“I would respectfully request that the city voluntarily place this proposal on the ballot for the voters,” he said.

Discussions continued Monday night as residents and city officials continued to tackle the issue of the Spring Street urban renewal and growth boundaries in Klamath Falls. The topic continues to be one of the biggest talking points among residents and property owners as city councilors moved forward with the first reading of an ordinance approving the Spring Street urban renewal plan.

The overall goal of the plan is to help revitalize abandoned, or “blighted,” and underutilized parts of the downtown districts. But some city officials question the current effectiveness of the plan, which would involve a multi-million dollar investment toward efforts that could generate future revenues.

“I’m just seeing too many of our projects that we’re doing and how much it costs to do so little,” said City Councilor Bill Adams. “We’re talking high hopes, but I really don’t think we’ve got a plan out there that’s realistic.”

City Manager Nathan Cherpeski said that the goal of urban renewal is to “revitalize” any of these blighted or underutilized properties. Cherpeski acknowledged that initial revenue generated from such a plan would start small and that it was difficult, regardless of circumstances, to predict where they could wind up in 30 years.

“What we’re trying to do is keep it very broad,” Cherpeski said. “Urban renewal should really be working its way out of business. If you’re successful you shouldn’t need to do it anymore.”

Process and purpose

The city has $9 million available for the project over the course of 30 years. Major fixes would include street repaving, waterline extension and other general improvements, according to Joe Wall, management assistant to the city manager.

Wall said that the entire area was higher functioning several years ago but has since declined.

“The assessed value has kind of trailed other portions of the city,” Wall said.

The Spring Street area is currently assessed around $39 million and includes the former Balsiger property, which sits along Main Street and Esplanade Avenue.

Once an area gets designated for urban renewal, the tax assessed property values are then frozen, according to Elaine Howard Consulting. Taxes from the so-called “frozen base” then go to all taxing jurisdictions, while increases in taxes over the base go toward the urban renewal agency for use in the area.

Major goals of the project include helping to increase local economies, transportation and public utilities. Subgroups of these goals include growth of existing businesses, attracting new businesses and improving access to these areas.

Representatives from Elaine Howard Consulting, were also at the meeting with a presentation and figures of their own. Among their displays were charts that showed how the addition of a new development of the Main and Esplanade project could double or even triple annual net revenues in the future.

Community concerns

Several residents showed continued concerns in the process, questioning what exactly would happen and what it means in the long run.

John O’Neill, a property owner in the city, asked city officials what’s in it for them.

“There’s been a lot of numbers thrown around on this project,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill also brought up the need for fixing roads in the areas, asking if an entire urban renewal project would be necessary just to fix a few rough patches.

Cherpeski acknowledged that the roads needed some work and that there had been some slowdown on both the public and private side. He said the city is in the process of analyzing drain systems in the urban renewal areas, stating he wanted to make sure nothing else needed to be fixed beneath the roads before repairing them.

“The last thing I want to do is put a brand new road over a 100-year-old water line or sewer line,” Cherpeski said. “We need to address that.”

Mike Hitson, another area property owner, said he believes a serious workforce problem in the community should be addressed first and foremost before working on additional properties.

“You can tear every building down in that area and build brand new state-of-the-art buildings, but unless you’ve got people you can put in there, you’re wasting your time,” Hitson said.

Adams shared similar thoughts and said he agreed with Hitson.

“There is a real problem with the workforce in this community,” Adams said. “And a lot of them just flat out don’t want to work.”

Investments, outcome

In addition, Adams said he was hesitant to put more money into the projects without really knowing what they might be getting in the end. He also mentioned how they had already invested at least $500,000 into the former Balsiger property, and that the number would reach roughly $2 million when they were done.

Overall, Adams said he was concerned that the money they would put into the Spring Street projects might not be enough.

“Maybe it’ll pay off, maybe it won’t,” Adams said. “I would really rather see our districts, the county, our fire district, our police department get the funds they should be getting than put the money into that.”

In the end, Wall said the meeting was positive overall. He said he appreciated the amount of comments presented at the meeting, emphasizing that more discussions with additional details needed to happen.

“I think everyone recognizes that something has to be done in that area,” he said. “Regardless or not if you agree with certain projects, I think there has to be some level of new investment.”

A second reading on the Spring Street urban renewal proposal is scheduled for Nov. 6.

To read this article and others on the H&N website, please refer to the link below:

Spring Street Renewal Plan Moves Forward (H&N)