Our View: No harm done
Say the words “urban renewal agency” and “tax increment financing,” and eyes will glaze over everywhere but in Coeur d’Alene.
In the Lake City, the mention of the city’s urban renewal agency, Lake City Development Corp., can cause neck veins to bulge as adults engage in animated conversations. Such was the case in late March after LCDC critic Dan Gookin voiced his concerns at the weekly Kootenai County Democratic Club Luncheon.
What’s the big deal? Gookin and a handful of others say that LCDC has run amok, well beyond the original scope of the state’s legislation for urban renewal districts. They are asking tough questions in community forums, local newspapers and blogs. Among other things, they question possible conflicts of interest involving agency board members, grants and loans given to some projects, and the life expectancy and size of the agency.
All reasonable topics for discussion.
However, the detractors routinely fail to recognize the urban renewal district’s key role in the amazing transformation of downtown Coeur d’Alene and along the Spokane River. Not only has LCDC helped in property acquisition for the new city library and Coeur d’Alene’s $70 million Kroc Center, but it has coaxed developers to provide public access for bike trails, beaches and docks. Unquestionably, the way the urban renewal agency operates should be reviewed. But the volunteers guiding the agency should be applauded for their vision and hard work. Not subjected to witch hunts.
The detractors have one legitimate major beef about LCDC.
The Coeur d’Alene School District is being shortchanged by the Legislature’s decision to shift school costs from the property tax to the sales tax. As a result, LCDC rather than the school district gets to pocket the $274,120 in property taxes collected this year within the district under the current school levy, about 2.9 percent of the school district budget, according to LCDC figures. It should go to Coeur d’Alene schools.
On the other hand, the LCDC’s fingerprints can be found everywhere in the two urban renewal districts that encompass the downtown, Midtown, Northwest Boulevard and along the Spokane River. LCDC has played a role in restoring downtown facades. Public art. A 5.2-mile future bike trail. Fifteen hundred feet of Spokane River frontage. A downtown high-rise water feature. U.S. Bank recruitment (with some 400 jobs). A pond and a park at the Mill River development.
The renewal agency also will play a large role in construction of a waterfront education corridor.
The Lake City Development Corp. isn’t perfect. But it’s one of the best things to happen to Coeur d’Alene since the construction of the Coeur d’Alene Resort, boardwalk and golf course.