Littleton leaders stepped to the edge of a policy precipice Tuesday, weighing a measure to abolish the city’s urban renewal authority and repeal four redevelopment areas in the city, a move the Colorado Municipal League said would be “very unusual.”
Ultimately, the City Council voted to postpone a decision on the issue until October to gather more information on what has .
“It’s a major move to get rid of urban renewal,” Councilman Bill Hopping told his colleagues.
For months now, Littleton has been at the forefront of a long-running dispute over the proper use of urban renewal, which gives local governments public financing powers to inject economic life into moribund parts of town. The state-sanctioned policy has been widely used in Colorado, including at the Denver Pavilions on the 16th Street Mall, the Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial and Lakewood’s Belmar.
Tuesday’s ordinance emanated from years of disagreement over the role and operation of Littleton Invests for Tomorrow (LIFT), the city’s urban renewal authority.
Critics argue that LIFT is not needed to attract development to Littleton and that using redevelopment tools, such as tax-increment financing, requires the issuance of bonds and presents unnecessary risks to the city’s finances. Urban renewal advocates say the policy, designed to make otherwise hard-to-complete projects financially feasible, is an important tool in a city’s economic development toolkit.
The issue that would require commonly used urban renewal tactics, such as tax increment financing or eminent domain, to go to a vote of the people first.
Kevin Bommer, deputy director of the Colorado Municipal League, called Littleton’s ordinance “a big deal.”
He said most urban renewal authorities that disband tend to do so after the projects they were designed to address have been completed. Littleton’s proactive approach to quashing its urban renewal body is “very unusual.”
“This doesn’t come up very often — if at all,” Bommer said.
Councilman Doug Clark told The Denver Post that there’s nothing inherently flawed about urban renewal, but the way LIFT has operated in Littleton is “all screwed up.” Placing a blight designation on a newly revamped King Soopers and the newly constructed Breckenridge Brewery, each of which are in different urban renewal districts, makes no sense, he said.
“Littleton has been moving just fine without an urban renewal authority for 30 years,” Clark said.
His colleague, Phil Cernanec, countered that urban renewal authorities are instrumental in leveraging money for expensive infrastructure needs, such as roads and public utilities, and can be the difference between developers jumping in or passing over the city.
Doug Tisdale, executive vice president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, refused to wade into the political stew bubbling up over the future of Littleton’s urban renewal plans. But he said if the climate in a community is right, it can be a very effective tool.
“Urban renewal authorities, depending on people, process and energy — and the project itself — can be good,” he said.
