Point Ruston LLC, the developer planning to build a mix of residential and commercial buildings on the old Asarco smelter site, wants the City of Tacoma to find a way for it to qualify for the city's multi-family tax exemption.

Loren Cohen, legal affairs manager for the developer, sent a letter to Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma and Councilman Spiro Manthou earlier this month, asking city officials to consider making some changes in the city's code that would allow the project to qualify for the incentive.

Specifically, Cohen wants the city to add language making it clear that an area with existing "or previous" businesses would meet the definition of an "urban center." Although it's vacant now, the property has been the site of numerous businesses for over a century, Cohen wrote, including sawmills and the smelter. From the April 11 letter;

As the City moves through its modifications to the City's Tax Exemption it should surely contemplate adding these 2 words -- which at this point out right disallow the possibility of a tax exemption to the Point Ruston project. When such a code amendment has been adopted, Point Ruston would follow the given procedure to propose a Comprehensive Plan amendment to add the project site as a Mixed Use Center within the city.

At least one council member doesn't support the idea.

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Councilman Mike Lonergan sent Baarsma an e-mail saying in part:

It would appear to miss the whole point of our mixed-use center tax abatement, which has to do with encouraging (re)development density in transit oriented centers and neighborhood business districts, as a method of complying with Growth Management Act. ... The letter would appear to turn the whole policy on its head -- once a development well outside the designated areas is well on its way, we should grant the tax abatement as a way of rewarding the development.

But Manthou said Tuesday that he thinks Cohen makes a "pretty good case" and the city should consider the request. Manthou acknowledged that the Point Ruston project would mark the city's first use of the incentive for a specific project, and it may not be the best option for helping the development. "Is there another incentive we can grant?" he asked. Cohen is "sticking his neck out" to reclaim a Superfund site, Manthou said. "We need to look at what we can do to help. Maybe this isn't the right way to go."