What's going on here? : Sleiman's tax credit tripled?

[sheclown]

Second city look at fees pushes developer credit from $3.6 million to $11 million

By Christopher Hong Sat, Apr 25, 2015 @ 10:40 pm | updated Sun, Apr 26, 2015 @ 10:13 am

THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION

A prominent Jacksonville developer received an $11 million credit last month from City Hall to build a road project near his company's budding shopping and residential development in East Arlington, which will allow him to avoid paying millions in fees that reimburse taxpayers for the development's impact to nearby traffic.

That's a stark reversal from months earlier: City planners initially said a majority of the project — to be built by a company co-owned by local developer Toney Sleiman — didn't provide enough benefits to the public to qualify for the credit, which is offered to developers who build road projects that reduce traffic congestion near their developments.

The company proposed building a network of streets initially estimated to cost $14 million and wanted credit for the full construction amount. The city initially said that two of those roads could earn half credit and the others deserved none. That amounted to $3.6 million worth of construction qualified for credit.

Sleiman, co-owner of The Jacksonville Landing and one of Mayor Alvin Brown's most vocal re-election boosters, can use the $11 million in credit his company received to offset the $3.8 million mobility fee assessed to the development. His company, Atlantic North LLC, can bank the leftover credits to pay off, dollar for dollar, mobility fees for future developments. The company can also sell the credits to other developers.

Atlantic North received the credit in March to build a network of streets near the development, which includes an existing shopping center and a future apartment complex and hotel on Atlantic Boulevard near the intersection with Kernan Boulevard. By awarding the contract, the city recognized the streets would reduce congestion on larger roads near the development.

However, city planners originally determined in January the company already needed to build many of the streets it wanted credit for to provide basic access to the property, which made those streets ineligible to receive credit.

The city was prepared to offer the company just $3.6 million in credit to build portions of the project it said went beyond the development's minimum requirements. But after the city found an error in the company's application for the credits, Atlantic North submitted a slightly revised plan that corrected the mistake but offered few other changes.

After receiving the new plans, city planners significantly changed their calculations.

On the second analysis of the plan, city planners significantly scaled back their opinion about the development's minimum street requirements and tripled the amount of the credit to $11.2 million. The new calculation gave the company credit for millions in construction costs to build streets the city previously said weren't eligible for credit.

When asked to explain why it increased the company's credit, city officials said the planning department's original calculation was based on preliminary estimates about the development's minimum road requirements that were subject to change. After reviewing a revised version of the road project and meeting several times with Atlantic North, they determined the company actually needed to build fewer roads to meet the development's basic requirements compared to the first determination.

Through emails and documents related to the project obtained from the city through a public records request and interviews with city officials, the Times-Union found:

■ City officials said their original determination of the development's minimum requirements wasn't intended to be used in the final contract and was changed after further analysis and discussions with Atlantic North. However, emails and documents related to the deal show that city attorneys were prepared to send the contract with the original determination to the City Council for approval.

■ A City Council member who expressed concerns about the deal before the council unanimously approved it said it is "troubling" the Planning Department didn't mention the previous determinations about the credit, even though she specifically asked if there were any.

■ Sleiman became "furious" after he mistakenly believed there was a delay in the company's application and sent a string of emails to top officials in the mayor's office and Planning Department Director Calvin Burney, who oversaw the department in charge of calculating the credit. Sleiman didn't return calls seeking comment.

■ After the city found an error in the application, the company began working toward a new deal with two top officials in the mayor's office, chief of staff Chris Hand and Chief Financial Officer Ronnie Belton. Hand said Belton asked for his assistance in January because of his experience as an attorney with land-use expertise and because the mayor's office at that time didn't employ a chief administrative officer to oversee the Planning Department. He said he didn't think Belton's involvement was unusual, even though Belton has no direct oversight over planning. Because the city began offering the credit to developers for the first time last May and has only approved one other similar deal, it's unclear whether it is standard practice for top officials in the mayor's office to be involved in the process.

"My participation was limited to attending several meetings in Planning where there was back-and-forth between representatives of Atlantic North and the Planning Department," Hand said in an email. "The Planning Department handled any calculations (of the credit), which were reviewed by the Public Works Department."

■ Days after the city reached a new agreement with Atlantic North in February, Burney abruptly resigned from his $135,000 post. City officials said that departure wasn't related to the company's deal. Burney couldn't be reached for comment.

more:

http://jacksonville.com/news/2015-04-25/story/second-city-look-fees-pushes-developer-credit-36-million-11-million#.VTzy7KIRjk0.twitter

[thelakelander]

Pretty much a mockery of the original intent of the mobility plan and fee credit system....

[Tacachale]

WHAT.

[southsider1015]

Something clearly stinks here.

[brainstormer]

Another example of how our city council failed Jacksonville. This perfectly defines how a "good old boy" system is established. What was once a very specific mobility fee plan became a subjective mess, open to interpretation, when the city council began caving to the developers. Sleiman is a greedy crook enabled by the mayor's office and planning department. It really is a shame.

[Tacachale]

It helps to have friends in high places who are skilled in wheeling and dealing, and not much else.

[Jumpinjack]

Sleiman has been getting away with this type of back room deal to avoid mobility fees for a while. He is not the only one. Check out large tracts of pine land in southeast Duval owned by prominent families who want to get taxpayer subsidies for their developments and are usually successful.  The surprise to me is that the T-U would write such a expose detailing this stinky stuff. A few years ago they would have been too afraid of getting on the wrong side of the all powerful builders assoc. 

[Jumpinjack]

The Alvin Brown commercial featuring a smiling Sleiman suddenly makes sense, doesn't it.

[Jumpinjack]

^ so true. 

[mtraininjax]

Another example of how our city council failed Jacksonville. This perfectly defines how a "good old boy" system is established. What was once a very specific mobility fee plan became a subjective mess, open to interpretation, when the city council began caving to the developers. Sleiman is a greedy crook enabled by the mayor's office and planning department. It really is a shame.

All you need to do to find Sleiman is look at Mayor Alvin Brown's commercials. He is featured prominently in them. So he is a big supporter of Alvin Brown. 4 more years of this filth? I think not!

[vicupstate]

Another example of how our city council failed Jacksonville. This perfectly defines how a "good old boy" system is established. What was once a very specific mobility fee plan became a subjective mess, open to interpretation, when the city council began caving to the developers. Sleiman is a greedy crook enabled by the mayor's office and planning department. It really is a shame.

All you need to do to find Sleiman is look at Mayor Alvin Brown's commercials. He is featured prominently in them. So he is a big supporter of Alvin Brown. 4 more years of this filth? I think not!

I fully agree this smells really bad.
If you will remember, Sleiman was a big supporter of Brown's OPPONENT four years ago, Mike Hogan. If Curry wins, I would expect a similar metamorphosis to occur. 

[JimInJax]

I met the man once.... felt like I wanted a shower after to talking to him.

[Jumpinjack]

...  If you will remember, Sleiman was a big supporter of Brown's OPPONENT four years ago, Mike Hogan. If Curry wins, I would expect a similar metamorphosis to occur. 

Agree. We can expect Curry to curry favor that same way.  This would leave it to council members who really understand what is going on and want to fix Jacksonville's sprawl and blight problems. Not a happy idea. 

[strider]

...  If you will remember, Sleiman was a big supporter of Brown's OPPONENT four years ago, Mike Hogan. If Curry wins, I would expect a similar metamorphosis to occur. 

Agree. We can expect Curry to curry favor that same way.  This would leave it to council members who really understand what is going on and want to fix Jacksonville's sprawl and blight problems. Not a happy idea. 

Our city council voted to approve this unanimously. Though Boyer questioned, she still voted for it.  She has been taught that to be able to do anything, you have to play along with the script.  As long as those conditions exist, how can we truly have hope?

I really do think that the best scenario possible at this point is just to change leadership every four years and hope it slows things down.

[sheclown]

So may e just skip the whole election hoopla and give the city to the developer with the highest bid