The Clark Township Board of Trustees is in the final stages of creating a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to include the two business districts of Cedarville and Hessel and is asking for public opinions on the matter Thursday evening.

A small group of residents volunteered to put together language for a DDA ordinance and legal descriptions of the authority. The group also proposed potential district boundaries to the township board at its Monday, December 1, meeting, and scheduled a public hearing Thursday, January 8, for residents and business owners to voice opinions on the proposed boundaries and DDA formation.

The typical purpose of a DDA is to finance and promote economic development within a municipality, but what will be the advantage of having a DDA in Clark Township?

Diane Patrick, a member of the volunteer exploration committee, said a major benefit of forming a DDA would be the increased availability of state and federal grants and funding, an advantage over just hiring a person to apply for grants in the township.

Certain grants and funding are only available to municipalities with a DDA, she said.

"A person can go and write grants all day and night, but it prohibits them from receiving some funding" without such a district, she said.

DDAs in Michigan can also obtain funds through loans, fundraising, donations, and tax increment financing authority (TIFA).

A TIFA is a financing tool that uses future growth in property values in the district to finance downtown improvements. For instance, if the taxable value of a commercial building goes up because of improvements made to it, the taxes resulting from that increased value would be applied to DDA programs and operations.

A TIFA is a re-allocation of new tax revenues, not a tax increase.

Future revenues captured through a TIFA that would ordinarily be paid to Clark Township, Mackinac County, Les Cheneaux Community Schools, and the Eastern U.P. Intermediate School District would instead be paid to the DDA and could only be reinvested within the DDA district.

Those taxing authorities will have 60 days after the public hearing to choose if their future tax revenue will be re-allocated toward the DDA. Property owners in the proposed district also will have 60 days to decide whether to be excluded.

Exploration committee member Ken Drenth said the Les Cheneaux school district will most likely opt out of re-allocating its tax dollars to the DDA, because of its current budgetary problems.

"I assume that the schools will opt out because they can't afford it," he said.

If a DDA is formed, the township board would also reserve the right to levy up to two mills, without public vote, on properties in the district for DDA funding.

Mr. Drenth said that potential tax levy is the only reason he could think of for a property owner in the district to want to be excluded from the proposed DDA boundaries.

The public hearing will be Thursday, January 8, at 7 p.m. at the Clark Township Community Center on M-134.

The township board must wait at least 60 days following the hearing before it can adopt the ordinance to establish a DDA and approve its boundaries.

The exploration committee is studied other DDAs in the state and talked with DDA directors across Michigan in determining what will work best in Clark Township, Mr. Drenth said.

"We looked at a number of DDAs that have been set up in the state over a number of years and picked what would work here," he said. "We kind of cherry picked from various DDAs," including St. Ignace, Ada Township, and Marquette.

DDAs have the authority for long-range planning of downtown areas, land acquisition, and improvements, building construction, as well as improvement, maintenance, and rehabilitation of public facilities such as sidewalks, parking lots, streets, lighting, community centers, and parks, under Michigan Public Act 197 of the Public Acts of 1975.

"It's very long range objectives; [improvements] aren't going to happen overnight," Mrs. Patrick said.

The proposed DDA boundaries include all properties bordering M- 1345 from lake Street in Cedarville to Pickford Avenue in Hessel; in Cedarville bordering Beach Street on the west to Hodeck Street, Hodeck Street to Meridian Road, and Meridian Road from M-134 north to State Street; in Hessel bordering the west side of Island View Road from M-1345 to Hessel Point road, Hessel Point Road from island View Road west to Lake Street, Lake Street west to Cedar Street, Cedar Street from lake Street to Pickford Avenue, and Pickford Avenue from M-134 south to Lake Street.