Urban renewal nears milestone

Cd’A officials plan ahead for closure of Lake District

COEUR d'ALENE — Woody McEvers has been a member of the Coeur d'Alene City Council for more than a decade and expressed his surprise that he will be around to see the end of one of two urban renewal districts in the Lake City.

"The fact that I am still here and get to look forward to seeing the end of the Lake District, and get to look forward to seeing the money come back, is huge," McEvers said. "We're close to the end."

McEvers, along with the rest of the city council and other city officials, gathered Friday with the board of commissioners of Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency, ignite cda, to engage in discussion and offer input on the agency's direction moving forward. After reviewing both confirmed and potential upcoming projects, ignite cda Commissioner Mic Armon posed a big picture question to the city's six-member council.

"We really get a lot of requests from developers asking us to partner with them to various degrees in certain situations," Armon said. "But, at this point in time, the real estate market is really solid and a lot of developers can do these projects without our assistance. What kind of general guidance as a council can you give us as far as these types of projects and which ones we should be more inclined to pursue?"

Armon added that, traditionally, the agency's nine-member board of commissioners examines each request and bases a decision on its individual merits. However, Armon said the city council has a broader understanding of the community as a whole and which types of projects it values.

"What you guys did for us with the de-annexation was huge. As we get near the end, that really helped us a lot," McEvers replied. "But, when do you say no? When do you say 'We're kind of winding down?"

McEvers added that the agency has grown a lot since it was first created in 1997. Certain projects "took a lot of heat," McEvers said, and ignite has learned a lot because of it.

The councilman told ignite commissioners that his line of questioning would focus primarily on 'Well, do they really need us?' and 'Is that in the spirit of what we really started out with?' Armon replied that a big factor in how the agency currently analyzes project proposals is how quickly a developer can be reimbursed through tax-increment revenue for money they offer up-front to pay for infrastructure improvements.

"What we're looking at right now is we're four years away from non-existence and there's only a certain amount of reimbursement that will come in during that time," Armon said. "It's kind of a rock and a hard place sometimes as you make a determination on these projects as it relates to which way you go.

City Administrator Jim Hammond added he often receives input from councilors that stress the importance of the "But for" question, or "But for our help, could they move forward?"

"The bottom line of all this, you can see that there's still some wonderful opportunities for development in our community," Hammond said. "What I hope has happened today is that you, the urban renewal board, got some additional input from the council and that the council feels more informed and comfortable with the direction the agency is heading."

Before the meeting concluded, Council-woman Kiki Miller suggested that the meeting between the two governing bodies become standard practice, which garnered support from multiple members of the ignite board.

"I would suggest quarterly, for the next four years with the purpose of staying on track to winding down the Lake District," she added.