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Council designates parts of south Holiday Park area as blighted to enable urban renewal work
Summary
The council declared blight for an urban renewal area south of Holiday Park along Fifteenth Street to enable use of urban renewal tools; staff reported small tax-increment collections already in several plan areas and explained the designation does not itself divert taxes.
The City Council adopted a resolution finding and declaring certain areas south of Holiday Park along Fifteenth Street as blight, a procedural first step to enable urban renewal tools for redevelopment of the corridor.
"This is the first step in the URA process to redevelop the area South Of Holiday Park along Fifteenth Street," Mayor Collins said. Planning staff and the council discussed how tax-increment financing (TIF) functions and reported current collections in several plan and project areas.
Planning Director Charles Bloom told council members there are five areas actively collecting tax increment; four of those have recorded collections and one is newly frozen and will begin collections next year. Bloom summarized recent collections: roughly $20,829.88 in the Hitching Post plan area between 2023 and 2024 (with an estimated $66,000 increment expected for a particular lot associated with demolition work when fiscal-year collections are distributed), $5,072 for the "Heinz in the Hole" lots, $17,533 for the Fifteenth Street plan area, and a small balance ($776.32) in the West Downtown plan area that has been collecting for one year.
"I just want to note that this blight designation... does not divert taxes, does not freeze taxes. All it does is say this area is blight. It essentially opens up the property to utilize the urban renewal toolbox," Bloom said, explaining the designation opens contracting and financing options but does not itself obligate the city financially.
Councilmember Aldridge asked whether the city had actually collected TIF dollars to date; Bloom confirmed collected increments exist for four of the five areas and said accounting details were emailed to council. Councilmembers discussed potential long-run risks such as gentrification and the intended eventual phase-out of TIFs.
The resolution passed with Councilmembers Doctor Aldridge and Mister Moody recorded as voting no. Staff said notices had been mailed to affected property owners prior to the urban-renewal-authority meeting and no public comments were received through that notice process.
