WACO, Texas (KXXV) — The city of Waco is moving forward with up to $200 million in bonds to fund the Barron's Branch District, the first phase of a major downtown redevelopment project.
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The city is working to issue debt for this initial phase of the decades-long project and reimburse itself $15 million already spent on planning and design.
Waco Director of Strategic Initiatives Tom Balk said a direct note program could save the city millions in interest.
"This program, the note program, allows us to, without grants, still take on the entire project and find the equivalent savings through interest avoidance. So just like a construction loan that a private citizen could go get, you pay interest as you go instead of paying interest from day one on the total," Balk said.
After issuing a notice of intent, the city is now in a 45-day public comment period where residents can petition against taking on the debt. It is expected to be approved in June. If approved, the city will reimburse the $15 million its already used for planning and design and break ground as soon as this fall.
The city is through the design phase, ready for bidding, and plans to have a groundbreaking in the second half of the year.
City leaders say the project would be funded without raising taxes, but it could mean a utility increase of about 67 cents a month.
"So that 67 cents increase is part of the downtown project, but there may be other ways that the council can make choices to reduce the utility bill," Balk said.
Downtown Waco is already drawing first-time visitors who appreciate the current landscape.
"It's nice to have access to green space. Also just sightseeing, I love sculpture parks, so I'm glad that there are sculptures that we can look at," Mary Lodu said.
While the future of downtown takes shape, visitors like Lodu hope its unique characteristics stay intact.
"I guess that would be kind of a bummer cause there's so many trees, so I think to reduce that for development would not be as ideal because I do love how like I'm surprised this is considered a downtown because it's so green, um, I'm so used to like tall skyscrapers and buildings," Lodu said.
The Barron's Branch District is part of a larger city downtown redevelopment project, but the remainder is still in the planning phase, and the city has no obligations to those plans yet.
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