Urban Renewal Authority may be good fit for city; Long-term planning needed in process
“Trinidad had an Urban Renewal Authority (URA) in the recent past, and though it’s been dormant for many years, it still exists.
The question of whether or not to reconstitute the URA was asked of City Planner Louis Fineberg in a Friday interview, who said the idea has both merits and potential problems. Fineberg said the URA could be a viable option as the city works to revitalize its downtown core and push for greater economic development.
Urban renewal is primarily the act of revitalizing a failing urban area in order to restore economic vitality and improve the safety of the area, although the urban renewal statute is flexible and can be used for development, as well as redevelopment. Understanding that redeveloping urban areas is much harder and more expensive than new development, Colorado has empowered local authorities with certain tools, including eminent domain and tax increment financing, to encourage urban renewal activities. All 50 states have some form of urban renewal law, according to the website renewdenver.org.
Fineberg said Trinidad had a URA in the past, which did some work here, but then disbanded while still owning some local property. The property had to be disposed of, so the URA was reconstituted for that purpose in the early 1990s, but never really functioned beyond that single purpose. The URA still exists under city authority, with its board having the same membership as the city council.
Fineberg talked about what the city could do with tax increment financing, using its URA as a tool for that purpose. He said tax increment financing is a way of using future tax revenue to do improvements in the short term.”
Bock, Steve. THe Trinidad Times 16 July 2013.