Vote on Monday is watershed for Mesa's future

Voters across the country have been queuing up to turn in their ballots for the much-anticipated presidential election on Nov. 4, but for Mesa, Nov. 3 also spells a watershed moment.

That's when the City Council will conduct a public hearing and then vote on whether to hold a special election March 10 for Mesa residents to decide the fate of a multimillion-dollar incentives package for developers of two resorts, which includes a massive convention center.

In September, Mesa announced plans to enter into an agreement on the resorts with part owner of the Mesa Proving Grounds, DMB Associates of Scottsdale, as well as Gaylord Entertainment Co. of Nashville, Tenn.

Under the deal, the developers of the two resorts and the convention center will be able to use the city bed tax revenue collected to promote the properties, as well as tourism in Mesa.

The bed tax incentive is estimated at about $51 million to be given for a period of no more than 30 years.

Mesa expects to make $70 million through sales taxes and other fees from the two projects.

Last month, Mayor Scott Smith said the tax incentives in the agreement would go for a public vote.

Mesa's City Charter requires projects with such elements as a convention center or an entertainment center that get more than $1.5 million in incentives from the city go to a vote.

The $51 million generated through the city's bed tax would otherwise have gone to the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau for tourism promotion efforts.

City leaders hope the two projects, along with a golf course and a Westcor shopping mall, will help attract more mixed-use development, including office and commercial-type projects in the 5,000 acres of the current site of the General Motors Desert Proving Ground. DMB bought about 3,200 acres from GM two years ago. The site is northeast of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport near Elliot and Ellsworth roads.

Mesa also has agreed with DMB and Gaylord the use of GPLET, or the government property lease excise tax, an incentive program under which the developers will be able to pay a lower tax than the regular property tax. It's estimated to save the developers about $85.5 million.

Smith and City Manager Chris Brady have said the incentives are worth the projects they have attracted and the name-recognition they'll bring to Mesa, especially the Gaylord Hotel and convention center, which is expected to be Arizona's largest such facility. The hotel will have at least 1,200 rooms and will be similar in standard to Gaylord's other properties in Texas, Florida and Washington, D.C.

On Monday, other key related items also will go for a council vote, including adopting a "Findings of Fact" related to the preannexation development agreement between Mesa, Gaylord and DMB, which spells out reasons why the city believes the proposed tax incentives are worth giving.

Part of the document states that "the proposed tax incentive is anticipated to raise more revenue than the amount of the incentive" and that without such an incentive, the business facilities would not locate in the city "in the same time, place or manner."

Mesa and the two entities have agreed that construction of the two projects will begin by the end of 2011.

A council vote will take place for the property to be annexed into the city. Another council vote to rezone the area to a planned community district, which will facilitate mixed-use development, also is scheduled.

One stipulation placed in the agreement is that Gaylord, in naming the hotel and the convention center, will not use a name that "includes the name of a municipality in Arizona other than Mesa, although the word "Mesa" does not need to be included in the name either.

If You Go

What: Mesa City Council meeting

When: 5:45 p.m. Monday

Where: 57 E. First St.