If helping build a parking lot for the community's ice rink is outside the mission of Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency, we aren't sure what's inside.

The agency, Lake City Development Corp., has been criticized for just about every project it has agreed to support. It should come as no surprise then that opposition has formed over the request of a nonprofit group for up to $200,000 toward the Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization's ice arena, which was destroyed in last winter's storms.

In our view, the request has merit.

Charlie Nipp, whose Holiday Inn Express down the street has profited from business when the rink was operational, properly recused himself from discussions. We would add that when hockey tournaments and other regional events come to the arena, many other businesses benefit - one of the reasons we encourage LCDC to support the request to improve the arena's infrastructure.

This newspaper pointed out that fellow LCDC board member and Coeur d'Alene City Council member Deanna Goodlander received campaign funds from Nipp, but that was information relayed to citizens as a matter of public record rather than as criticism or condemnation. Their political relationship has, in our view, no impact on whether or not KYRO's request should be fulfilled.

One of the basic purposes of urban renewal is to take blighted or downtrodden areas within a defined area and improve them; the arena site fits that description. Not every investment of this kind must directly add to municipal tax coffers. If the investment improves social well-being, part of urban renewal's mission is fulfilled. We would argue that assisting KYRO would accomplish both: It would improve recreational opportunities for locals and, by attracting visitors to our area, bolster the tax base as well.

LCDC is on the right track by ensuring that public use - free skating periods for community members and perhaps building the arena's parking lot so it can double as a trailhead for the Centennial Trail - would provide immediate returns on any KYRO investment.

We encourage LCDC to grant $200,000 to KYRO as long as public use is assured, and we look forward to the long-term benefits this reasonable investment will reap.