Clear Lake council approves letter of support for Oaks Hotel application for Redevelopment Tax Credits

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake City Council last night approved a letter of support from the city for the application of Redevelopment Tax Credits associated with the Oaks Hotel project near the Surf Ballroom.

The tax credits are a state-offered tax incentive that is designed to help defray the costs of site cleanup from contamination of previous sites. The credits, which could be up to $1.5 million in value, would be granted from the need for asbestos abatement from the former Hilltop Hotel site where the Oaks Hotel is proposed.

Ron Fiscus with Planscape Partners says the project developers are up against a September 1st deadline to apply for the program.  “These Grayfield tax credits are interesting in that the state only accepts applications for these one time a year. That deadline is September 1st. As we all know, there are a variety of things to work out with the details on the Oaks Hotel project, and in a perfect world, we’d have a few more months to work through some of those items before the application is due, but it’s not an option. So by September 1st, that application has to go in.”

Fiscus says he appreciates the council approving the letter authored by City Administrator Steve Diers.  “We appreciate the letter that Steve has shared with you. It does a great job of expressing the community’s support for this project and the history of everything that has gone on up to this point to get the site of the project ready for development is all going into that application.”

Two public input sessions about the proposed hotel were held last week, with some expressing concerns about the potential closing of 7th Avenue North and the impact it would have on that area.