COEUR d'ALENE - If a proposed event center is built, the city's urban renewal agency would have to modify its district boundary to help pay for it.

But if Lake City Development Corp. wants to alter a boundary to include the land where a $15 million to $20 million center could sit, the Coeur d'Alene City Council would first have to approve the alteration.

One thing is clear: The two possible sites being considered by North Idaho College don't fall completely within LCDC's River District.

"I don't know if it's easy or not (but) it requires a request to LCDC for a boundary modification," North Idaho College President Joe Dunlap said Wednesday, on the college receiving LCDC's $10 million pledge that would require an urban boundary change in order to be fulfilled.

NIC is spearheading an effort to explore the feasibility of building a multi-purpose sport and event center in Riverstone. It had originally eyed two parcels in Riverstone off Seltice Way and West Riverstone Drive as possible locales. But the smaller of the two parcels, west of Riverstone Drive, was recently snapped up by Citylink as the spot where a permanent home for the transportation provider will go.

That leaves the larger parcel on the east side of the road as a possible spot.

The hangup is, that parcel is split between LCDC's River and Lake districts. The Lake District is heavily invested in other projects, primarily McEuen Park, while the River District has the capability to borrow $10 million to make the arena project go. So for LCDC to finance its pledge for the project, it would have to sit entirely within the River District. That means, at the 10-acre parcel, both districts would have to be modified for the entire parcel to fit inside the River District.

But Dunlap said at least one other option is out there.

"There is another site that the trustees will be evaluating and that will be discussed tonight," Dunlap said, referring to a 6 p.m. workshop with the NIC Board of Trustees where an ad hoc committee charged with exploring the possibility of landing a complex locally will present some of their findings to the board - including the possible alternate site. "It would also require a boundary modification."

LCDC spokesman Keith Erickson said Wednesday that financing for the project definitely won't come from the Lake District.

If the project goes, NIC would have to raise and spend $5 million on it in order to capitalize on LCDC's pledge.

But modifying an urban renewal boundary must be approved by the City Council, which has two urban renewal opponents on it, Dan Gookin and Steve Adams. Even City Council member Deanna Goodlander, who is also an LCDC member, has reservations about modifying the urban renewal agency's reach to accommodate a facility's construction.

"I can't say that I'd be in favor of that," she said Wednesday. "Those boundaries have been defined."

She said she has her doubts the college can raise $5 million to springboard the project. She also said she would check with the city's legal department about whether her votes - both as an LCDC member for the project's financial support, and as a city council member for the possible boundary modification - would be a conflict in any way should the issue get to the council's desk.

"Once you start opening up your boundaries, it really generates - it generates some controversy," she said. "And frankly, I'm not in favor of generating that kind of controversy."

Urban renewal has been a hot political issue for years locally. Dunlap said the college is aware of that.

"NIC is always concerned about decisions and the political implications," he said.

The college is only exploring the possibility of building a facility. The college's board of trustees would have to vote to move forward with it. Before it does that, it will listen to the ad hoc committee's findings tonight, though the board likely won't vote on the issue at the informational workshop. The workshop is in the Community Room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.