Pavilions coming to city-owned lot as part of improvement effort

POLO – A city-owned lot that used to be available space for parking semitrailors is expected to sport a pair of pavilions costing $175,264 by next summer.

On Aug. 21, Polo City Council members voted 3-2 to allow the Polo Development District No. 1 to borrow $60,000 from the city’s General Fund to help make a down payment on the pavilions. The remainder of the $87,632 down payment will come from the BDD Fund.

“We wanted to show the Business Development District money was being used for something that applied to everybody, that would be significant, that people would see the improvement, see it as a good place,” Mayor Doug Knapp said of why the loan was requested.

As money comes into the BDD Fund, the General Fund will be reimbursed, Polo City Clerk Sydney Bartlet said. The BDD Fund had “almost $20,000 in it” as of Aug. 21, she said.

The lot where the two 24-foot-by-34-foot steel pavilions will be erected is located at 212 S. Division Ave., next to the Shell gas station where Polo’s farmers market is held. Semitrailor parking at the lot was banned as of May 1, about three months after council members unanimously voted to do so.

Alderpeople Jim Busser, Tommy Bardell and Keith Chesnut voted to approve the loan for the pavilions. Alderpeople Joey Kochsmeier and Larry Weaver voted no. Alderperson Randy Schoon was absent.

“I believe $175,000 for a project like this is outrageous,” Kochsmeier said.

He said the lot needs to be improved, but that amount of money would be better invested in something such as new playground equipment at the city parks.

“I agree with that size [pavilion], but my goodness,” Weaver said. “I know there’s more involved than just two rows, but that’s basically the structure. If it was half that [cost], I’d be all for it.”

Kochsmeier also said he feels that buying the pavilions isn’t truly investing money back into businesses in the way the BDD was created to do.

Polo’s BDD No. 1 was created Aug. 15, 2022, on a 5-1 vote by City Council members. It encompasses the downtown area and some surrounding blocks, as well as the length of Division Avenue.

Within the BDD, an additional 0.5% sales tax is collected on most goods, according to the ordinance that established it. Things such as medications, medical appliances, food meant to be eaten off the premises where it was sold, and titled purchases – a car or boat, for example – are not be subject to the additional tax.

The city recently found that not all businesses within the BDD had raised their sales tax, Knapp said. As a result, the BDD Fund – in which they expected to have between $100,000 and $150,000 by now – currently is underfunded and can’t cover the full down payment of the pavilions, he said.

Letters have been sent out, and businesses now are raising their taxes, Knapp said.

According to an FAQ brochure by Jacob & Klein and The Economic Development Group – which helped Polo establish BDD No. 1 – BDD funds commonly are used to help fund plans and studies, land acquisition, site preparation, public infrastructure, renovations to existing buildings, construction of new buildings, reduced financing costs and relocation costs.

“I think this is a great first project,” Bardell said of the pavilions. “It’s a way, too, to communicate to businesses that may be considering investing in Polo that we are investing in Polo, and we’re moving forward in our city, and giving them the confidence to invest in our city as well.”

The city plans to add landscaping to the lot, as well as outlets and electric vehicle charging stations, the latter of which will be funded by grant funding.

The hope is that it can serve as not only a place for the farmers market but also the annual chili cook-off, space for business events – the rental of which would be done through Polo City Hall – and a general outdoor space for people to enjoy, Knapp said.