Renewal plan change to be considered Oct. 17

The Kalispell City Council has scheduled a public hearing Monday, Oct. 17, on a proposed expansion of the Westside Urban Renewal Plan.

The proposed expansion would include the Flathead County Fairgrounds and a 1.3-mile block of land that runs from Seventh Avenue West to the eastern city limit.

That block of land is bordered to the north by Washington Street and to the south by First Street.

The urban renewal plan identifies instances of blight in the proposed expansion area and suggests programs to remedy that blight.

“The urban renewal plan is to gel policy,” Planning Director Tom Jentz said.

“When you know what the issues are, you can go about solving them. We spend a lot of time talking and this is setting a policy for the future.”

A boundary expansion of the Westside Urban Renewal Plan has been recommended by city planning staff, the Urban Renewal Agency and the Kalispell City Planning Board.

The Westside Urban Renewal Plan is not the same as the Westside Tax Increment Financing District and would continue to exist as a planning tool even if the district expires.

The tax-increment district is set to sunset in March 2012 and may or may not be expanded by the council to overlay the recommended expansion of the urban renewal plan, as was done in the past.

Though it is a separate discussion, council will have to decide soon if it wants to expand the boundary or extend the life of the district.

To extend the life of the district beyond March, the city would have to issue new debt for a project inside its boundaries.

City Attorney Charles Harball suggested to the council Monday that the city would need to have such a project identified by around Thanksgiving, at the latest.

If the district sunsets, about $2 million held in its fund would be paid out to local taxing entities.