By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

In response to recent conversations with outdoor sports retailer Cabela’s, the Hooksett Town Council is moving ahead with the formation of a tax increment financing, or TIF, district.

The council has the authority to establish the district, aimed at luring retailers to I-93’s Exit 11 area, but funding for the district would need to be approved by voters.

Funding would likely come in the form of a hefty bond that would allow for improvements to infrastructure – like sewer, roads and utilities – that would allow for construction for a large retail center, officials have said.

Tax revenue created from within the district would then go to pay off the bond, with additional tax revenue returning to the town’s general fund and potentially lowering residential property taxes.

Cabela’s, a Nebraska-based mail order and retail hunting and fishing outfitter, suggested the TIF idea to the council when the company began looking at a Hooksett parcel as a possible location for a large retail destination. The company is eyeing several New England locations for large retail expansion.

At a Wednesday, Feb. 8, meeting, some residents questioned why the town should put itself at risk by committing to such a bond.

“I question Cabela’s coming in,” said former selectman Frank Gray. “I, like many citizens, am very happy to hear about it – but not on my dime.”

Gray specifically questioned the need to create a TIF district, suggesting that the Exit 11 area is already an attractive area for potential retailers that may be willing to spend their own money updating infrastructure.

Town Planner Charles Watson suggested the TIF district could potentially support multiple retail developments.

“I think the question is not so much: ‘Should the town subsidize someone to come in there?’” said Watson. “I think the question should be: ‘Does the town want to take an active role in bringing infrastructure to an area so that it becomes much more likely to get developed in its highest and best use?’”

Planning officials have identified a handful of commercialand industrial-zoned properties near the interstate highway exit for the TIF zone.

1n 1999, voters approved a TIF district near Exit 10 that now features retailers including Kohl’s, Target, Home Depot and Staples. A $2.7 million bond covered extensive improvements to Route 3A to allow for those businesses.

That district has yielded about $1.7 million extra to the town’s general fund since its inception.

“Those stores opened up within a year,” said councilor Mike Jolin. “That would have never happened without a TIF district.”

A public hearing on the new TIF district is scheduled for the council’s next meeting, on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

Councilors Doug St. Pierre, Jason Hyde and Dan Belanger voted not to go forward with the TIF public hearing.