April 25, 2022
Hannibal, MO. – Corey Mehaffy, Executive Director of the Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council (HREDC) announced today the City of Palmyra and HREDC have scheduled a public meeting on May 11th at 6:30 pm at Hall’s Hall, 220 South Main (Old Ben Franklin Building). HREDC and City officials will be on hand to present information on the proposed downtown revitalization programs and to facilitate questions and answers. In addition to sharing this information, HREDC and the City would like to gather input from owners of property and businesses related to the overall program as well as the revised proposed CID boundaries.
The City of Palmyra is considering the establishment of three interlocking incentive programs designed to encourage revitalization of private and public properties within a defined area of the City’s central business district. This broad front approach consists of real property tax abatement under Missouri’s Urban Redevelopment Corporations Law (“Chapter 353”), creation of a Community Improvement District (“CID”) for the area, and availability of low-cost infrastructure financing under Neighborhood Improvement District (“NID”) legislation.
Maintaining the vitality of historic neighborhoods and downtown districts poses unique challenges requiring special revitalization solutions. This combination of incentives is being used successfully in communities around Missouri. If implemented, the program will achieve concentrated and coordinated promotion of downtown activities, physical private and public property improvements and infrastructure/streetscape enhancements.
Mehaffy added that the City of Palmyra recently held a meeting to discuss revitalization programs and gain feedback from the community on the original proposed CID boundaries. Following that public meeting, the Palmyra City Council met to discuss the feedback from the community and revise the proposed boundaries. Mehaffy added, “The purpose of this meeting is to review the revised proposed boundaries and gain additional feedback from the public. In addition, we will present information on the revitalization program and answer questions from the attendees.”
Mehaffy said, “We are excited to see so much interest in revitalization programs in our communities. I believe our communities have significant opportunities to enhance our historic districts, attract more residents and create additional revenues for our taxing jurisdictions.”
The meeting will be held May 11th at 6:30 pm at Hall’s Hall, 220 South Main (Old Ben Franklin Building) and is open to the public. HREDC and the City Council are seeking input from the public on this proposed revitalization program.
HREDC works to promote financial investment in Hannibal, and Marion and Ralls Counties. For more information on the organization, please visit their website at www.hredc.com.
