Governor to sign bill separating URAs, agricultural land
By David Young
April 14, 2010
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201004140855/UPDATES03/100414010The difference between fertile farmland and urban blight will be more strictly defined today as a result of Rep. Randy Fischer's, D-Fort Collins, House Bill 1107 to be signed into law this afternoon.
The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, prohibits any area that has been designated as an Urban Renewal Area, or URA, from containing any agricultural land. There are certain exceptions in the legislation, such as each public entity involved with the land agrees to include the property in a URA.
Fischer penned the bill to end abuses of the URA law he saw developers such as McWhinney using to capitalize off of URA's incentives. Driving past farmland to Denver on a weekly basis, Fischer said it was hard for him to understand how that can be considered blighted urban development.
In addition to abuses to URA, Fischer said that the Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, used for URAs diverts an estimated $50 million of school revenue, which is being backfilled by the state.
"I think my bill is intended to stop the growth in that school backfill piece, but won't stop entirely," he said. "I see this urban renewal statute being abused and I think that starting around the time the Centerra development was done developers figured out they could declare farmland blighted and could receive a large TIF... Developers see this as an entitlement, it's really critical we put the brakes on this now."
In 2004 the Loveland City Council approved the McWhinney's URA for Centerra covering around 1,300 acres of farmland on both sides of Interstate-25.
Centerra's URA and the city's finance agreement permits one of Centerra's metropolitan districts to use a portion of property taxes collected within the URA to pay for public improvements meaning roads, utility lines, parking lots and some other amenities worth tens of millions of dollars are paid for by a portion of the property taxes in the URA until it dissolves in 2029.
Jay Hardy, vice president and general manager of Centerra, said that, while opposed to the legislation, he understands where it is coming from and what it is trying to accomplish.
For any piece of URA legislation, Hardy said the most important aspect is having every party impacted at the table, which McWhinney did with its URA. From the school district, City of Loveland and Larimer County, Hardy said all involved saw the benefits of Centerra's URA.
"You don’t have to look very far to see the value of it," Hardy said, citing the current improvements being made at the Crossroads and I-25 and US 34 and I-25 intersections. "When done correctly it is a great economic tool."
Hardy said that if this legislation had been in place in 2004 when they had done their URA it would have still gone through because everyone was in cooperation.
Gov. Bill Ritter is slated to sign the bill today at 2:45 p.m. in the governor's office at the state capital.
Printable Version of this Page
