PURA presents draft "PURA 2050" downtown revitalization update, flags parking and TIF tradeoffs

Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority (PURA) officials gave City Council an update on a draft downtown revitalization plan — branded in materials as PURA 2050 — and urged the council and community to revisit downtown strategies to attract investment.

The presentation, billed as background work and still in draft form, described a consultant-led effort to update a 1994 framework plan and to analyze downtown infrastructure, parking and tax increment financing (TIF) mechanisms that would support redevelopment. PURA staff emphasized the draft status and said more public outreach and analysis will follow.

PURA Executive Director Jerry Impechetta said the authority is revisiting a decades-old plan and trying to focus the city’s economic-development tools on the Central Business District. “We were asked to give an update to a project we’ve been working on for several years now,” he said. He described PURA’s role as primarily a financing tool: “We follow. We are just a financing tool for the community's job creation efforts.”

Why it matters: PURA’s draft ties future private development to public finance choices. The presentation highlighted that two of the largest contributors to TIF revenue are Pueblo County and the local school district and that a change to Colorado’s urban renewal law in February 2015 altered how TIF negotiations must be conducted with other taxing bodies.

PURA and its consultant, Bridal Architects lead Kathleen Folger, told council staff and members they are assessing downtown capacity and exploring a mix of short-term interventions and longer-term infrastructure investments. The presentation listed possible approaches such as alley and streetscape reconfigurations to increase on-street parking and, later, targeted parking structures if demand reaches a tipping point.

On financing, Impechetta cited a recent precedent in which PURA issued bonds for a large environmental cleanup tied to retention of a steel mill, saying, “we issued about $91,000,000 in bonds towards a $100,000,000 commitment for environmental cleanup at the steel mill.” He described that sort of large public financing as a tool that has been used to preserve primary jobs in Pueblo.

Council members asked for clarifications about how PURA can spend surplus TIF and whether identified interventions require cooperation with other taxing entities. Council President Mark Ayliffe asked about a recent $400,000 payment tied to the arts center; PURA staff described that amount as targeted to ADA improvements for an art-center redevelopment project and said any payment would be certified and memorialized in an intergovernmental agreement.

Presenters emphasized the draft nature of the plan and continued analysis. “This packet that I provided you…this is still all draft. This is all still work product by staff and the consultants,” Impechetta said. He and council members said more public outreach will be scheduled and that the authority will return with additional details.

The presentation included discussion of the changed statutory environment (February 2015 amendment to Colorado’s urban renewal statute) that requires meet-and-confer negotiations among taxing entities for TIF allocations. PURA staff said the change “fundamentally changed how we handle economic development” and urged cooperative relationships among the city, county and school district.

More to come: PURA said it will continue background work, community tours and more-detailed proposals and return to the council with next steps.