Council shelves 'blight' decision

Blight is now on the back burner for part of downtown Kalispell.

Without any discussion Monday, Kalispell's City Council delayed indefinitely a vote on whether to declared as "blighted" a 25-block area next to Kalispell Center Mall.

The blight designation is a legally required, although primarily semantic, move to jump-start the process of creating a tax-increment district. Montana law has several definitions of "blight" - some that could fit the proposed area and some that don't.

Kalispell's city staff has recommended that a tax-increment district be created along the north, west and southwest sides of the mall to encourage businesses to locate and grow in that area.

With a tax-increment district, any surplus property tax revenue - above a pre-designated limit - collected from that area would be put in a fund set aside to pay for any infrastructure improvements in that zone needed to attract new business. The theory is that the new businesses will increase the overall property tax revenue from that area.

The tax-increment district concept sparks vehement support and opposition, mostly around philosophical differences over how tax revenues should be routed.

Council members first tabled the blight vote on Sept. 6, with several voicing confusion over the definition of blight and whether the targeted area could be considered blighted.

The proposed tax-increment district is a hodgepodge of low-income homes, a few apparently uninhabitable houses, some boutique businesses, several blue-collar businesses and some empty hulks and lots.

On Monday, council member Duane Larson proposed tabling the blight vote indefinitely, which the council quickly voted 7-2 to do. Council members Jim Atkinson and Randy Kenyon voted against tabling the vote.

Larson was uneasy about declaring the proposed area as blighted and said that if Monday's vote went against the blight designation, that could hurt long-term city plans to create a tax-increment district there.

"My perspective is that if it failed tonight, it would have been dead forever," Larson said.

He said tabling the matter could lead to it being revived later.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com