Idaho Legislature examines urban renewal

POSTED: 05:50 MST Monday, December 3, 2007

by Lora Volkert

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If you don’t think urban renewal agencies need to be reigned in, Kathleen Sims has a map to show you. The businesswoman and former Idaho senator presented a map of Couer d’Alene’s urban renewal districts to members of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Interim Land-Use Study Group last week. The group is studying tax implications and oversight issues regarding urban renewal districts.

“It follows everywhere the water is,” she said of the map.

It would be hard to characterize waterfront property in Coeur d’Alene as blighted. As one might expect, that’s where property values are rising the fastest, Sims said, so the tax increment the urban renewal agency, Lake City Development Corp., receives from that property is huge.

The Idaho Legislature in 1965 gave Idaho cities the authority to create urban renewal districts to reclaim deteriorated areas. But that’s not what’s being done in Coeur d’Alene, Sims said. “There’s no blight in Coeur d’Alene and I would welcome anyone to come and try to find some.”

Some urban renewal agencies may be abusing the law, said Len Crosby, chairman of the urban renewal agency in Post Falls. But a legislative solution could hurt the ability of agencies that are on the up-and-up to do away with blighted areas and attract new companies to the city, he said. “To the extent that you take one of the urban renewal agencies that isn’t following the rules to the woodshed, it affects us all.”

The Post Falls urban renewal agency has done its best to abide by the rules, Crosby said. It retired one of its districts seven years early because the urban renewal work was done and the agency no longer needed to collect tax dollars there. It has not tried to expand districts to include unblighted areas.

And it has brought more than 3,000 jobs to Post Falls, a city that competes aggressively with Spokane, Wash. Many new businesses such as Buck Knives, 84 Lumber and Health Care Resources would have gone to Spokane for its favorable tax structure if not for the land deals Post Falls’ urban renewal agency was able to give them.

2 Comments

Urban renewal districts play a vial role in the redevelopment of cities all over the United States. The development of these districts has had profound impacts on many communities.
Ms. Sims presented a map that includes lake front property. I have seen other URD maps from the cities of Chicago and Milwaukee. Both cities used URDs to spearhead cleanup of unsightly waterfronts on lake Michigan. The results are that both cities have some of the most beautiful urban coastlines on the great lakes. Surrounding property values skyrocketed and new development has brought these areas back to life. Would this have happened without the URDs? Maybe....maybe not. Those cities chose the proactive approach.
Funds from URDs also leverage other monies that may not be available without their participation. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)often require the development of a URD in order for the grant applications to be competitive. A prime example is the City of Payette. The City received a $500,000 CDBG grant to help facilitate infrastructure needs to support the expansion of Seneca Foods. The impact to the city and surrounding area is great. How about the City of Mountain Home? Again, the URD leveraged grants to help accommodate Marathon Cheese. How many jobs will that project create? What is the long term tax impact on the city? Maybe these projects would have happened without the URDs. Maybe not. Ask people from either of those cities if they would want to take the chance. Both cities chose the proactive approach. They were not willing to leave things to chance. Does Ms. Sims really believe downtown Boise is what it is (or could be what it is) without CCDC? How about downtown Caldwell?
So, what happens to all the money that the URDs make? How many jobs are created? What is the vale increase in tax base as a result of URDs? What is renewed vitality in a city or town worth? Maybe Ms Simms could answer these questions. Maybe not.
What happens to the fund balances when the URDs end. Funny, those dollars are returned to their cities. I don't know if the lakeside properties in Coeur d’Alene are a misuse of of the URD process. What I do know is that there are many, many, many URDs that are vial to small and large towns throughout Idaho. It is a financing mechanism that Idaho cannot do without. Ms Sims, go visit Payette and Mountain Home. Stand outside and talk to the employees for the companies that benefited from URD involvement. Take some pictures and present them as examples of the URDs that work. Then, take a walk in downtown Boise. Or better yet, ask our state reps. to join you on your walk and show them how bad the URD in Boise is. Good luck with that.

Comment By Jim Gruber
Monday, December 3, 2007 @ 9:34 AM

I second Jim. Here in Idaho Falls we have UR/TIF districts that have done a world of good in helping our city capitalize on the riverfront & the emerging strategic importance of the Idaho National Lab.
To these peoples' minds who want to use the Idaho Legislature to constantly micromanage some problem they have locally....I say---pass full home-rule powers. Then you'll have the local power in Coeur d'Alene or wherever you think you can drum-up enough local support for corrective action.
Stop injecting your petty little local biases vis-a-vis our Imperial Legislature's constant desire for control. Haven't they screwed-up enough of the state?
We're the ONLY STATE in the West without home-rule....and you envy-driven putzes would still like to screw up something good, that's workinf for 90% of Idaho. You're "CAVE" people, pure & simple ('Citizens Against Virtually Everything')
Comment By Bill Sellers Idaho Falls
Monday, December 3, 2007 @ 1:06 PM

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