Garden City adopts South of Chinden urban renewal plan, freezes base value retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025

The Garden City Council on a motion Tuesday adopted CPA FY2025 and ordinance 10-62-25, approving an urban renewal plan that creates a revenue allocation area for a roughly 293-acre district generally south and west of Chinden Avenue and east to Interstate 84.

Megan Conrad, attorney presenting the plan on behalf of the agency, told the council, “I’m here today to present the urban renewal plan for the South Of Chinden urban renewal project on behalf of the agency.” She explained that, under Idaho law, a plan freezes the base taxable value in the district and directs tax increment generated by new value to the urban renewal agency to finance public infrastructure projects.

The ordinance establishes the district retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, with a 20-year statutory termination year of 2045 and the agency receiving the final year of revenue in 2046. The plan lists public works projects the agency may fund, with primary emphasis on water and sewer system improvements along the Chinden corridor and additional projects such as stormwater management, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, park acquisition and certain utility projects.

Conrad said the economic feasibility study (Attachment 5) assumes about 500,000 square feet of new construction over 20 years at $200 per square foot (about 25,000 square feet per year), producing roughly $24.5 million over the life of the district under the consultant’s development scenario, with administrative costs projected at about 10% and an annual administrative cap of $75,000.

City legal counsel reviewed the record and recommended first reading and suspension of rules to adopt the ordinance this evening, citing the item’s time-sensitive nature. The council approved the CPA (CPA 2025-0003) and then moved to read ordinance 10-62-25 by title and to suspend the rules and adopt and publish the ordinance; roll-call affirmations recorded included Council members Jacobs, Jorgensen and Rasmussen.

During public comment, a neighborhood resident, Hannibal of 215 East 34th Street, urged the Urban Renewal Agency to accept publicly proposed projects and be more approachable, citing a prior sidewalk request he said had been declined despite being in the public right-of-way.

What happens next: the ordinance actions include publication of a summary, recordation of the ordinance, and transmittal to overlapping taxing districts and state officials as required by Idaho law before the district’s retroactive effective date is finalized.