Dec. 19—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown Finance and Legal Committee unanimously recommended approval on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to expand the city of Jamestown’s current Renaissance Zone boundary area.
Doreen Stroh, city assessor, said Jamestown would have nine additional blocks in the Renaissance Zone, increasing the number from 22 to 31 blocks.
She said the Renaissance Zone boundary would extend south on the east side of 1st Avenue South to the former location of Hardee’s. The boundary includes homes along 2nd Avenue Southeast from 6th Street to 10th Street Southeast.
The boundary goes east from the former Hardee’s location an additional three blocks from 2nd Avenue to 5th Avenue Southeast. The boundary includes homes and businesses from 9th Street to 10th Street Southeast.
Stroh said two more blocks were added near 12th Avenue Southeast. The boundary goes from 3rd Street to 5th Street Southeast and 10th Avenue to 12th Avenue Southeast. The boundary includes homes along 10th Avenue Southeast from 4th Street to 5th Street Southeast.
Stroh said expanding the Renaissance Zone boundary allows property owners to apply and get a tax exemption for five years.
“They have to put 50% value back into the property and extend the life of the structure,” she said.
The Renaissance Zone Program helps revitalize communities in the state and encourages development through tax incentives, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce’s website. The program offers state and local tax incentives for five years to residents and business owners to invest in the community.
The Finance and Legal Committee unanimously recommended approval of a 2024 abatement application for a property located at 306 22nd Ave. NE.
Stroh said Alpha Opportunities purchased the property in August to operate it as a group home.
She said the abatement would reduce the property’s value by about $136,500 for 2024 for the months when Alpha owned the property.
“It was $468,000 and it’s going to be reduced down to $331,000 for 2024,” she said.
The Finance and Legal Committee unanimously recommended approval to fund the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.’s 2025 Flex PACE Program in the amount of $500,000.
If approved by the Jamestown City Council, the 2025 Flex PACE Program will be funded on an 80-20 city-county split. The city of Jamestown’s share would be $400,000 while Stutsman County’s share would be $100,000.
The Stutsman County Commission approved the request on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to fund the JSDC’s 2025 Flex PACE Program.
The Flex PACE Program is an interest buydown program through the Bank of North Dakota that requires a community match portion, according to JSDC’s document for grading Flex PACE applications. The interest rate buydown can be between 5% and as low as 1%. The Jamestown-Stutsman County community match portion is 30% of the total interest buydown with a maximum amount of $85,714. The community portion of the interest buydown is a loan from JSDC that is collected after the terms of the note at 2% over four years.
In 2024, the JSDC participated in 12 Flex PACE loans totaling over $640,000, said Alyssa Looysen, business director for JSDC. She said the investment leveraged about $1.5 million and more than $14 million in private investment into the Jamestown area.
Three projects were listed as participating in the Flex PACE loans in 2024 but used other incentives instead of Flex PACE dollars. Looysen said about $235,000 will be returned to the city of Jamestown.
The Jamestown Building, Planning and Zoning Committee unanimously recommended approval to introduce the first reading of an ordinance to change the zoning of lots one and two on block one of the Harold P. Bensch Addition.
The properties are located at 301, 401 and 402 11th Ave. SE.
The zoning on the properties will be changed from a general industrial and manufacturing district to a general commercial district.