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The Stuart City Council took action on tax increment financing proposals at their meeting Monday.

Three TIF proposals were brought to the Council’s attention at their August meeting, and the Council approved one for Doe a Deer Design and declined the other two. Doe a Deer business owner Regan Doely requested a TIF loan of $150-200,000 to assist in opening a storefront this fall, and the other two were for Hotel Stuart and the building that formerly housed YogaPlus. Economic Director Kristen Renslow told the Council that the request for a minimum assessment valuation of $200,000 for the Hotel Stuart for a renovation project was unfeasible. A TIF loan request of $25,000 to refinish the west wall of the YogaPlus building was also seen as unfeasible.

Council member Theresa Glass expressed interest in continuing to work with the Hotel Stuart developer on an agreement, as the building has sat vacant for several years and has had other development projects fail. Glass suggested whether the current Stuart Hotel owner would want to sell the building to the City, which Renslow said they are not interested. Council member Bryan Belden pointed out that Hotel Stuart is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so it won’t be torn down any time soon.