Special hearing to look at proposed urban renewal plan
The Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board will hold a special meeting on Thursday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. to take public comment on the city’s proposed urban renewal plan and tax-increment financing (TIF) district.
After taking comment, the board will make their recommendation to the city council on whether the urban renewal plan conforms to the city’s growth policy.
The plan generally includes land running along Nucleus Avenue and the U.S. 2 strip. As part of the planning process, a consultant drafted a study of blight in the area last fall.
The study reported four conditions of blight — deteriorated buildings and properties, defective street layout, inappropriate or mixed uses of land or buildings, and unsanitary or unsafe conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes.
When the planning board undertook the process of updating the growth policy in 2013, city manager and zoning administrator Susan Nicosia advised the board to remove all mention of blight because it was no longer a legal term.
She explained after the March 10 planning board meeting that the state had changed the definition of blight, and that the word was removed from the growth policy because of its negative meaning. Nicosia didn’t say whether the word blight should be put back in the growth policy document, but demonstrating blighted conditions is a legally required first step to establishing an urban renewal plan.
The city intends to utilize tax-increment financing along with other funding to pay for revitalization efforts in the urban renewal plan.
“TIF districts are typically characterized by blight and/or infrastructure deficiencies that have limited or prohibited new investment,” the draft urban renewal plan says.
The city plans to use 2015 as the base year for establishing the TIF district. Any tax revenue created by an increase in taxable value for property inside the urban renewal area after 2015 will go into the TIF fund for revitalization efforts.
Other funding that can be used include revenue bonds backed by the TIF fund, other debt financing, local, state and federal resources, and revolving loans or grants derived from the TIF fund.
An urban renewal agency will be established to direct revitalization projects. Each year by Sept. 30, the agency will file a report of its activities for the preceding fiscal year with the city council, and each year the agency will prepare an annual work program and budget.
Copies of the draft urban renewal plan can be seen at the city hall. Comments can be mailed to City manager Susan Nicosia, 130 Sixth Street West, Columbia Falls MT 59912 or e-mailed to nicosias@cityofcolumbiafalls.com or by calling 892-4391.