Cities spell out urban renewal success stories

A proposal that lawmakers are mulling on urban renewal could have prevented large-scale projects that have redefined Idaho Falls and Twin Falls, the leaders of those cities say.

“Without urban renewal, I hate to think where we would be,” Twin Falls City Manager Travis Rothweiler said. “Urban development is the only tool I have to improve our economy.”

In recent years, Twin Falls has landed manufacturing facilities for Chobani, Clif Bar and Glanbia. Idaho Falls has created the 400-acre Snake River Landing mixed-use development.

Twin Falls employed $43 million in urban renewal funds for the  1-million-square-foot Chobani factory to develop public infrastructure such as sewer and water lines and double the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant. Rothweiler said the work on behalf of Chobani also opened another 700 acres with utility lines for other developers.

“Chobani helped pull us through the recession,” Rothweiler said.

Twin Falls invested $22 million in urban renewal funds for water lines and a water storage tank for the 275,000-square-foot Clif Bar plant set to open in April, he said.

A joint legislative interim committee has been examining the issue of urban renewal since last year. City leaders such as Rothweiler are concerned that the panel will recommend the urban renewal district require a public vote if urban renewal funding pays for more than 50 percent of public projects such as libraries or city halls.

Of the largest concern to city leaders is the perception that the committee would reset the base assessment of urban renewal districts to current market values if modifications are made to an urban renewal plan. Such districts are funded by the increased property tax values in a district from the start of the district – the base assessment. Resetting the base assessment would immediately slash a district revenue stream and potentially send a district into default on bond payments, said Meghan Conrad, an associate at Elam & Burke, a Boise law firm that specializes in urban renewal law.

Ryan Armbruster, the managing director at Elam & Burke, said the Capital City Development Corp.’s Central District plan has been modified three times.

“It is very difficult to have a crystal ball and predict projects for 20 years,” Armbruster said. “If we amend the play, we cannot pay our bills.”

Rothweiler and others spoke Jan. 26 at the Boise Centre at a joint Urban Land Institute/ Idaho Chamber Alliance meeting titled “Investing in Idaho’s Future: the Case for Public Finance.”

State Rep. Rick Youngblood, a Nampa Republican, counters that the interim committee is not changing the base assessments. State law (Title 50, Chapter 29 50-2093) since 1988 has called for resetting the base assessment if an urban renewal plan is modified.

“It’s never been enforced,” said Youngblood, the joint interim committee’s co-chair. “Here’s what everybody needs to hear loud and clear: Chapter 29, Code 2903 has been in place since 1988. Excess money should be given back to the taxing district.”

Youngblood said the intent of the 1988 base assessment law is that the assessment and the revenue derived from it apply only to the urban renewal plan set in place at the outset. If the plan is modified at a later date, it essentially becomes a new plan with a new base assessment, he said.

That’s also where the joint interim committee’s primary concern comes into play: funding public buildings with urban renewal money.

“They have morphed this into building city halls and libraries,” Youngblood said. “Our concern is about (using urban renewal funds for) public buildings that come of the tax rolls.”

Youngblood said urban renewal is not meant for the construction of buildings, but to provide infrastructure such as utilities and parking garages to enable the construction of buildings.

That was the dynamic in play for Chobani in Twin Falls and Snake River Landing in Idaho Falls.

Developer Ball Ventures in Idaho Falls converted a gravel pit along the Snake River into the 400-acre mixed-use Snake River Landing with 300,000 square feet of commercial development with a 92-room hotel, 48-room senior housing, 35 lots for single-family homes and a 226-unit apartment complex. The project qualified for $9.5 million in urban renewal funds for road, water, sewer, stormwater management and a waterfront greenbelt, Ball Ventures CEO Cortney Liddiard said.

“Snake River Landing is a place for the community to gather, for public events to occur,” Liddiard said. “(With urban renewal funds) we were able to reclaim a blighted area that was of no use to the community.”