Rally Alley

The adjacent owners who dedicated easements along the walkway also agreed to use a new trash enclosure that the City constructed and will operate in the Little Moro right-of-way. The current agreements anticipate a 5-year window for this trash arrangement, during which the City will contract for and fund trash services for this new enclosure. After this 5-year window, the owners and City will need to negotiate for further service.

The total cost was $1,121,852.

As McCownGordon contractors completed the N Manhattan Ave project in 2023, the City Commission approved a $1,121,852 change order to the $6 million contract for that project, to complete the Rally Alley Extension to Little Moro. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues and proceeds from the 2023 Economic Recovery and Relief sales tax funded this project.

The Aggieville Community Vision requires a funding source to finance public improvements like multi-story parking garages, landscaping, and street amenities. One of those sources is a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

A tool created by state statute, when a TIF district is created, the City establishes a base assessment valuation of property in the district and freezes it. The district continues to provide property tax revenue to the City, County, USD 383, and State at that same level for the next 20 years. The City then captures the increase above the base in tax revenue resulting from rising property value in the future years from redevelopments and the natural increase in property value over time. The City invests that money directly back into the district in the form of public improvements. Those public improvements attract more private development and reinvestment, which in turn, increases the value of property in the district that the City can again capture and invest back in the district- and the process repeats itself. This is the same mechanism the City used to finance improvements for the Downtown redevelopment that began in 2006. It is not a new tax or fee, but is simply a redirection of tax revenue that will be collected through 2038.

The Manhattan City Commission established the Aggieville TIF boundary in March 2019, and the TIF Redevelopment Plan was finalized in the summer of 2019. The boundaries include: Bluemont Ave to the north, Fremont St to the south, 14th St to the west, and 10th St to the east. Due to the nature of TIFs, the more valuable and earlier in the 20-year window redevelopment occurs, the greater value the TIF will provide for Aggieville.

On November 3, 2020, Manhattan voters passed a ballot measure to adopt a 0.5% Economic Recovery and Relief sales tax. The sales tax took effect on January 1, 2023 and will remain in effect for 10 years. The new City-wide 0.5% sales tax is coincided with the expiration of a 0.5% Riley County Sales that sunset on December 31, 2022. The new 0.5% city sales tax is levied within the entire city limits of Manhattan, including those portions of the City within Pottawatomie County.

The question calls for 70% of the funds to be dedicated to cost related to debt and infrastructure, 20% for job creation, recruitment, and retention initiatives, and 10% for workforce housing initiatives. The City is utilizing a portion of the funds dedicated to infrastructure and debt for many of the Aggieville infrastructure projects. The more TIF revenue that is generated in the district, the less the City will have to rely on the 0.5% sales tax revenue, which can be freed up for other projects in the city.

The City of Manhattan is leading an initiative to implement a community-wide vision for the future development of Aggieville as a vibrant, historic, pedestrian-oriented urban district that offers diverse shopping, dining, entertainment, and residential opportunities to students, visitors, and the broader community. A year-long process beginning in spring of 2016 resulted in a comprehensive and cohesive planning document with a clear direction for future development and civic improvements in the district, addressing and balancing the needs and desires of the district and the Manhattan community.

The Aggieville Community Vision plan document describes the future vision for Aggieville and projects to follow. The document is responding to the issues identified and the opportunities explored through research and community input we received through focus group meetings, outreach events, an open house, and our community survey yielding more than 4,200 responses. The plan was adopted by the City Commission via Ordinance no. 7280 on April 18, 2017.

In 2017, the the City partnered with Olsson Associates and Walker Consultants to determine future parking demand based on the redevelopment envisioned in the Aggieville Community Vision Plan and how that demand might be met through multi-level parking garages. Capacity and potential constraints on infrastructure, including water, sewer, and storm-water due to redevelopment were also assessed. The final Parking and Infrastructure Report provided cost estimates for various scenarios so policies for infrastructure, public–private partnerships, and parking management strategies could be implemented.

In December 2018, the Aggieville Community Vision to Reality Plan was adopted, putting the puzzle pieces of Aggieville future together. It’s a complete design concept that edges Aggieville closer to its envisioned future – a future that enhances Aggieville to achieve its fullest potential.