COEUR d'ALENE - The Lake City Development Corp. has played a role in making the Kroc Center, McEuen Park and the Coeur d'Alene Public Library a reality.

But a recent survey shows few in Coeur d'Alene are aware of the urban renewal agency's existence.

Bill Robinson, of Robinson Research, presented the findings of a 600-person phone survey focused on the public's perceptions and awareness of LCDC to the corporation's board of directors last week. Executive Director Tony Berns told The Press Monday that the agency wanted to conduct a scientific survey in order to gauge where the community was in its understanding of the organization.

"We've been getting a lot of mixed messages throughout the community - some people know what we do and some people don't," Berns said. "It really wasn't super surprising to us that a lot of people don't know who we are and what we do."

According to data provided by Robinson Research, 11 percent of those surveyed said they were aware of LCDC without the urban renewal group being mentioned. When the group was mentioned, two-thirds of the participants still said they were not aware of the corporation's existence.

Berns said the board wants to address the lack of awareness, as well as the negative perception of LCDC he has seen throughout the community.

"There's a lot of misinformation in the community and they've heard that information second- or third-hand from somebody who thinks they know what's going on," Berns said. "It's very hard to unwind some of those perceptions, so we have been trying hard to get that factual data out there on our website. That has helped to a point, but it hasn't helped enough and we need to be more proactive."

Another challenge for the LCDC, Berns said, is educating the public on tax-increment financing, the mechanism which allows the company to rebuild and improve its two districts in Coeur d'Alene. Only 5 percent of survey participants said they were aware of tax-increment financing.

Berns said he wasn't surprised at the result because it is difficult to understand how the financing works.

However, Berns said he was encouraged by other survey results - after learning the basics of what the corporation does in the city, half of the participants would vote in favor of Coeur d'Alene continuing its relationship with LCDC.

"If we have better outreach efforts, we feel like a lot more people would be supportive of what we do," Berns said. "We're going to have to come up with a strategy to get our message out there better."

Now that a baseline has been established, Berns said the board of directors is going to work with Range NW, a marketing firm used by LCDC, to develop a game plan for future outreach and education.

"We've got some opportunity here," Berns said. "Now we are going to engage with some professionals and get coaching about some viable ways to reach out to the community."