Village Taking Next Step Towards New Housing Development, Other Improvements

On Monday evening, Nov. 5, Dorchester will take its next major step to attract new development and improve the conditions of current homes and commercial buildings. 

According to public notices, Dorchester's planning commission and village board will both meet to take public comment in consideration of a resolution to declare all lots and lands within Dorchester's village limits as blighted and "in need of redevelopment" as pertaining to Nebraska's Community Development Law.

While no one wants to hear that their town is "blighted," the move is a critical step in the process to allow tax increment financing, also known as TIF, which help make new development and property upgrades financially viable in a small town such as Dorchester.

Here is how the Department of Revenue's website explains TIF:


The TIF process begins with the city declaring an area as substandard, blighted, and in need of redevelopment. The city must hold a public hearing and ... prepare a redevelopment plan, which must show, for example, the boundaries of the redevelopment project area, proposed land uses, population, land and building intensities, changes in zoning, and traffic flow.

After approval of the redevelopment plan and the project, TIF bonds may be issued for the acquisition of property, site preparation, and public improvements. The property is transferred to the developer at its fair market value for development and construction in accordance with the redevelopment plan. The properties in the project will have a base valuation, which is the last certified value prior to the division of tax effective date. The base property valuation remains assessable to all taxing entities. Any increase in value and resulting taxes must be accounted for separately and be used to pay off the debt incurred for the redevelopment project. The project must not exceed a 15-year period. 


According to an expert we spoke with, allowing TIF is vital for Dorchester's efforts to create a new housing development to the north. (See the graphic above.)

This past summer, village board members held three consecutive meetings to consider annexing a large piece of farm ground immediately north of town.  The land that has been annexed is owned by William J. Plouzek.  The area's boundaries are 12th Street to the south; the Hwy 6 spur (or County Road 1400) to the west; County Road D to the north; and County Road 1450 to the east.

Many residents believe that if Dorchester is to expand and attract new housing, it must be away from the grain elevator and railroad tracks and no closer to the feedyard to the west.  So growing to the north and northeast of Dorchester, near Hwy 6, are the most feasible options.

According to our research, this housing development effort comes at a good time.  A new Nebraska law, LB496, allows TIF to support the construction of workforce housing, and this will lower the cost of building a home in a small community, making new construction more feasible.  LB496 authorizes rural communities -- in counties with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants -- to include the construction of single-family or multi-family housing as part of a redevelopment project eligible for TIF.  Workforce housing under the new law is defined as "owner-occupied housing units costing no more than $275,000 to build, or rental housing units that cost no more than $200,000 to build," according to an e-mail we received.

The future appears to be arriving quickly when it comes to Dorchester's aspirations for growth.