New London — The city’s nonprofit development arm is seeking an infusion of funds from the city to hire an executive director with staff and help jumpstart development opportunities at Fort Trumbull and beyond. 

The City Council’s Economic Development Committee on Tuesday will take up a proposal to appropriate $100,000 to the Renaissance City Development Association.   

The request is coupled with a proposed agreement between the mayor and RCDA that would allow the city’s Office of Development and Planning to draw on RCDA resources in areas that include work on the city’s Plan of Conservation and Development and a long-stalled Harbor Management Plan.

The RCDA has additionally applied for a $30,000 Community Development Block Grant.

Mayor Michael Passero, who campaigned on reviving economic development in the city and better collaboration with the RCDA, said work by the RCDA staff could eliminate the need for the city to hire consultants in the future.

“It will be to our mutual benefit. They don’t have a staff. They have title to most of the municipal development plan land at Fort Trumbull,” Passero said. “I expect that the RCDA to get back up and running and generate revenue on their own.”

He said the agreement is a way to leverage the RCDA’s expertise for the benefit of the entire city.

“They understand my position (that) they have to generate a revenue so they are self-sustaining, which I see as very doable,” Passero said.

Frank McLaughlin, the part-time assistant executive director of the RCDA, said the last executive director, Greg Coenen, left in 2006. John Brooks was named acting executive director for about a year before he moved out of state.

Since the board of directors is made up of volunteers, McLaughlin said “they work with prospective developers, but they cannot devote the time or expertise needed to deal with the minutia of the development process.”

“Today there are active proposals that need to be dealt with on a timely basis,” McLaughlin said.

In recent years, the cost of managing the development effort was borne by developer fees. No city funds were ever spent on RCDA salaries or consulting fees, he said.

McLaughlin declined to name the prospective executive director but said the person has the qualifications required and is willing to work for below the prevailing rate.

The person will not commit, however, without the certainty of funding.

Money for the RCDA would come from what was once a $400,000 fund set up under City Manager Martin Berliner.

It was a 10 percent “down payment” on a state-mandated $4 million city contribution to the Fort Trumbull redevelopment project, according to Office of Development and Planning Director Tammy Daugherty.

The account now has a balance of $277,340 since a portion of the fund was used on costs associated with the Lighthouse Inn.

Passero said the idea at the time was to set aside $400,000 a year toward the $4 million, but it turned out to be a one-time contribution.

The RCDA, formerly the New London Development Corp., is run by a volunteer board of directors and has focused efforts on developing and marketing the Fort Trumbull peninsula.

In 2000, the City Council approved a municipal Development Plan that led to the razing of most of the buildings in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood.

Some of those properties were taken by eminent domain.

A fight from some homeowners led to 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case, Kelo v. City of New London, and an eventual ruling that backed the city’s right to take land on behalf of economic development.

While the RCDA has spent about $75 million, mostly state funds, over the last decade to make infrastructure improvements to the 90-acre Fort Trumbull area, new development projects have been scarce.

An 88,000-square-foot office building, the former Naval Undersea Warfare Center, was refurbished in 2005 by the Boston firm Corcoran Jennison and now is among the city’s highest taxpayers.

Passero said he remains confident development will come, and when it does there needs to be someone in place with the “management skills needed to shepherd that plan through to fruition.”

Passero reiterated the fact that the proposed agreement will not affect the general fund and therefore not burden taxpayers.

Tuesday’s Economic Development Committee meeting starts at 5 p.m. The RCDA has a board of directors meeting starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Senior Center.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay