Maplecrest Extension Study - Give Me A Break
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 5/14/08 @ 1:41 am - Filed Under 2008 Local Elections, Featured, Local Politics
I just finished reading the Maplecrest Extension economic impact study and let me say that it’s actually worse than I thought it would be. I wasn’t expecting a lot as I remember reading the bogus Harrison Square numbers. You know the ones that didn’t report full-time equivalents and just reported “jobs”, and the ones that used unrealistic occupancy rates for the downtown hotel.
But this report is in a class all of its own and frankly I can’t see how anyone would accept this analysis. I’ll go through a few more details in this post and probably another post in a day or two but let me just give you the quick, bottom-line on this study. There is absolutely zero data to support any of the assumptions in this study.
Major capital investments in the study area are expected to occur over a eleven year period in accordance with the land use assumptions prepared for this report.
Basically what they did was calculate the total available acreage and work backwards. They assumed a certain percentage of this total acreage would be for specific types of investment (industrial, commercial, residential) and then they calculated the value/acre for similar land use around the county. They assume the area will be built out over a 11 year period but give no data to support this assumption - and certainly nothing that would lead me to believe it would be done in that time frame.
Wal-mart is probably the catalyst they’re hoping will drive investment but they did no analysis to show what affect this might have. After all they could’ve done this considering a Wal-mart was recently built at the 469-SR37 exit (not far from the proposed Wal-Mart site in this study). Has anyone noticed $700+ million in investment in that area and 7000+ new jobs? Of course not and it shouldn’t be expected for this project either.
An economic impact study should, at a minimum, look at comparable investments in other parts of the county, state, country, whatever to try and justify what is likely to happen on this project. They did nothing of the sort. It should also point to economic indicators that would lead one to believe there would be an influx of investment into the area - i.e. is it currently under served? In short, it should point to something that would give you confidence that their analysis is based on reasonable assumptions and not just pulled out of you-know-where to make the numbers work.
Just read the report and ask yourself this - could you take this study to an investment firm and convince them to invest in this project? I think the answer to that is obviously no. No investor in their right mind would read this and be convinced to spend $55 million on the project. But they don’t have to convince savvy investors - they can simply bamboozle unsuspecting taxpayers into footing the bill.
I was extremely critical of Harrison Square and thought it was rushed through without thoughtful economic analysis. But if I had to pick HS or the wasteful $55 million Maplecrest Extension I would choose HS in a heartbeat. The most significant factors are that HS had private investment from day one and was placed in an area that already had existing infrastructure (for the most part) and consumer base.
Mark my words, taxpayers will rue the day this project gets passed…
Comments
7 Responses to “Maplecrest Extension Study - Give Me A Break”
Leave a Reply
Jeff - Your pick of the two seems to be tumbling down. The developer of “private investment” can’t seem to get the required financing from any entity - be it individuals or those that loan money for projects of this sort. By your analysis, this poorly supported project lies below HS and HS is being very poorly accepted as a going investment so why is our county government even discussing this bridge to lala land? Because every polition needs to have some way to demonstrate how they are “producing” for their constituents - Peters, Brown & Bloom are hanging on this - just like Graham Richard and Harrison Square. We just hope that our Allen County Council can see through this $30,000 regurgitation of publicly-available data for what it is - pap for taxpayers.
I think what you are seeing here is yet another example of “back-planning” on the part of the Commissioners when it comes to this project.
Does anyone really believe that the decision to dump bridges onto the cities and towns was an honest policy choice? Or is it more likely that, after years of designing their dream project, the Commissioners discovered that an extended Maplecrest would wind up bankrupting the highway department.
Once finished, maintenance and inspection on the new Maplecrest and its enormous bridges (the biggest in the community) would wind up eating up so much highway department money that the county could not possibly continue to pay for its other bridge duties. This explains the sudden timing of their decision, NOT a sudden epiphany about other jurisdictions “paying their share.”
Honestly, I think its time for the Maplecrest project to be taken out of the hands of the Commissioners and placed into the hands of an entity that represents the entire community, like NIRCC (the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council).
The Commissioners don’t have the expertise or the foresight to be trusted with such an enormous undertaking. The Maplecrest Road extension is over their heads.
Jeff - Is there any way we can get the message of you, me and Scott Freeh to our County Council members BEFORE their Thursday meeting? I don’t have email addresses for any of them. Howcan we get these? Thanks John B. Kalb
This project is far worse the HS.
John, gosh you think county council members don’t want their email addresses known because they don’t want to hear from you or me?
I do tip my hat to Ms. Goldner. I may disagree with her 100% but by gosh I know where she is coming from. At times her statements cause me to rethink my total position and likewise I hope things she reads here also provides her with input into her position.
I also support her in her non-vote on the GPS system for the police cars. She has gotten to see first hand how closed local goverment can be when they want it there way only. One knows many bid requests are written so that only one company can comply. My guess the same will happen to the new video systems going into the police cars.
John (and all),
Isn’t it pathetic their e-mails aren’t listed on the website?
Here are the ones I have:
Darren Vogt - darrenvogt@allstate.com
Paul Moss - pmoss@lutheran-hosp.com
Patt Kite - paulette.kite@allencounty.us
Roy Buskirk - rbuskirk@comcast.net
Or just call their office
(260) 449-3155
Jeff and All: I have talked with Paul Moss and Darren Vogt’s wife - asking them to take 10-15 minutes to read all on FWP site on this project.
I also e-mailed a note with the same info to Patt Kite and Roy Buskirk.
I have left a written message for each of the seven of them at their correspondence pick-up point at the City/County Office Building.
I plan to continue to try to get in touch with Paula, Maye, and Cal on Thursday AM before their 8:30 meeting
See my comments on the other blog. You should enjoy them.