Commercial and residential real estate creates tax revenue for local governments and income for developers. Public infrastructure produces no income but is of course essential to any project. Often developers request financial outlays from localities to construct roads, parking structures and other necessary amenities. Blenheim will place no such burden on the cities of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake within whose borders it will reside.

Rather it is requesting that the City of Chesapeake and the City of  Virginia Beach allow the creation of  a Community Development Authority or CDA to issue bonds to build a $100-million interchange and connecting road systems off I-64 and City Line Road. The proposed new Interchange will relieve traffic congestion on existing roads and provide commuters with alternative routes to Kempsville Road and Centerville Turnpike.

Under a CDA, much of the incremental increase in real estate tax revenue generated on the site, as well as other levies and fees imposed on the property owners or tenants, repays the bonds that are issued to fund the infrastructure improvements. After 30 years, when the bonds are fully repaid, all tax revenue flows into the general funds of the two cities. Membership on the CDA board will be composed of citizens from both Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, creating a unique opportunity for the two localities to work together for the economic benefit of both. (The federal government has allocated $10.8 million and the state $2.7-million for the interchange and road projects. The balance, approximately $85-million, will be financed and repaid through the CDA).

If the tax revenues fall short of what is needed to repay the bonds, the responsibility to cover those costs falls on the developer, CBN, not on the cities or taxpayers.