City Council Minutes 2019 05 14 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes May 14 2019 Page 5 of 7 application Kelly stated once an area has been determined to be blighted all of the properties are included for the duration of the time even if individual properties may have few or no blight factors. Director DeJong and Mayor Muckle stated it has been the informal policy of the LRC that the bonds are paid for by the urban renewal area as a whole not just those that directly benefit. Director DeJong stated the bonds funded infrastructure but were also to encourage development in the area as a whole The LRC funded three other infrastructure projects. the Core Area Regional Detention Facility; the South Street Reconstruction, and the Alfalfa's/Center Court Infrastructure Director DeJong stated direct financial assistance from the URA can be used to make a redevelopment project financially feasible The LRC has not funded any such projects to date. Applications require financial information showing the need Many neighboring communities use direct financial assistance for private development. This process is separate from the development approval process with the City The LRC is working on draft criteria for such projects. Councilmember Stolzmann would like to review how other cities used these tools to better understand why projects need this funding to happen and how this tool facilitates redevelopment. City Manager Balser stated staff may not be able to answer those questions, it would be more a question for those jurisdictions Mayor Pro Tem Lipton would like research for projects directly competing with us, Lafayette, Erie, and Superior Councilmember Stolzmann would like examples of where urban renewal had a clear good result and where also those where everyone agrees it was a bad use of taxpayer funding Mayor Muckle disagreed stated that is too much research He stated this is not much different than the other business assistance we do He is not sure we would learn much given the amount of work it would take. He does agree we do want a good set of principals or good policy for us to use for financial assistance Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated for all projects we need to understand the basic imbalances in markets, the price of real estate and construction, and what rents can reasonably be expected for the project. There may be a reason to fund some projects based on the criteria but we don't want to impact the real estate market. Yet stimulating some revitalization when we need it and sustaining the tax base is in the community's interest. Councilmember Stolzmann stated we need to be judicious and have a good set of principles for when we want to use TIF financing and when not. She would like examples of when it has worked well and when not. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated we are seeing basic imbalances in the market in land costs and construction costs. The markets are very unusual now As a small community, it