Urban renewal panel ‘going at it’

Staffer Mike Nugent (from the Urban Renewal Interim Committee) reported that the committee has met three times and meets again Nov. 16. It’s heard presentations from an array of sources, including both backers and critics of urban renewal. Around the state, he said, “They’re going at it.” Urban renewal agencies have been criticized in Caldwell and in Coeur d’Alene, where it’s “a political issue,” he said. In Lewiston, “We have the county, the urban renewal agency and the port district all suing each other.” Among issues the legislative interim committee is looking at, he said, are whether urban renewal boards should be elected or not; ways for people to object to a “rogue urban renewal agency,” such as laws providing attorney fees in successful lawsuits or revisions to consumer protection laws; requests from cities for local-option taxing authority, modeled after Utah; and concerns raised by local governments that they don’t want to lose urban renewal as an economic development tool/ Betsy Russell , Eye on Boise. More here.