The Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday approved $1 million of Legacy funds for infrastructure at Victory Gardens, a 74-home residential development in the city’s southeast quadrant.
The council also approved a $1.2 million loan paid through a residential tax increment financing district that will lock in the area’s future property tax revenue and use it to spur economic growth. In the district, 30% of the new value will go to local taxing bodies, including East Allen County Schools.
The Fort Wayne Legacy Fund was established with money from the sale of the city’s former power utility. It supports projects considered transformational or impactful for the community.
Organizations complete an application process, and the nine-member Legacy Joint Funding Committee reviews them and recommends successful projects for final approval by City Council and Mayor Sharon Tucker.
The program resumed receiving applications in December after a 10-month moratorium on spending due to council members’ concerns about the fund’s depletion.
Councilman Nathan Hartman, R-3rd, said the fund is now healthy because of the moratorium and added controls to help ensure its future use. The restrictions included capping the amount awarded to an individual project at $2 million.
In December, he said the fund had about $40 million.
Linda Golden, owner of LegacyOne Inc., first requested the $1 million for the project’s infrastructure at the Legacy Joint Funding Committee meeting in May.
The project, with a cost of about $25 million, includes single-family and multiple-family homes, including townhomes, ranging from $186,000 to $325,000. The developer has received commitments on seven lots. The 20-acre development will be built in phases over the next three years.
The organization has many partners in the community and plans to work with Habitat for Humanity on affordability, Golden said.
In May, committee members asked Golden to return with more information. She presented again in July, and committee members approved the recommendation. Every criterion had been met, she said.
“I’m looking forward to being able to bring new housing to southeast Fort Wayne,” Golden said. “I am just really elated with the support that I’ve received from community development, and of course, I’m thankful to the council for approving this.”
With this approval, Golden hopes to break ground by the end of this year, said Andrea Robinson, economic development administrator.
This is the second market-rate housing project the southeast has seen in more than 50 years, said Councilwoman Rohli Booker, D-6th. The demand for new and quality housing in the southeast has existed for a long time, she said.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” Booker said. “There are so many people who live southeast and love southeast.”
City investments will support the area’s residential and commercial growth, as businesses see it as a more desirable place, she said.
The funding was approved 7-1. Councilman Paul Ensley, R-1st, voted against the funding for Victory Gardens because he didn’t think the project fit the Legacy Fund’s criteria, he said. However, he approved the residential tax increment financing district. Councilman Scott Myers, R-4th, was absent.
In other business, the initial 5-3 vote against using $2.75 million to buy and renovate a downtown building for a homeless resource center was finalized with all council members maintaining their positions.
Councilman Geoff Paddock, D-5th, said after the meeting he was disappointed no further solutions for homelessness have been discussed by the council.
