Fairfield council OKs first reading for development pact

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield City Council passed the first reading of an ordinance Monday to establish an urban renewal area at North Campus Village.

Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker said the council plans to waive the second reading and go straight to the third and final reading at its next meeting on Nov. 23.

The creation of an urban renewal area is the first step toward tax increment financing, where a portion of the improved part of a property goes toward paying for infrastructure improvements in that area.

Kooiker said that the developer, Martin Brett of Vastu Partners, has already built the water and sewer lines in the area. Once the tax increment financing district is established, a portion of the property taxes on the land will go toward reimbursing Brett for fronting the money for the new infrastructure.

Kooiker said tax increment financing is a win-win for developers and local taxing entities because the developer gets help paying for infrastructure, while the taxing incentives end up receiving more tax revenue in the long run from the developer improving the property and raising its value.

North Campus Village is a housing development on the north edge of Fairfield, just off B Street. Started in 2001, the development now contains more than 118 Maharishi Vastu homes. The first four phases of construction saw the construction of about 60 homes, most single-family dwellings.

A fifth phase of construction began after 2014 when the developers used incentives for multifamily housing to build 57 townhome units, which quickly sold out. The current and sixth phase of construction began in 2018, and involves building an additional 60 townhomes.

In other news, Kooiker said the downtown lighting project is nearly complete, and that only a couple of lights on the north side of the square remain to be replaced. He said he's walked the area at night a few times and notices a difference in the brightness of the new LED lights from what was there before.