If you live in Concord and you pay the school portion of your property taxes to the Merrimack Valley School District and your house is assessed at $200,000, you pay $1,200 a year more than someone whose school taxes go to support the Concord School District.

If you are in the Merrimack Valley School District, your tax rate is the sixth or seventh highest in the state, yet the cost per pupil is reported to be in the bottom 10 statewide.

Those paying taxes to the Concord School District are supported by commercial values that make up approximately 44 percent of the tax base. For those in the Merrimack Valley School District only 24 percent of assessed value is supported by commercial properties.

In Penacook the largest taxpayers (Wheelabratorโ€™s) net assessment has dropped from $58,823,150 in 2013 to $37,700,000 in 2016, a 36 percent decrease. It is anticipated that their value will continue to drop in the future.

The Penacook Vision plan which was developed from community input states the following about the redevelopment of the tannery site:

The former tannery site is seen as offering the greatest opportunity for an expansion of the higher density mixed use development currently found in the village core. With significant frontage along the Contoocook River and easy access from the village center, redevelopment of the site should provide public open space in the form of either a linear waterfront park, an access easement along the river, or an interconnected series of access areas and park spaces.

The Tannery site should be permitted the highest intensity of use in the village. Buildings of four to six stories in height should be permitted by conditional use to incentivize the provision of open space amenities. The site could support a mix of residential, office, retail, and other commercial uses.

In our City Master Plan 2030, one of the recommendations in the housing section states the following (page IV-18):

Review the need for affordable housing (as the city was considered to have 150 percent of its fair share of the regions affordable housing while other communities in the region needed to provide more, and there could be a negative effect on the tax base from the city providing more than its fair share).

The developer for the proposed tannery project has stated they will not need any assistance from the city. However the site is part of a tif district that has spent almost $2 million of city funds for environmental cleanup. While the developer will be paying taxes on the project, there is no guarantee that the city council will vote to forgive the debt owed to the city.

And should the city go forward with a riverfront park at the tannery site it has been estimated that it will cost more than $1 million. Using the anticipated taxes from the Caleb Groupโ€™s project it will take more than 20 years to pay off the debt for the cleanup and improvements to this site. It is highly unlikely that there will be any new funding for the school district or city services from this project until the debt is retired.

Two additional points I would like to make:

The city has just hired an economic development director. Instead of moving forward with a project that will not be an economic development engine and may in fact add to the communityโ€™s already high property tax burden. The economic development director should have the opportunity to explore avenues for attracting a commercial or mixed use project to the tannery site.

The city is also considering updating our current zoning ordinances. This process will require funding for a consultant and considerable time and effort by both city staff and the community. It is anticipated that the new zoning will take into account the recommendations from the Penacook Vision plan for the Penacook Village. Should this occur it is doubtful that a new zoning plan document (based on input from the community) would allow this project to be approved based on the design drawings that were viewed at the Penacook Village Association meeting.

I am a strong proponent of affordable housing and I have stated that new and redevelopment projects have a component or percentage of affordable and low income units. I do not believe that we should continue โ€“ as a community โ€“ with a model for low income housing that separates projects based solely on income. And I have signed onto and I am supportive of the Housing First model for our chronically homeless.

Since the tannery was demolished the community has been clear in what they would like to see developed on this site. A project that brings economic vitality to the Village. A mix of uses that can include a residential component and a project that would fit in and enhance the historic nature of the Village.

This is not the right project for Penacook. It is not the project that the community has stated time and time again that they would like to see developed on the tannery site. This is why I do not support this project and that is why I voted against it at our recent city council meeting.

(Concord City Councilor Allan Herschlag represents Ward 2.)