The City of Hamilton took another step forward on the path to establishment of an Urban Renewal District on the north end of town. State law allows municipalities to form such tax increment financing districts in order to help facilitate the rehabilitation and renewal of areas that have been identified as “blighted,” including areas which constitute an economic and social liability, substantially impair the sound growth of a municipality, and substantially impair the elimination of traffic hazards and the improvement of traffic facilities.
Last December, the City Council made a finding and passed a resolution designating a blighted area at the north end of the city, including portions along the Highway 93 Business District, from Foxfield Street north and portions along Old Corvallis Road from Fairgrounds Road north and east, extending to the portion of the city containing the GSK laboratory campus.
The City Council found impairments to sound growth and economic and social liabilities that were detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare that specifically included lack of a stoplight on Highway 93 in the area that was resulting in accidents and poor traffic circulation; lack of sidewalks and storm drainage, lighting, and other non-motorized transportation infrastructure along Old Corvallis Road and Highway 93; as well as undeveloped right-of-ways and private driveways being used to facilitate connectivity.
The cost to finance improvements to services such as street infrastructure to bring streets up to city code is a challenge identified in the City of Hamilton’s Growth Policy.
Unsanitary ad unsafe conditions were also identified, such as businesses and homes located in the described area that are not connected to the city wastewater treatment system due to inadequate availability of sanitary facility connections. Businesses and homes in the area not connected to the city water system were also identified.
The Council also recognized that the mixed uses of land or buildings in the area, from agricultural to residential to commercial, “has proven to be a disincentive to the improvement of properties within the area by private enterprise.” It also found that diversity of ownership, such as county ownership of Old Corvallis Road adjacent to city properties “creates blight in that the infrastructure cannot be adequately maintained due to budget shortfalls and different design standards.”
To top it off, according to the Montana Department of Commerce Census and Economic Information Center and US Census information, the City of Hamilton and adjacent neighborhoods contain two census tracts that have been designated as having persistent and high poverty, and 50.6% of the people living in the City of Hamilton are low to moderate income.
Establishing an Urban Renewal District is a way to raise funds for improvements to the infrastructure in the area to address the blight issues identified. In the discussion at last week’s Council meeting, City Attorney Karen Mahar emphasized that forming an Urban Renewal District does not increase landowner property taxes or force landowners to pay for any improvements. But neither does it guarantee that certain improvements will be made. What it does do is divert any increase in tax revenue in the district into a fund dedicated to making infrastructure improvements within the district. Such districts usually have a lifespan set with an expiration date. This one is proposed to last 15 years at which time it will expire. The funds raised within the district could be used to leverage funds from other sources for infrastructure projects.
Projects under consideration in the proposal include a possible stoplight along Highway 93 near Super 1 Foods, extension of public water and sewer or other utilities to properties as they develop or when systems fail, and transportation improvements such as a pedestrian/bike path along Old Corvallis Road.
Public Works Director Donny Ramer said that the City wasn’t looking to go into debt to make infrastructure improvements but would use the money as it became available for projects. He said the City was committed to working with the school district to ensure that establishment of the district would not negatively impact the school funding.
Ramer said that it was hard to estimate how much money the district might generate from these improvements as it depends on so many factors, but an educated and conservative estimate might be from $2 million to $2.5 million over the 15-year lifespan of the district; or about $10,000 to $12,000 annually for use on projects.
Another very important point that came up with respect to inclusion in the district, is that only properties within the city limits may be included. Any property owners outside the city limits would only be allowed into the district if they agreed to being annexed into the City. The City would not be trying to force anyone outside the city into this district. There would be no forced annexation as part of this process.
Some possible benefits to choosing annexation and entering the district could include a waiver of certain fees or the ability to connect the property to services such as water and sewer or storm drainage if and when those services are needed. Anyone with questions about possible annexation can contact City Public Works Director Donny Ramer at 363-6717 or dpw@cityofhamilton.net. You may also contact RCEDA director Julie Foster at 375-9416 or julie@rceda.org.
Julie Foster, Director of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority, said the City would be gathering information and input from the public and, based on that, giving more definition to the District’s boundary lines by including any parties on the edge that desire annexation and inclusion. This will occur over a three-month period stretching through March, April and May.
Formal notice to the school district must be given in June and a Draft Plan of the district will be taken up by the Planning Commission and go through a public review process which could take from June through August.
If all that goes according to schedule, said Foster, the City will spend the time from August through December preparing all the documentation necessary for the Department of Revenue to implement the District beginning in 2019.