The City of Hamilton has adopted an ordinance creating the North Hamilton Renewal District. A District Plan was also adopted which includes a tax increment provision as a financial mechanism for funding improvements to the infrastructure in the area.
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.
The City Council made such a finding last December and passed a resolution designating a blighted area at the north end of the city. The “Statement of Blight” documented four conditions of blight, including defective and inadequate street layout and connectivity, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, mixed uses of land and buildings and diversity of ownership. It 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 District boundary includes 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.
According to Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, it was discovered after the boundary lines had been set that a small portion of the district is located in the Corvallis School District. It was decided to just leave it and include it in the District. The Corvallis School District agreed and approved the plan and will have the right to participate on the advisory board that will recommend project plans for City Council review.
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. At past meetings, 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 has stated 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.
Mahar noted that the City was working with the Department of Revenue to arrive at a Base Value for the District in terms of tax revenue by a February 1 deadline. All future increases in tax revenues above that amount over the life of the District will be earmarked for infrastructure projects within the district.
Ramer stated in past hearings 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.