Lebanon
But city officials aren’t yet sure how that construction would impact overall services and schools once completed.
The City Council is under pressure to respond to a recent petition that calls for an assessment of large projects “currently under planning consideration, and of every large project that has been approved, but is yet unbuilt or unfinished.” Proponents of the petition delivered it to the Council earlier this month and say it was signed by more than 400 residents.
However, calculating how much all that development would cost the taxpayers isn’t an easy task, Interim City Manager Paula Maville told the Council on Wednesday. Because the projects aren’t complete, city planners can’t determine their value. And some aren’t scheduled to be finished until 2030.
“Our predictions would be best guesses at this time,” Maville said in an audio recording of Wednesday’s meeting.
Overall, the city has been able to calculate 513 residential units approved by officials but not yet built, amounting to almost 2 million square feet of space. Projects that have been approved include 117 units at the second phase of Prospect Hills, 94 units at Rock Ridge, 153 at Altaria, 91 at River Park and 75 at the second ICV Building.
There’s also non-residential developments planned for Iron Horse Park, River Park, Altaria and the Route 120 Hotel and Conference Center.
The only large-scale development currently under review is the 306-unit Carter Country Club Houses on the Hill project, which will likely cost Lebanon a $360,000 deficit in services when fully developed, according to the city memo.
“Some of this development, specifically Iron Horse Park, River Park and Altaria, have 15-20-year build-out scenarios,” the memo said. “… It is safe to assume that once Iron Horse Park and River Park begin construction their build-out may extend beyond 2030.”
City councilors agreed the city should try to compile some information on how much the total projects could cost taxpayers, though.
Since each development is required to submit a fiscal impact study during the approval process, Councilor Timothy McNamara said it would be possible to add the results of those onto one spreadsheet.
“I think it’s doable. It’s not going to be perfect, but I don’t necessarily needs to be to be perfect,” he said, according to the audio recording. “It just has to tell us, ‘do we need to do more (work)?’ ”
Councilor Karen Liot Hill said she would also like to see the city perform a build-out study at the same time. She remembers a similar report almost a decade ago that said Lebanon was only a third of the way built out.
“It’s important for the community to understand where we are in the lifestyle of the city,” she said. “It definitely influences your interaction with growth if you understand that our fully built-out scenario is not a city of 13,000.”
Maville said she intends to discuss the city’s response to the petition with Mayor Georgia Tuttle, who wasn’t present at Wednesday’s meeting. She said it’s likely Lebanon will hire a consultant to help pull together some of the information needed to calculate the impact of development, and the process could take about 60 days.
The City Council also voted on Wednesday to create a task force to review and help draft new sign regulations for Lebanon.
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling barring municipalities from enacting sign rules based on the content of a sign. Since then, Lebanon and other cities have found much of their current zoning ordinance could be in violation of the court’s order.
The task force will be made up of 15 members, including five from city boards, six from area businesses, one member from the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and three residents. The group is expected to present a draft to the City Council this fall.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.