A developer has withdrawn a plan for a new 1% sales tax intended to pay for improvements to the aging Monticello Village shopping center in Shawnee.
At its meeting Monday, the Shawnee City Council voted 8-0 to accept the withdrawal notice from Cadence Commercial Real Estate LLC, the real estate company that owns the retail complex on the northwest corner of 67th Street and Monticello Road.
It’s unclear why the developer withdrew the proposal for the special sales tax. Cadence did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment for this story.
No representative from Cadence appeared at Monday’s meeting and the item prompted no discussion from the council, which quickly voted to approve the item’s withdrawal.
The sales tax was proposed to help pay for improvements
Cadence originally proposed creating a Community Improvement District, or CID, around the Monticello Village center, where a special 1% sales tax would be levied in future years.
The additional tax put on purchases inside the CID’s boundaries would have helped pay for roughly $21 million worth of improvements to the shopping center.
Improvements to the plaza would have included renovations to the Price Chopper property, which is considered the plaza’s anchor store, as well as other fixes to make it “a quality neighborhood asset attracting quality tenants for the long-term,” Cadence’s original application stated.
Roughly $6 million of the improvements’ projected cost would have been reimbursed by revenues raised by the 1% sales tax, according to city documents.
The CID would have expired in 22 years if it did not reach its revenue goal.
The council disagreed on the CID’s hearing date in October
Before Cadence withdrew the CID proposal, the item was set for a public hearing Monday, the result of a narrow council vote in October.
At its Oct. 23 meeting, the city council ultimately approved going forward with the November hearing, with Mayor Michelle Distler casting the tiebreaking after the council split 4-4, but there was disagreement over when exactly the hearing should be held.
Some coucilmembers, including Mike Kemmling and Tammy Thomas, argued a public hearing on the Monticello Village CID should be pushed back to early next year, after new councilmembers elected on Nov. 7 would be seated in December.
Others, including Councilmembers Kurt Knappen and Angel Stiens, argued against delaying the hearing much longer, pointing out the current council was already familiar with the project and could cast an informed vote on it.
Either way, that disagreement now seems moot after Cadence’s plan was withdrawn.
If Cadence wanted to resubmit the CID sales tax plan in the future, city officials say they’d have to “start from square one.”
Go deeper: Owner of Shawnee’s Monticello Village shopping center wants new sales tax — Here’s why
