County commissioners voted to forward the Twinning Station tax increment financing (TIF) proposal to the budget committee with a positive recommendation after hearing detailed presentations from the city of La Verne's counsel, the developer and economic analysts.

Land Elliott of Equitable Property Company and consultant Lana Suit (Younger Associates) described a mixed-use development on roughly 77 acres with approximately 630 residential units, about 164,000 square feet of commercial and an estimated $352 million total investment. Lana Suit's economic analysis projected a one-time construction impact of roughly $595 million and an annual fully-built operating impact of about $244 million supporting an estimated 1,500 recurring jobs and generating approximately $7.6 million in annual local taxes (exclusive of direct property tax), with additional property tax revenues projected over 20 years.

Madison Haynes, representing the city of La Verne, emphasized that the deal requires completion of specified public infrastructure before any TIF reimbursements are made to the developer and said the analysis produced a cost-benefit ratio of roughly 4.85 to 1. “This deal specifically has the requirement that no TIF revenues are to be paid to the developer until certain public infrastructure is completed,” Madison Haynes said.

Commissioners discussed local school funding and sales tax implications. Commissioner Wilson noted the importance of capturing retail sales tax locally and the potential benefit to school funding: “Fifty percent of the local portion of sales tax that is spent in the limits, the line of Rutherford County, goes directly to education,” Wilson said.

A motion to send the Twinning Station TIF package to the budget committee with a positive recommendation passed on roll call (Yes: Beverly, McAdoo, Wilson, Kush, Reid, Harris; No: Paul Johnson). The budget committee will review the TIF plan and the development agreement before any final approval by the full commission.