Questions Persist After University Beach Improvement District Board Meeting

NORTHPORT, AL — Northport residents were not allowed the chance for public comment on Monday, and questions over transparency remain after the first formal meeting of the University Beach Improvement District Board of Directors, which swiftly approved a long list of measures for the contentious development.

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As Patch previously reported, Texas developers Kent Donahue and John Hughes are two-thirds of the three-member board appointed by the Northport City Council to oversee the special improvement district created for University Beach — a proposed resort-style development in Northport that developers say will bring in $350 million in outside investment to the city.

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Monday's meeting was held in a small conference room at TTL, Inc. on Rice Mine Road in Tuscaloosa after the public notice reportedly went out last Thursday.

No elected officials from Northport City Hall were in attendance and, in terms of new developments, there were few.

Instead, the Board of Directors quickly moved over the agenda, which included proposed budgets for the current and next fiscal years. However, no discussions were had or presentations given to provide any insight into what exactly those budgets look like.

The Board of Directors, who each sat with a copy of the thick agenda packets in front of them containing the details of the items as they were voted upon, also approved other capital-related matters such as the engineer's report, a master special assessment methodology report, the assignment of an investment bank engagement agreement and the issuance of revenue bonds.

Public finance consultant and special district manager Pfilip Hunt of Boca Raton, Florida-based Wrathell Hunt & Associates presided over the meeting, with Donahue and Hughes both voting on each measure.

Investor and Board Member Katie Le of San Marcos, California, was not in attendance Monday.

Hunt started the meeting by addressing what the board views as "misinformation floating around" pertaining to public funds being used on the project. It's worth noting here that the City of Northport has committed $20 million toward the project, primarily for infrastructure improvements.

"Improvement districts have only two powers under Alabama law: the power to finance public infrastructure and the power to maintain public infrastructure," Hunt said. "There's no city, county, state taxes or revenues coming to this district. Again, all we can do is fund public infrastructure and maintain public infrastructure."

He went on to say that the board on Monday would be laying the groundwork to create a municipal bond process that will allow the developer to borrow money to pay for public infrastructure.

"The only person that's paying it back is the developer because we're going to tax his property within the boundaries of the district," Hunt said. "Nobody outside of the boundaries of the district is being assessed so that's how it works — it's a self-supporting funding mechanism only within the boundaries of this district and as I said earlier, there's no city, county, state taxes coming in this district, so y'all might be a little disappointed but that's what this five- or 10-minute meeting is all about."

Indeed, little was discussed as the board moved over two-pages of agenda items and when it reached the portion of the agenda set aside for "audience comments," this was not addressed at first and instead the board moved to adjourn.

A woman in the crowd asked about the opportunity for public comment, to which the board's legal counsel responded by saying it was up to Donahue to allow it.

"No, we're done," Donahue said, before getting up and leaving.

In another moment of contention, one attendee called Hughes "a crook" as he walked out of the meeting, to which the developer stopped, turned around and responded with an apology that the man did not understand the project.

When asked by members of the audience for copies of the agenda packet that contained the budgets and studies approved, Hunt said they could be sent via email and pointed out that the University Beach Improvement District Board was allowed to send out copies of the agenda packet to its board members in advance of the meeting.

The board members didn't stay to collect email addresses, which included a verbal request by Patch that was acknowledged but not honored by Hunt before the group left.

Tuscaloosa Patch left its contact information at the front desk at TTL, Inc. following the meeting and will provide any updates if we are able to obtain the agenda packet.

Three Northport City Council members contacted by Tuscaloosa Patch — Council President Christy Bobo, District 2's Woodrow Washington III and District 4's Jamie Dykes — each confirmed that they had not seen the agenda packet that was approved on Monday.

Northport resident Tuffy Holland has been one of the most vocal opponents of the University Beach development and attended Monday's meeting.

Holland told Patch that he believes the developers were caught off guard by the number of residents and the press in attendance, before saying the board tried to meet without providing adequate public notice to the community.

"They were mad and scared — they see us as adversaries," he said. "They never have tried to sell us University Beach. I have never gotten a call from any one of the developers explaining the viably of the project. I've never seen in the press the developers explaining why we would want it. Like the city, the developers have tried to force University Beach on this community and run roughshod over us. This meeting today just proves that. They don't want to work with us. They want to work against us and impose their will over ours. This is our community not theirs. This meeting showed the developer's true colors."

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