County: No vote on corridor

But citizens will be asked if they want URD advisory votes

The Kootenai County Board of Commissioners decided Monday not to ask voters what they think of the Health Corridor urban renewal district created last December by the Coeur d’Alene City Council.

What commissioners did agree to, however, was this: On the May 19 primary election ballot, voters will be asked if they wish to weigh in — on a non-binding, advisory basis only — whenever new urban renewal districts are proposed inside the county.

The commissioners’ decision Monday shut the door on Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson’s proposed ballot question that read:

“Do you support the City of Coeur d’Alene Council Bill No. 19-1018, an ordinance approving the urban renewal plan for the Health Corridor Urban Renewal Project, which plan includes revenue allocation financing provisions?”

“I am more of the opinion that I would rather take a broad brush and say that an advisory vote should be required by the residents of Kootenai County ahead of any proposed URD anywhere in the county,” Commissioner Chris Fillios said. “I don’t think it necessarily advises anything specifically to call out the health corridor.”

Fillios said that whether or not county residents agree with Coeur d’Alene City Council’s decision to create an urban renewal district in the health corridor, the council followed due process and acted within its statutory authority.

“I think the real question of URDs — how long the expiration remains, the duration of the closeouts — really rests with the state legislature,” Fillios said.

In large part because Matheson raised concerns, the board agreed to pursue an advisory vote for future projects.

“But because we’ve been approached by treasurer Matheson and I think he raises a valid point, I’m all in favor of proceeding with a vote, with the generalized language, once again, that indicates that an advisory vote should be had ahead of any proposed urban renewal district,” Fillios said.

Commissioner Bill Brooks said target and timing were both off with Matheson’s proposal.

“City councils make the decisions and that’s in my opinion where people need to go to address their concerns,” Brooks said. “I believe a lot of this is a day late and a dollar short.”

Commissioner Leslie Duncan said she’s advocating for residents in Athol, Bayview, Harrison and in the unincorporated portions of the county in supporting advisory votes.

“People’s tax in the county is affected by decisions at the city level,” she said.

Fillios and Brooks agreed to exclude Health Corridor language and focus on the general subject or urban renewal.

“I have a problem with all URDs, not just one,” Brooks said. “I don’t like singling out one and going there. I would much rather have something about URDs in general.”

By the end of the commissioners meeting, there was general consensus that revisiting past URDs would set a precedent the county would not be prepared to handle legally, opening too many prior decisions, whether URDs or not, for review.

All three commissioners agreed to the final motion to put on the May 19 ballot that any jurisdiction proposing a URD within Kootenai County first appeal to the voters in an advisory vote.

“An advisory vote doesn’t mean anything,” Brooks said. “And that’s the important thing that we stress to people.”