Decision Due On Funding Riverstone Project Seeks Money For Publicly Used Portions

The Coeur d’Alene Urban Renewal Agency is expected to finally decide next week whether to provide funds to help pay for publicly used portions of the Riverstone project along Northwest Boulevard.

Developer John Stone of Spokane has requested $1.5 million to build a traffic signal, a segment of the Centennial Trail, sidewalk and open space for his 73-acre development.

The former W-I Forest Products mill site is being transformed into businesses and high-end office space and eventually is to include residences along the Spokane River.

The Urban Renewal Agency, which will meet Wednesday at 4 p.m., has delayed action for weeks as its financial consultants crunched numbers to determine what kind of revenue the Riverstone project would generate.

“As far as I understand, we will be able to fill most, not all, of John Stone’s request through tax-increment financing,” agency member Nancy Sue Wallace said.

Tax-increment financing is how the agency gets funds needed to revitalize Coeur d’Alene’s downtown core.

The city earns property taxes from all properties, based on their assessments. Those assessments - for the city - were frozen in January 1997 for all properties in the downtown core.

So, any new tax revenue from developments, like Riverstone, now goes to fund urban renewal projects instead of filling city coffers.

Wendy Hague, Coeur d’Alene’s assistant city administrator, said the agency must decide three things next week.

If the agency decides to approve the request, it first must decide how much money to provide. Second, the agency will discuss what percentage of the annual taxes it gathers will go back to Riverstone.

The last item will be to specify what exactly the improvements will include.

The agency can only provide money for projects that will be used by the public, Hague said.

“There is no risk to the agency,” Hague said. “John Stone pays for all the improvements up front.”

As the development grows, its value also grows. So in essence, the faster Riverstone is completed, the faster Stone gets reimbursed for the public improvements, she said.

The agency is still waiting for its financial consultants to complete a report explaining the funding.

“They are going to try to tell us what their best guess of what the (tax increment) financing will be every year,” Hague said.

Wallace, who also sits on the Coeur d’Alene City Council, supports the overall concept of the Riverstone project.

“I think this is one of the purposes of the urban renewal agency,” Wallace said. “(Riverstone) will bring more businesses in and stimulate our economy.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: FAST FACTS Criteria for approval

The Urban Renewal Agency must consider the following in order to approve the developer’s request: How much money to provide.

What percentage of the annual taxes will go back to Riverstone.

Specify improvements.