Karnes County officials voted to approve appointing a member to a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) board and the execution of an agreement related to the zone, taking a step toward the establishment of the zone which will allow work to begin on a new $78 million real estate development in Kenedy.

Kenedy City Manager Ford Patton and Kevin Brown, who was representing the Karnes/Kenedy Land Investment Company, L.P., presented information about the planned development during the June 30 meeting of Commissioners Court.

The development, which will operate under the name Kenedy Station, will be located on 166 acres east of the Walmart store in Kenedy and north of the Kenedy Independent School District campuses. The development will feature home sites, multi-family apartments or town homes, day care center, city park, hotels and light commercial or retail sites.

“The purpose of the reinvestment zone is to provide a means of funding the public infrastructure improvements – streets, drainage, water, sanitary sewer lines – within a specific geographic area that are then necessary to encourage the commercial and economic development of a tract of land,” Patton explained.

Patton said the land, currently owned by the Kenedy 4B Corporation, has a value of zero on the tax rolls due to the fact that it is owned by a non-profit corporation.

Other entities have indicated that they are willing to participate in the TIRZ, Patton said, including the City of Kenedy, Kenedy ISD, the San Antonio River Authority, Otto Kaiser Memorial Hospital District and the Escondido Watershed.

Kevin Brown, whose company built the Abrego Lake development near Floresville and Eagle Crossing in La Vernia, said that he hopes that construction on the $78 million development will begin some time this year.

Brown said the TIRZ will stretch across 25 years and after that period of time has elapsed the property will go on the tax rolls at 100 percent fully taxable value.

Because the current taxable value is zero, taxing entities will begin realizing tax revenue from the property as soon as 2012, Brown explained.

Commissioner Carl Hummel made a motion to appoint a TIRZ board member and the execution of the agreement, which was seconded by County Judge Barbara Shaw. The motion carried unanimously.