Wildwood incentives, crime reports discussed at committee meetings
After discussion at its Aug. 15 meeting, the finance committee unanimously recommended approval of the proposed incentives package for the new developers of the Wildwood South shopping center.
The proposal, said Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones, is an agreement in which the city and developers, Oldacre McDonald, would equally share any increased revenue in the 2 percent sales tax. This does not affect the 1 percent sales tax that goes to the board of education. The agreement would begin in 2018 and last for 10 years or until the developers' share of the profits had reached $5 million in total.
Jones said the incentive proposal includes a minimum $10 million investment in the Wildwood South property by Oldacre McDonald. At a previous meeting, Bill Oldacre outlined some of the proposed changes, including two roundabouts, an inter-parking lot road, the construction of several new retail spaces, new monument signs, additional lighting, new paint, landscaping and metal awnings to replace the current fabric ones.
The full council will take a vote on whether to approve the incentives at its Aug. 29 meeting.
The finance committee also dropped consideration of noise barriers on either side of I-65 near Oxmoor Road as well as a paint striping project on Valley Avenue since ALDOT is due to bid the paving project on that road soon. The committee recommended the installation of a crosswalk signal at Oak Grove and Oxmoor Road.
At the public safety committee meeting, which was also on Aug. 15, Police Chief Tim Ross presented a mid-year report on certain types of crimes. Ross said he typically doesn't provide this type of report, which compares data from the first six months of 2016 to the same time frame in 2015.
"I just got curious to track our progress on our most common types of crime," Ross said.
Of the crimes that he tracked, which are among the most frequent reported in cities, all have decreased compared to 2015. Burglary is down 22 percent, automobile theft down 16 percent, robbery down 37 percent and vehicle burglary down 20 percent. Ross said traffic stops have risen by 5 percent and traffic citations increased 22 percent.
Ross said both the crime decrease and the citation increase are partly due to the 10 new officers that were hired in 2016.
"So we've got more people out there," he said.
Other factors that have impacted that data include the introduction of PredPol, a predictive software that uses data to show where crimes are more likely to happen next, and the roll-out of the single-use plan for police vehicles. The single-use plan gives every officer their own vehicle instead of sharing them between shifts. Ross said this increases visibility because officers are no longer spending time at the station waiting for their predecessor to finish paperwork and hand over the car keys.
"It practically puts twice as many cars on the street three different times a day: at shift change," Ross said.
The public safety committee also sent out alcohol license requests for the council to approve: Fred's Store at 234 Green Springs Highway, Mi Pueblo Supermarket at 216 Green Springs Highway and a manufacture license for Red Hills Brewery.
They also recommended a three-way stop sign on Broadway Street at Gianmarco's and three streetlights on Shades Road, which will operate at a cost of $420.12.
The next council meeting is Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.