of the Irongate Estates subdivision.
This proposal, submitted in March by Clayton Properties Group Inc., also known as Arbor Homes, originally called for construction of 155 single-family homes within a subdivision to be known as Salem Springs.
The project has been a hot-button issue in the city of just over 13,000 residents, with many calling on council to reject the proposal.
The rezoning and a preliminary development plan was recommended by planning commission for council approval, but council subsequently voted to table the issue at its May 4 meeting after nearly two dozen residents spoke in opposition to the project.
A common theme among opposition to the project is the desire to keep the area rural.
According to Paul Metzger, director of land acquisition for Arbor Homes, the developer then revised its conceptual plan, reducing the lot counts down to 125 and increasing green space along the eastern border along Irongate, creating a greater distance between the back of the houses on Haber Road.
Council ultimately approved the rezoning request and preliminary development plan in a 4-3 vote during its July 20 meeting.
Arbor Homes will now complete a final development plan, a process which includes the completion of traffic impact, geotechnical, and storm water studies. The plan will be submitted to the city for review, with an opportunity to make adjustments based on staff feedback, before final submission to the planning commission.
The planning commission will then conduct a public meeting before making a recommendation to council for approval or denial of the plan. City council will subsequently hold another public meeting before making a final decision.
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