Forest Park to Pay City $1.7 Million for Parking Spaces

The City will collect more than taxes from the Forest Park development, taking in thousands in mitigation funds designed to help improve the city.

“We’ll be getting $350,000,” said City Councilor Matt Elder at an Urban Affairs meeting with the developer of the money that will be gained from the residential housing units.

The 109 acre "Forest Park" development will house office, retail and residential space at the former Hewlett Packard Site. Each of the 350 housing units will result in the city being paid $1,000. The city will also be paid for every parking space above the current 2,910 at the site already. With 1,161 new parking spaces planned for the development that means an additional $1,741,500 in money to the city.

The money received from these mitigation payments will be targeted into other areas of the city. The developer will be improving the areas around the development itself, said officials.

The mitigation funds are designed to cover the additional burdon placed on the municipal services of the city when developments move in. Once the development is complete, it will reportedly bring $3 million in taxes into the city every year.