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Council adopts blight designation for 23rd & North Cedar, 5-1
Summary
After staff presented a 22-acre blight-and-substandard study, the council approved the designation for the 23rd & North Cedar area 5-1; council members debated criteria and the potential for future tax-increment financing steps.
City administrator Jody Sanders presented the staff report for a 22-acre area around 23rd and North Cedar and explained that a blighted-and-substandard designation is generally the first step before a redevelopment plan and possible use of tax increment financing (TIF).
"This is just the blighted and substandard study...the use of tax increment financing or TIF financing is quite a ways down the road," Sanders said, describing the process staff expects if the area moves toward redevelopment.
Council members pressed the consultant, Keith Marvin of Marvin Planning Consultants, on criteria used in the study. Marvin said that assessed "average" building conditions can nonetheless meet substandard factors when considered alongside obsolete infrastructure and maintenance issues.
"When we see an average condition or worse, those are typically what we consider to be falling into the substandard category," Marvin said. Council debate focused on whether the area met the community-impact rationale for blight designation and whether the likely downstream use of TIF matched the program's original intent.
Councilman Warner moved to approve Resolution 2026-111 declaring the area blighted and substandard; Councilwoman Lathrop seconded and the motion carried 5-1. No redevelopment plan or TIF award was approved at this meeting; staff noted those would require future public hearings and planning commission review.
