photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence businessman Doug Compton hopes to move the headquarters for his two businesses, First Management and First Construction, into the former Borders bookstore space at Seventh and New Hampshire streets.

A slim majority of Lawrence city commissioners are willing to give financial incentives to a project that aims to convert a long-vacant downtown building into a new corporate headquarters for a local firm.

City commissioners on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a property tax rebate request to renovate the former Borders bookstore building at Seventh and New Hampshire streets into a corporate headquarters for Lawrence-based First Management, a property rental and construction company.

Commissioners approved the request for a 15-year, 65% property tax rebate on a 3-2 vote, after several commissioners said the new jobs that the project would bring to downtown were important to the district’s overall health.

“I would say bigger picture, I’m very excited about the future of our downtown, but one of the things we need to continue to have is employment centers,” said City Commissioner Brad Finkeldei, who said he worried the number of office employees in the district is declining.

Mayor Lisa Larsen and Commissioner Courtney Shipley both voted against the tax rebate request. The building has been vacant since 2011. For much of that period, it has been owned in whole or in part by entities including local businessman Doug Compton, who also owns First Management. Larsen and Shipley said they were concerned the Compton companies hadn’t adequately maintained the building and shouldn’t be given a tax break now as he seeks to improve it.

First Management plans to bring its 80 existing corporate employees to downtown, from its current North Lawrence location, upon completion of the project. The downtown building also is being renovated to accommodate expected growth of 21 additional employees who will have wages ranging from $50,000 to $120,000 per year.

The incentives package must still go to the Douglas County Commission and the Lawrence school board to determine if those two governments also will agree to the property tax rebate. City commissioners will be asked to give the incentives package final approval after those meetings.

The project is seeking the tax rebate under the Neighborhood Revitalization Act, which is a special type of rebate program. Under the terms, the city, the county and the school district will continue to receive 100% of the property taxes that the property currently generates. The 65% rebate will be on the value of the new improvements made to the property. The city is estimating the project will create anywhere from $16,000 to $23,000 per year in new taxes for the local governments. It is estimating that the developer will receive anywhere from $29,000 to $44,000 per year in property tax rebates during the 15-year period.

Overall, the incentives package for the project has a total value of $680,000 to the developer over the 15-year period. In addition to the property tax rebate, commissioners approved a sales tax exemption for construction materials that would save the developer about $80,000. Commissioners approved that sales tax incentive on a 4-1 vote, with Shipley opposed.

In other business:

• Commissioners approved a change in how they allow the public to comment on certain business before the commission. Members of the public no longer will be able to automatically remove an item from the commission’s consent agenda. Instead, removal of most consent agenda items will be at the sole discretion of commissioners.

The consent agenda is designed to be a device that allows commissioners to approve a host of routine and “noncontroversial” items with one vote and without discussion. However, for years, commissioners routinely have granted any request from a member of the public to pull an item from consent for discussion. A handful of public commenters were making frequent requests, and commissioners decided to reconsider the practice. Commissioners were told by staff members that most other governments in the area do not allow the public to pull items from the consent agenda.

Commissioners approved the change on a 4-0 vote with Commissioner Amber Sellers abstaining. Sellers said she had too many emotions on the issue to give it a fair vote currently.

• Larsen, near the end of Tuesday’s meeting, proposed that the commission soon consider other changes related to when members of the public can make general public comments to the commission. She asked, and commissioners agreed, to add to a future agenda a discussion about moving the general public comment portion of commission meetings to the end of the meeting. Currently it is near the beginning of the meeting. She also floated the idea of taking general public comment only during the commission’s first meeting of the month.

Commissioners would still take public comment on all items that are on the commission’s regular agenda. The change would only impact the portion of the meeting reserved for public comment of a general nature. Commissioners could have the item on their agenda as soon as next week, staff members said.