A presentation on the proposed West Elk Avenue tax increment financing redevelopment plan will be presented at the Elizabethton campus of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology today.

Engineering and design firm Parsons Brinkerhoff will conduct the presentation beginning at 5:10 p.m.

This presentation is the result of a master plan on the TIF requested by Carter County Tomorrow, Elizabethton Director of Planning and Development Jon Hartman said.

“This presentation will show us what their finding are, what we can expect from a TIF and how we can move forward from here,” Hartman said. “It has taken us about three years to get to this point.”

A TIF is an economic development tool used to increase development and lure new business and retail possibilities into an area, Hartman said.

In this case, the proposed TIF would be centered in the West Elk development area at the site of the old North American Rayon plant near Wal-Mart and Lowe’s.

“This TIF could help revitalize a former industrial area,” Hartman said.

TIF funding could be used for minor environmental cleanup in the industrial lots, storm water improvements, utility improvements and street improvements all inside the TIF zone.

Once a TIF is declared in an area, property tax rates are frozen in the TIF zone. As the development increases the property values do to, and the extra money collected in that zone is set aside in a special fund, Hartman said. Money in that fund can only be used for improvements in the TIF zone.

TIF districts typically last for 20 to 25 years, and after the TIF expires, the property tax revenue is directed back into the general fund.

Thursday night’s presentation is expected to last around an hour to an hour and a half, Hartman said.

Elizabethton City Council, the Carter County Commission, the Elizabethton Housing and Development Agency Board of Directors, the Carter County Tomorrow Board of Directors and planning commissioners have been invited to attend.