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To authorize a proposed tourism project at 1600 Roseneath Road pursuant to the Virginia Tourism Authority's Tourism Development Financing Program in accordance with state law.
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WHEREAS, the General Assembly of Virginia has established a Tourism Development Financing Program under the purview of the Virginia Tourism Authority (the "VTA"), which entitles a tourism project of regional significance to receive certain state and local tax revenues as outlined in the Code of Virginia Title 58.1, Subtitle III, Chapter 38, Article 10 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended (the "Act"), for the purpose of covering debt financing to compensate for a shortfall in project funding between the expected development costs of an authorized tourism project of regional significance and the debt and equity capital provided by the developer of the project ("Gap Financing"); and
WHEREAS, the Act requires that a locality establish a tourism zone, establish a tourism plan, authorize a tourism project of regional significance to meet a deficiency identified in such plan, and designate certain local revenues to the project (the "Local Share") in order for the project to be entitled to public funds in an amount equal to revenues generated by a one percent (1%) state sales and use tax on transactions (the "State Share") taking place on the premises of the project; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 6-597 of the Code of the City of Richmond (2020), as amended, the Council established the Scott's Addition Tourism Zone; and
WHEREAS, the Economic Development Authority of the City of Richmond, Virginia (the "EDA") has presented to VTA for preliminary approval a tourism plan, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "A" (the "Plan"); and
WHEREAS, the Council believes that the Plan identifies a deficiency in that Scott's Addition currently lacks any hotel entities in the luxury category to accommodate both business and tourism related travelers; and...
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