Newport's taxing district vote pushes Red Rock Crossing redevelopment forward

An effort to reinvent the northwest corner of Newport in advance of the Red Rock transit line has cleared another hurdle, now that the City Council has approved a tax-increment financing (TIF) district for the area.

The 3-2 vote was the latest step in a redevelopment plan that eventually could bring more than 500 housing units and as many jobs to the Washington County city of 3,500 residents.

But the decision didn't come without dissent. Newport won't receive the increased tax revenue from the Red Rock Crossing project for 26 years; the revenue instead would help pay for redevelopment costs such as property acquisition, demolition of existing buildings, installing public utilities and building streets and sidewalks.

"I feel we focused on that area for a long time and needed to move forward," said Mayor Tim Geraghty, who voted in favor of the TIF district on Oct. 6.

Council Member Dan Lund, who voted against it, said that forfeiting tax revenue from the redevelopment will reduce the money the city can spend on services for residents. Adding 1,500 new residents, he said, will result in per capita spending of about $675 a year, compared with about $900 currently.

"This would be the equivalent to adding over 19,000 people to Woodbury without any increase in taxes," Lund said.

Approval of the TIF district is critical to future financing, said Melissa Taphorn, the deputy executive director of the county's Community Development Agency (CDA). The Washington County Board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the plan Nov. 1 and then vote on it.

The full plan for the project, coordinated by the Washington County CDA, envisions development in four stages around the two-year-old transit station. A recent market study showed that the area could support 500 to 650 family housing units — affordable, market-rate and senior — along with 60,000 to 80,000 square feet of office space, and 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of industrial uses.

It's believed that Red Rock Crossing will draw hundreds of new jobs to Newport — not right away, but over many years.

"It's really the gateway to Washington County. We want to make an instant beautiful message that this is a great place to live," Taphorn said Thursday.

Her agency will oversee the TIF district and, once the land is cleared, market property for housing construction through a "willing seller" approach.

The first housing comes with construction of Red Rock Square, a $10 million, 42-unit affordable apartment project. Construction will begin this year, just west of the transit station.

Red Rock is expected to begin with all-day Metro Transit bus service in 2020, followed by possible express bus service from Hastings to Minneapolis. Once more housing and businesses are in place, the route would fully implement bus-rapid transit service by about 2025, said Commissioner Karla Bigham, who represents southern Washington County.

"We're trying to build that density and get ridership," she said, describing the Newport redevelopment as critical to the goal. "I'm really excited about Red Rock and what we can do with it."

Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037