Dawn1000

The original vision of the “Creative Village” was a 1000 apartments and 600 beds of student housing alongside a few hundred thousand square feet of office and educational space??? It seems like the “creative” part is by far the minority of what is actually being constructed.

This is funded by CRA dollars. The tax credit jack is referring to is for a different project for which Universal is receiving public funds, their construction of a new office building.

This CRA isn’t a special taxing district in the traditional sense (district pays an incremental tax specifically for the purpose of improvements in that area, funds are only used for that area) this is a special deal where the district KEEPS its property tax* rather than having it go into the county’s general fund. The money is used for improvements specifically in their area. Wouldn’t this be a nice deal for the rest of us? We get our property taxes set aside and dictate how we want it used and only for the streets around our neighborhood? The CRA is in place until 2028. Universal was(is) trying to get this special tax deal extended to 2040. To put the $125M for this 1.7 mile road in perspective, in 2018-19 Orange County’s entire budget was $130M for “new and expanded roadways, intersection improvements, storm water projects, sidewalks, street lights and other infrastructure.” *(95% of all property tax generated in the CRA above the value of the property in 1998, goes into a special pot controlled by Sea World, Universal, Rosen, etc)