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GROSSE POINTE PARK — Grosse Pointe Park will be retaining its Downtown Development Authority and tax increment financing plan for at least the next three decades.
The Grosse Pointe Park City Council voted unanimously May 11 in favor of a renewed and revised DDA development plan and TIF plan that will be in effect until 2056.
City Manager Nick Sizeland said the DDA and TIF plan the city already had was slated to expire at the end of the 2026 fiscal year, on June 30.
Sizeland said the state “has increasingly placed limitations on DDAs, particularly through statutory changes that restrict the duration and capture of tax increment revenues, and in some cases limit the ability to capture certain millages, such as those related to schools or essential services. These changes reflect a broader policy shift toward ensuring that DDAs are used in a targeted and accountable manner, rather than as indefinite financing tools. As a result, DDAs today must operate within tighter constraints, with clearer justification for projects and measurable outcomes.”
DDAs and TIFs are one of the few tools cities have to proactively invest in their business districts and spur growth, Sizeland said.
The ability of a municipality to create a DDA and TIF is the result of a state legislative act originally approved in 1975 to foster historic preservation, prevent deterioration and promote economic growth in business districts. The act was updated by the Legislature in 2018.
“By capturing incremental increases in property tax revenue (in the district through) tax increment financing, a DDA enables the city to reinvest directly into infrastructure, streetscapes, business support and public amenities without raising taxes citywide,” Sizeland said. “This reinvestment helps attract and retain businesses, increase property values and stimulate private development that might not otherwise occur. DDAs also provide a structured governance model that brings together local stakeholders to guide downtown strategy, ensuring alignment with broader city goals.”
The Park DDA/TIF includes commercial and multiuse districts along Kercheval Avenue, Charlevoix Avenue and Jefferson Avenue.
“They’re basically tax capture entities,” City Councilman Max Wiener said of DDAs and TIFs.
He said these districts allow a municipality to “keep a larger portion of that tax revenue” in the district.
“It’s an excellent vehicle to keep your tax dollars closer to the community,” Wiener said. “It’s all upside (for the city). (The state) sees it as lost revenue to the state.”
The Park’s DDA/TIF dates back to 1986. It was extended in 2012 for 15 years.
Legally, the DDA could levy up to 2 mills on businesses in its boundaries, but that’s not planned in the Park.
“The DDA has no intention to do that whatsoever,” said Park DDA attorney Kevin Kilby, of McGraw Morris Masud PC.
The tax dollars that are captured for use in the district are dollars that would have gone to other governmental entities,” Kilby said.
“It’s not new taxes,” Kilby explained.
In the 2025 fiscal year, the DDA tax capture was $142,600.64. For the current fiscal year, it’s $145,452.65. Assuming 2% annual taxable value increases each year for the next 30 years, the tax capture would be $263,467.35 in 2056, according to the city’s calculations.
Over the years, the DDA has made improvements to the city’s commercial districts by replacing and maintaining sidewalks, adding lighting and creating the medians on Jefferson, among other upgrades.
The Park’s DDA plan lists a number of possible future improvements and activities to encourage visitors to come to the downtown areas, including replacing, maintaining and widening sidewalks to make the area more walkable; maintaining and replacing lighting; conducting street festivals and evening events, some of which will feature food trucks or mobile vendors; acquiring and renovating or demolishing dilapidated buildings; and offering a façade program for district business owners.
As to whether the DDA Board might be considering buying or selling any property, that’s not planned, but it also hasn’t been ruled out over the next 30 years.
As the city’s DDA plan states: “The Authority does not contemplate selling, donating, exchanging or leasing any land either to or from the City within any portion of the Development Area at the present time. However, nothing herein shall restrict or prevent the Authority from selling, donating, exchanging or leasing any land either to or from the City in the future, if, in the opinion of the DDA Board, it is necessary for the DDA to achieve its purposes under the Act.”
