In what would be the second development coming to the Northgate area, a Pocatello City Council member is working with a private developer to establish a gated retirement community with more than 50 homes.

Councilman Jim Johnston, who is also a real estate agent for the Pocatello-based Keller Williams Realty East, told the Journal on Saturday that he is partnering with the Chubbuck-based Portneuf Development, one of two private development firms involved in the public-private Northgate partnership, to sell 52 homes in a gated community marketed to people ages 55 and older.

And to help assist with establishing the infrastructure needed to provide for future economic development in the Northgate area, the city of Pocatello is planning to create a new tax increment financing, or TIF, district.

“We’re very fortunate that Ken Pape of Portneuf Development invited us to help sell the homes that are planned for this gated community,” Johnston said. “We have some people that have already put money down and we should have construction on some of the homes started here in the next few weeks.”

The gated community will be completed once all the homes are sold.

Johnston said he and his son, Greg Johnston, also of Keller Williams Realty East, will be the only real estate agents selling the homes in the planned community. The gated community will feature 40 single-level homes and a dozen other houses with walk-in basements. The homes will feature the latest in smart technology and will sell for a minimum of $270,000, Jim Johnston added.

“How we have it structured right now is people can give us $1,000 in earnest money and then they pick a lot in this gated community,” Jim Johnston said. “Then they will have an opportunity to meet with developers and builders to help design their custom home. If they are satisfied with the home then we will build it and if they are not satisfied then they will get their $1,000 back.”

To date, Jim Johnston as a Pocatello City Council member has voted for the city to annex land near the Northgate area from Bannock County and to pass a resolution to adopt a report that indicates the Northgate area is eligible to become an urban renewal district, which is the first step in creating a TIF district.

Jim Johnston said that he doesn’t personally see any conflict of interest as a real estate agent selling houses in Northgate while also serving in his capacity as a city councilman.

“The impact of what decisions the city makes are helping the developers, not the individual homeowners that I would be getting into the houses,” Johnston said. “I would certainly ask the city attorney, Jared Johnson, if a conflict could arise and I would recuse myself from voting. I don’t want anyone to think that we would be profiting off my position with the city.”

The planned gated community is within walking distance of the first proposed Northgate development, the Portneuf Medical Center medical campus. The medical campus was announced last year but construction on it has not begun and the officials involved with the project have declined to provide an update.

The governmental entities and private developers involved with the Northgate project — the Idaho Transportation Department, Bannock County, the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello and Millennial Development of Utah in addition to Portneuf Development — have touted Northgate as one of the largest public-private partnerships in state history.

Those involved with Northgate say the project is going to bring tens of thousands of new residents to Pocatello and Chubbuck via the thousands of houses that are expected to be built in the Northgate area — the Interstate 15 corridor north of Pocatello and east of Chubbuck. Northgate is also expected to spark an economic boom for the region via the large businesses expected to open in the Northgate area.

The catalyst for all this growth is an Interstate 15 interchange that is expected to be built in the Northgate area and connect with Siphon Road in Chubbuck and Olympus Drive in Pocatello. Both of those roads are currently being extended to the site of the proposed interchange, the construction of which has not yet begun.

Buck Swaney of Millennial Development said the Olympus Drive will be connected to the interchange site by the end of October while the interchange itself could be completed by the end of next summer.

Including the interchange itself, Swaney anticipates there could be approximately $56 million of infrastructure costs to make Northgate’s roads and water and sewer systems a reality.

The creation of a Northgate TIF district could create the necessary capital to offset those costs, most of which are being paid for by the Portneuf and Millennial development firms.

A TIF district would enable the increased property tax revenues paid in the Northgate area as it is developed to be used to pay for the infrastructure needed for that residential and commercial development to occur. TIF districts are common economic development tools used by Idaho municipalities.

The Northgate TIF district is being proposed for the Pocatello portion of the Northgate area and the Pocatello City Council will have final say on its creation.

The proposed Northgate TIF district is in its infancy so it’s uncertain when it could become a reality.

Jim Johnston said he’s “excited” about Pocatello’s future because of Northgate.

“This Northgate development is going to stimulate the economy,” Johnston said. “They say that the dollar turns about three times and that’s going to help a ton of people. The people that pour concrete and sell lumber will benefit from this growth. There are many people who don’t want any growth but this will be good. We will need to hire more firefighters and police officers and other people will have new employment opportunities. As a city councilman, I am really excited to make the tough decisions that are required to make this work.”