The developers of the have applied to town land use boards for permission to build phase four of the development, a plan that would bring 146 more age-restricted units to town.
The proposed development in the 55 and older complex is expected to bring a mix of townhouses and ranches in clusters of two and three units, and is anticipated to bring up to 262 people to the town, no school-aged children and annual net tax revenue of more than $690,000 to town coffers, according to a conceptual study conducted in the fall and paid for by the developers.
Phase Four of the eight-phase project is the largest and it marks the first time the Village will have attached units – where more than one home is in a building – as opposed to the separate units that have been constructed thus far. Phase Four would be constructed on 42.1 acres at the northern tip of the Village. A portion of the homes would have either direct frontage or golf course views of three holes at the , developers state in the study.
The Oxford Planning & Zoning Commission heard from representatives of the Village at Oxford Greens about this plan on Thursday night. The commission made no decision and wants to hear a little more about the project. A date will likely be set up in April for another meeting.
Tax Impact
The Village at Oxford Greens, which was approved in 2001 for a total of 781 homes, currently has 336 homes that have been built – less than 10 of them are still on the market.
The Village developers are among the town’s top taxpayers with the development bringing a total of $2.24 million in annual taxes, representing a 5.7 percent share of the total revenue collected by the town, according to a fiscal impact and market analysis study contained in the above mentioned two-inch thick conceptual development plan put together by Timberlake Development Partners, LLC., and Pulte Homes of New England, LLC., the project developers. The plan is on file at Town Hall.
The plan states that Phase Four’s townhouses and ranches would bring a gross total of $933,600 in annual taxes to the town. That number includes property, motor vehicle and sewer use taxes.
That number is then subtracted by the projected costs of the development to the town attributable to the development. Those costs are estimated at $242,300 annually, according to the report.
Therefore, the net direct fiscal impact would represent an annual increase in tax revenue of $691,300, plus up to $756,500 in one-time fees that would include building permits fees, site plan and zoning fees, real estate conveyance taxes and fees associated with sewer line and water hook-ups, the report states.
Cost of the Units
How much each unit would cost depends on the condition of the market at the time they are built. However, the developers attempted to get a market analysis of like-sized townhouses/ranches in the state. The estimated market value of each home in four like-sized units in October was roughly $353,000, according to the study.
Economic Impact
Economic output is defined in the study as the sum of economic activity associated with the development. The economic study, conducted by AMS Consulting, LLC., states that “based on the original investment of 39.2 million in the development (hard costs only), we anticipate the Phase 4 construction will generate an additional boost to economic output within he state and region of $35.4 million. Total output, both direct and indirect, is estimated to total $74.4 million by full build-out.”
Jobs Associated With the Project
According to the study:
- Construction phase is expected to bring 281 jobs on site;
- Another 203 indirect or induced jobs are expected to be created over the course of construction;
- Gross total salaries and wages arising from construction budget (hard costs) are projected to total $23.4 million, while on-site construction wages are projected to contribute $14.3 million to the direct earnings.
For more information and design layout plans, see the conceptual development plan and schematic development plan for Phase 4 in the Planning & Zoning office at Town Hall. The plans include everything from economic to environmental impacts, plus an in-depth traffic analysis.
