The Fraser Board of Trustees drafted an ordinance to call an election for the purpose of creating a downtown development authority at its Nov. 15 regular meeting. The board will consider the ordinance at its Dec. 6 regular meeting.

Dalton Kelley is an attorney from Butler Snow, a Denver law firm advising the town of Fraser on the DDA formation. Kelley presented to the board.

What is a downtown development authority?

DDAs are quasi-governmental entities whose primary objective is to create a development plan for the central business district, and facilitate the economic development of properties within the district boundaries. They plan and develop public facilities, like streets, sidewalks and parking garages in the district.

At least five, but no more than 11 members serve on the DDA. The local governing body in Fraser, the board of trustees, appoints members to serve on the DDA. One member must also be a member of the Fraser Board of Trustees.

In an election, qualified electors vote to create a DDA. Qualified electors are owners of property within the DDA boundary or people who are leasing property within the boundary. If you both live and lease property within the DDA boundary, you still only get one vote.

Employees of the Town of Fraser can not serve on the DDA.

The Board of Trustees considered including the Lions Ponds in the DDA to create extra revenue for the development of that area. However, it decided not to include the ponds as that area does not generate revenue and isn’t a part of Fraser’s central business district.

Fraser Town Manager Michael Brack said, “This isn’t going to be a silver bullet to pay for all of the town’s projects,” when arguing against the inclusion of the Lions Ponds.

How’s it funded?

Tax increment fundraising typically funds DDAs. Municipalities decide whether to fund a DDA through property tax or municipal sales tax. This type of increment fundraising “is a new source of tax revenue, not an additional tax, that would not be available but for new investment,” according to Fraser’s website.

The local governing body “freezes” property taxes or municipal sales taxes at the date of the creation of the DDA. When funds generated from municipal sales tax increase above the frozen amount set at the date of adoption, the local governing body assigns excess revenue to the DDA.

When property tax evaluations increase — when property within the DDA boundary becomes more valuable, funding for the DDA increases. Trustees referred to the property tax funding as an improvement funding mechanism.

As the DDA improves property tax evaluations in the central business district, it receives more funding.

Fraser’s Board of Trustees plans to consider the ordinance to call the election to create the DDA at its Dec. 6 regular meeting.

In August, Avon voters decided to create a DDA through a special election, according to reporting from Ash Lohman for Vail Daily. Avon created the authority to fund public facilities and community housing.

Other business:

• Fraser received a $1.5 million grant for the development of Clayton Court. The town applied for the grant to get water for the lots on Clayton Court, which the Board of Trustee announced they received at the Nov. 5 regular meeting.
• The Board of Trustees passed Ordinance 503, which changed the town code to allow the Fraser Board of Trustees to provide economic incentives to developers. Trustees decided they wanted to provide Byson Investments incentives at their Oct. 4 regular meeting and amended the code to be able to do so.