Downtown property owners would lose some of the most familiar pieces of Denton's Downtown Reinvestment Grant under changes city staff will lay out for the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Number One board on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
The proposal, described in an agenda information sheet and slide deck from the Office of Economic Development, would stop reimbursing paint-only jobs, signs and city water and wastewater impact fees. It would add a new category for projects that create more than 10 homes inside the zone, with part of those units set aside as affordable housing.
The board is not voting; staff is asking members for feedback before a revised policy comes back.
A crowded year
The program started in 2007 and has paid out $1,440,660, a figure that includes grants still pending from the 2025-26 fiscal year, the information sheet says. It was first paid for with $100,000 a year in mixed beverage taxes before the council moved it to the downtown TIF fund in 2018. In June, the board recommended raising the grant budget from $200,000 to $300,000.
Staff describes the number of applications for 2025-26 as overwhelming. Eight projects were approved for a combined $287,312.25, including $50,000 for Fine Arts Theater of Denton on North Elm Street and two $50,000 awards listed for West Oak Coffee Bar. Nine more applications are expected for 2026-27, with potential awards totaling $330,000, more than the current budget.
What would change
Under the draft:
- Applications would be taken during one designated quarter each year instead of year-round, and only online through the city's Neighborly grant platform rather than on paper.
- Big projects with more than $3 million in capital investment would no longer qualify for this grant, though staff could consider them for a larger economic development incentive.
- Facade grants would cover the back and side walls of buildings, not just fronts, but only for properties in the Denton County Courthouse Square Historic District, designated landmarks or projects seeking historic tax credits. The same eligibility test would apply to awnings, which are now open to any property in the zone and whose cap would drop from $7,500 to $5,000, and to fire suppression.
- Fire suppression would be limited to one grant a year and scored like other requests rather than receiving an automatic top score.
- Utility upgrades and interior code work, now two categories capped at $50,000 each, would merge into a single "commercial finish out" category.
- Declined applicants would wait until the next cycle to reapply instead of six months.
