Northeast News
Jan. 13, 2010

For those Scarritt Renaissance residents considering making improvements to their properties, the time to do it could be soon approaching.

The city Planning and Zoning Committee approved the Scarritt II Urban Renewal Area plan this past Wednesday. The committee’s approval is the second to last step in enacting the plan. The full city council will have to review the matter in an upcoming meeting, after which there will be a 10-day period to allow for protests, then the plan will officially become ordinance.

“I would hope that by Feb. [1] at the latest, we’d be good to go,” said David Macoubrie, the Economic Development Corporation development specialist who has assisted Scarritt in creating the plan.

If the council members do pass the plan, then the urban renewal plan will allow for property owners to receive 10-year tax abatements on tax increases resulting from improvements to their properties — either $5,000 in improvements on residential or $10,000 in improvements on commercial properties.

The Scarritt II URA is bordered by Cliff Drive on the north, Independence Avenue on the south, Askew Avenue on the east and Jackson Street on the west, jogging along Norledge Avenue to Elmwood Avenue and north to Cliff Drive. There are a total of 1,098 parcels in this zone.

Property owners will have 15 years to take advantage of the offer if the council approves it.

Led by the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association, the planners’ purpose in creating the urban renewal plan was to reduce blight in an area in which 64 percent of properties are considered blighted.

The Scarritt I URA, immediately to the east of Scarritt II, has existed since February 2007. In nearly three years, 10 property owners have used the tax abatement.