Rathdrum nears urban renewal

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

RATHDRUM — Rathdrum’s new urban renewal agency will soon start developing a plan for the city’s first urban renewal district on 233 acres in the heart of town.

The bulk of the site is between Highway 41 and Meyer Road from Nagel to Boekel roads, an area that’s about half farmland and also dominated by transmission and gas lines.

"The land is zoned for light industrial development and we want to stick with that zoning," said Leon Duce, the city’s administrator who also serves as the agency’s executive director.

"We’re not looking to change anything that the land is intended to be. We just want to make it more appealing to businesses to locate there, retain the businesses that are there, provide more jobs and maintain our quality of life in Rathdrum."

Duce said it is estimated the agency will spend six months to a year developing an urban renewal plan for the City Council to consider. The City Council recently accepted a site eligibility study that found the area is eligible for assistance under the state’s urban renewal laws. It also directed the agency to begin working on the urban renewal district plan.

Urban renewal districts created by the city and administered by the urban renewal agency have a base tax rate when the district is created. That base tax rate continues to be collected by the county and remitted to taxing entities over the life of the district. As a district is improved, has new construction and increases in value due to improvements, the incremental tax created by those improvements in excess of the base tax is allocated to the URA to pay for the public improvements that have been made within the district.

A feasibility study looking at how much tax-increment funding would be generated is required before the plan is considered by the City Council.

The site that Rathdrum is zeroing in on is north of the Radiant Lake subdivision. There are 35 property owners within the proposed boundaries, although three of the owners, including George Thayer, Green Grass LLC and Bob Head, own most of the land. A small portion of the site is also north of Boekel and west of Meyer.

"The property owners we’ve spoken with are very curious about where we’re going and have been supportive," Duce said.

Duce said state law requires urban renewal plans to be specific about what improvements are envisioned and where they will be located within the site.

"We can’t just say we’re building roads or bringing water and sewer," he said. "We want to work with the property owners so they can subdivide so it’s easier to sell into manageable parcels."

The city funded the $7,000 site analysis study performed by JFoster and Associates. It will be refunded by the agency in full once the district generates funding, Duce said.

The study found that the site is eligible for urban renewal assistance due to development challenges posed by transmission lines, Boekel and Meyer roads not meeting city street standards, an undeveloped street that would provide access to the interior of the site and other reasons.

"There are 13 different criteria set forth by state law that qualifies an area for urban renewal," Duce said, adding that unsuitable topography, unsafe conditions, defective street layouts and blight are among them. "If the answer is ‘yes’ to one of them, then you’re qualified for an urban renewal district. We met eight of the 13 criteria."

The City Council created the city’s urban renewal agency in 2017. The five-member board includes Destry Randles, Paul Matthews, Brett Seright, Mark Worthen and Liz St. Mark.