Post Falls meeting on downtown development today

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Three Post Falls boards will meet from 3 to 5 p.m. today at the Q'emiln Park Trailhead Event Center, 12361 W. Parkway Drive to discuss downtown development.

The City Council, Urban Renewal Agency and Planning and Zoning Commission will meet during the workshop.

Doors open at 2:30 p.m., so attendees can meet panelists and ask questions. There will be an opportunity to ask questions around 4 p.m. as well.

The city's Community Development Department will host the Urban Land Institute of Idaho for the session on the development of downtowns utilizing tools such as urban renewal districts.

Post Falls is moving toward creating a district of 548 acres in its downtown district.

The City Council has declared areas on both sides of Interstate 90 in the central part of the city as "deteriorated," which is the first step in creating an urban renewal district.

Urban renewal districts are an economic development tool to create jobs and spur activity with infrastructure improvements. It allows the city to be competitive with other regions to attract business, and the burden is on the developers for the district to be successful.

Urban renewal districts created by the city and administered by the URA have a base tax rate when the district is created. That base tax rate continues to be collected by the county and remitted to taxing entities over the life of the district.

As a district is improved, has new construction and increases in value due to improvements, the incremental tax created by those improvements in excess of the base tax is allocated to the URA to pay for the public improvements that have been made within the district.

With the proposed downtown district, the council accepted the eligibility report that states 151 of the 674 structures in the district showed signs of deterioration. A lack of sidewalks, unfinished streets and underdeveloped land was also cited.

The City Council could adopt the development plan for the district by the end of the year.

Workshop speakers include:

- Robert Seale, Post Falls community development director;

- Alexandra Monjar, Urban Land Institute;

- Derick O'Neill, Rivershore Development;

- Meghan Conrad, Elam and Burke law firm;

- Doug Woodruff, Capital City Development Corp;

- Keri Smith-Sigman, Destination Caldwell; and

- Michelle Groenevelt, city of McCall.