BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta Beltline Inc.'s board has approved a long-term strategic plan that estimates $4.39 billion is needed to complete the award-winning planned development and that 80% of the cost can be met with bonds, federal loans and grants, local and state funds, as well as donations and public-private partnerships.
The financing options were suggested in the 2030 Strategic Implementation Plan, approved last week.
Development of the BeltLine, a 22-mile planned network of parks, multi-use trails, transit and affordable housing along abandoned railroad corridors circling downtown Atlanta, has been slowed by the recession and lawsuits challenging the use of a tax allocation district to contribute primary funding from tax increment financing.
The strategic plan "is a pragmatic, business-minded approach to effectively advance the Atlanta BeltLine through completion," said Paul Morris, president and chief executive officer of ABI. "It provides a flexible framework for pursuit of accelerated delivery options, including public private partnerships and other innovative funding and financing opportunities."
In 2008, Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing school taxes to fund redevelopment projects but it was challenged.
In June, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that it is constitutional to use school tax revenue for redevelopment efforts such as the BeltLine.
During the first seven years of the Atlanta BeltLine's existence $350 million was invested, including $79 million from tax increment financing bonds.
Some $75 million of bonds remain outstanding through 2030, when the TAD expires.
The investment generated a three-to-one return on investment, and spurred more than $1 billion in private redevelopment, officials said.
The plan, which guides transportation and redevelopment programs through completion in 2030, is the result of a year-long study and community meetings that provides a blueprint for implementing short, medium and long-term priorities. It is expected to equal or exceed the return on investment as the economy continues to improve in the coming years.
Morris said the plan is "grounded in economic reality" and will ensure that the BeltLine benefits the community.
The redevelopment project also integrates infill stations by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, as well as the new Atlanta streetcar system within the corridor.
The initial 2.7-mile streetcar project starter line will provide east-west connectivity in the core of downtown. It is under construction and scheduled to begin service in the second quarter of 2014.
The streetcar's $70 million cost was underwritten by a nearly $48 million grant from the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Act, or TIGER II.
To date, redevelopment efforts have included seven miles of new trails, 200 acres of parks and green space, more than 70 acres of remediated brownfields, and affordable housing.
Critical planning, environmental review and real estate acquisition for transit is well underway, and is expected to increase the program's competitiveness for federal funding, according to officials.
Atlanta also received an $18 million TIGER V grant for the development of a 2.5-mile trail.
Under the plan, the funding would come from $1.45 billion in tax increment financing, $1.27 billion from various federal funds while another $343 million would come from federal, state, regional or local funding for streetscapes.
Another $157 million of the plans' funding would come from local funds for parks and $274 million from private donations.
Funding for $891 million of the plan's cost has not been identified.
In addition to TIF, planners suggest new revenue sources be considered. Those could include a dedicated local sales tax.
Fees, taxes or surcharges also could be placed on parking facilities, business payrolls, property, gas, hotels, and rental cars.
The city could also raise revenue for the BeltLine from a development impact fee, creating a benefit assessment districts and charging properties benefitting from improvements, creating business improvement districts where business owners choose to be assessed a fee, selling naming rights on public projects, and continuing to seek private funding such as donations.
Among the financing strategies suggested, additional TIF bonds could be issued, federal low interest loans could be sought from the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act or TIFIA program, and P3s could be used to get greater private participation on some projects.
Other federal transportation programs could provide grants.
Since the BeltLine tax allocation district is set to expire in 2030, the plan said a dedicated funding source would be needed to take full advantage of the TIFIA program, which offers loans up to 35 years.
The plan will be implemented in three phases.
Over the next five years, ABI will focus on the $926 million first phase, which includes securing the remaining right of way to complete the loop around downtown, completing the Westside Trail and commencing work on the Southeast Trail, continuing work on two crossing parks, beginning the first phase of Westside Park, and building streetcar and light-rail transit projects.
"The 2030 Strategic Implementation Plan is a thorough, practical strategy that will help ensure the realization of the full vision of the Atlanta BeltLine," ABI Board Chairman John Somerhalder said in a statement. "It will guide the work of public, private and community partners investing in America's most ambitious urban transportation and redevelopment program."
The plan will be presented to Atlanta City Council in the first quarter of next year.
The Atlanta BeltLine has won 19 awards over the years, including the Best 2009 Bond Deal from the Council for Development Finance Agencies, and two Smart Growth Achievement awards this year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The BeltLine project has also been recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies and the National Journal Financing Infrastructure as well as groups representing urban design, commercial real estate, and workforce housing.
Moody's Investors Service assigned A2 ratings to Atlanta's BeltLine tax allocation TIF refunding bonds in 2012.
The rating agency said it believed that the tax allocation increment revenues securing the bonds would continue to provide satisfactory maximum annual debt service coverage, given satisfactory coverage levels, as well as strong historic and projected tax base growth.
The district encompasses 6,545 acres or 8% of the city's total land area.
