09-22-08 Common Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 Council’s favorable consideration and approval of both of the Resolutions before the Council tonight. Mr. Deahl stated that at the Declaratory stage a number of weeks ago and earlier today at the committee meetings that this project relates to a request for a ten (10) year real property tax abatement and a five (5) year personal property tax abatement on the development of a new technology park to be known as Innovation Park at Notre Dame. The purpose of this innovation park is to convene innovators in a facility that has the resources necessary to leverage intellectual property assets or inventions of innovators and use research and resources of Notre Dame and other colleges and universities to transforms these technology platforms into marketable products. Ideally, this park is applied to be one of two certified tech parks in the City of South Bend. This park would be the initial stage for new companies that are going to use technology and develop applications that are going to be commercialized and then have a resource that they could transplant into manufacturing in other places in the Michiana Area. The first stage of this project involves an investment of approximately ten million dollars in the construction of the first of what is anticipated to be four buildings. These buildings at least the first one will house training centers, conference centers, offices, and wet and dry labs to be leased out to tenants who will use the research and conduct other research activities in the park. The personal property investments will be at least initially in the first year an investment of no less than five hundred thousand in the lab equipment that will be used inside the research park. Mr. Deahl stated that they would greatly appreciate the Council’s support. He thanked the Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand, who has worked together with them to come to terms on a final memorandum of agreement that explains the commitments of Innovation Park at Notre Dame and the University of Notre Dame related to this park and they are all very hopeful that this will be a successful venture and bring new and innovative businesses to the area. A Public Hearing was held on the Resolution at this time. th Mayor Stephen Luecke, 14 Floor County-City Building, spoke in favor of this bill. He stated that he appreciates the opportunity to rise in support of these two resolutions for tax abatement for the new research park. He stated that they have been working on this for many, many years and it really provides a new nexus between the University of Notre Dame and the City of South Bend for an opportunity and a reality that the University is investing in the community in a new way that will bear significant benefits for all of us in the long run. The impact for the City of South Bend is the opportunity for new jobs and new additional investment, not necessarily at the Innovation Park site, but at the Old Studebaker site elsewhere in the community as companies grow and create new jobs and new product. He supports them in this effort, and the tax abatement comes at a critical time for start up companies a time when money is often very thin as they are working to prove a concept, an idea, to show that it has commercial applications and that the company can grow and expand the systems that the University has in place to identify, recruit and accept companies into Innovation Park are very through and will see an extraordinary success rate for companies at the Innovation Park. This is an additional opportunity on the part of the City of South Bend to say that they want these companies to plant here, grow here, and to succeed here, to create new jobs and investment for the community. He urged the Council for their favorable support. He clarified two points, the first is that any tax abatement that takes effect, the benefits will roll through to the tenants of the building, the tax abatement is not for the benefit of the University of Notre Dame, but like any developer, the tax abatement rolls through to tenants who will be investing and creating jobs in the community. Secondly, obviously, Eddy Street Commons is also moving forward at this time, a terrific development project and as they looked at projections for paying for the public infrastructure in Eddy Street Commons there was no revenue anticipated to come from the research park to assist with that development, so granting tax abatement for the research park does not in any way impact the Eddy Street Commons development as that moves forward. Councilmember Varner stated that he certainly wishes the University all the success and like Mayor Luecke recognize the enormous potential here, but he tends to let his imagination and hopes to run not quite as far. The reality is that as it stands and he had read the application of the City on behalf of the University on the creation of the technology park, there will be generated out of this revenue stream for the University through licensing agreements and through development agreements and things like that. 23