Leander City Council voted March 19 to deny city incentives for a possible emergency center at the northeast corner of Crystal Falls Parkway and Lakeline Boulevard.

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center had proposed building the emergency center. In a Feb. 17 letter to Leander Economic Development Manager Eric Zeno, medical center CEO Brad Holland said if constructed the possible center would benefit from city incentives and benefit the city.

Holland requested city incentives that include 50 percent abatements over 10 years for property taxes and sales taxes as well as waivers or refunds of building permit fees.

He said Cedar Park Regional could spend $10.5 million on the project over two years, and during two years could produce about $690,000 in property tax revenue and $775,000 in sales tax revenue for the city. The center could also create 34 full-time equivalent jobs, Holland wrote.

However, Leander City Manager Kent Cagle recommended City Council deny the incentives.

Cagle said the center would not meet the city’s written requirements for business eligibility for incentives, such as generating revenue that is more than twice the amount of the incentives.

“We don’t have another emergency care clinic [in Leander],” Cagle told City Council members. “But other medical facilities have not received incentives. And the improvements [Cedar Park Regional proposes] will not be owned or operated by the city or used by the public.”

Cedar Park Regional Medical Center is located on Medical Parkway in Cedar Park, about five miles from the proposed emergency center site in Leander. Laura Balla, director of business development and marketing for Cedar Park Regional, said the planned Leander emergency center will still proceed and construction could start in April.