The City of Marquette has been approached by Woda Cooper Companies, Inc. (Woda) to support a potential low-income housing development within the City. Woda develops, designs, constructs, and manages affordable housing communities across 15 states in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and southeast United States and has existing developments in Menominee, Munising, and Sault Ste. Marie.

Woda has proposed a development located at 1502 W. Ridge Street, and identified as Black Rock Crossing, utilizing the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. LIHTC provides tax incentives to encourage developers to create affordable, low-income housing targeting renters earning less than 80% of the Area Median Income. As a component of the LIHTC program, the development will require an ordinance from the City of Marquette exempting the project from all ad valorem property taxes and replacing it with a payment in lieu of taxes (PILT). Woda has offered a PILT equivalent to six percent of the annual shelter rents collected by the housing project during each operating year. City administration has reviewed this request and has found it to be in line with other PILT arrangements located within the City of Marquette.

Approval of this ordinance and PILT request is consistent with recommendations made in the Ad-Hoc Housing Committee Final Report as approved by the City Commission and incorporated in the Community Master Plan. 

Per City Charter, this ordinance cannot be adopted at the meeting in which it is introduced, and it was introduced at the Commission's regular meeting of March 13.