Developers Of Ray Richards Golf Course Redevelopment Program Believes Projects Will Go Forward With Proposed Changes, City Council Votes On Project Tonight

(KNOX) –The developers who would be working on the Ray Richards Golf Course redevelopment program believe the project will go forward, even with some changes that have been made to the agreement with the city.

Steve Burian is the President and CEO of Burian and Associates, and he is also the engineering consultant for this project. He says that new requirements for the internal rate of return are not ideal, but it’s something the developers can live with.

The County Commission voted to approve the application for the 20 year, 90 percent PILOT. They approved it amid a request to add a lookback for every five years. They also voted to lower the rate of return percentage needed to change the taxing percentage.

The lookbacks would assess the project’s finances to see if it reaches the specified rate of return. The School Board voted for the project under the impression there would be lookbacks at the 10 and 15 years marks. If the specified rate of return is reached; the county, city and school district could end up collecting more tax revenue from the project, which would lower the 90 percent PILOT. The original recommended rate of return was 9.75 percent, but the county suggested an amendment that would bring it down to 7.75 percent.

The City Council will vote on the PILOT at its next meeting, which is tonight at 5:30. They would need to vote in favor of the project in order for it to go through.

If the city council approves, the next steps would be to secure the banking and investors for the project, as well as to finish the project’s design, and to get permits to start working on site.