Goshen City Council members Tuesday approved on a 5 to 2 vote a resolution establishing a new tax increment financing district on the city’s southeast side.
This story by John Kline originally appeared in Goshen News.
Tax increment financing, or TIF, is a tool that allows municipalities to promote economic development by earmarking property tax revenue from increases in assessed values within a designated district.
Creation of the new TIF district, coined the Lippert/Dierdorff Economic Development Area, was proposed in part as a result of the council’s approval in March of an annexation request by Lippert Components Manufacturing involving three parcels of land totaling about 153 acres located east of and adjacent to the existing Goshen corporate boundary on the north and south sides of C.R. 36, just southeast of the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds.
Central to that annexation request is a plan by Lippert to use the property as the location of a new $20 million facility focused on light manufacturing, research and development with the potential for multiple facilities at the site.
As part of the approved annexation, the city has agreed to extend water and sewer lines to the C.R. 36 property, which can then be utilized by the proposed Lippert development. The city will also construct new curbs and gutters and a 10-foot-wide sidewalk along C.R. 36 from the railroad tracks to C.R. 31.
For its part, Lippert will be responsible for the initial cost of all necessary right of way acquisition, design, field investigation, geotechnical work, permitting and construction of the proposed infrastructure. The city will then reimburse Lippert for those expenses through the use of revenues generated through the new TIF district.
