December 24, 2004

Timnath takes urban renewal much too far

As Northern Colorado has grown relentlessly for several decades, Timnath has sat meekly on the sidelines
Now Timnath, population 230, is poised to grow. Annexation proceedings are under way that would add some 2,000 acres to the town, located across Interstate 25 from Fort Collins.
Growth is about to catch up.
That?s not necessarily a problem. But Timnath?s approach to supporting that growth is potentially harmful to the rest of Northern Colorado.
On Dec. 15 the Timnath Town Board approved an urban renewal authority to match town boundaries. By association, Timnath officials declared the town to be blighted.
All of it.
That means as the town develops, future property taxes generated from that growth would stay in the urban renewal district for public improvements.
It?s true that urban renewal programs are a standard tool to repair and upgrade specific blighted neighborhoods. But Timnath has gone too far.
First, the town has yet to identify exact projects that are needed in the urban renewal district, the estimated costs of improvements in the district, and a timeline for redevelopment.
Urban renewal should be invoked as an improvement program, not a pot of money for future considerations.
Second, the urban renewal declaration is unrestrained: it applies to all future annexations ? apparently today?s farmland is tomorrow?s blight.
Most disturbing is Timnath?s apparent disregard for the rest of Larimer County.
If all the future property tax gains in Timnath are funneled into the urban renewal authority coffers ? for uses unknown ? then none of it goes to the Poudre School District, Larimer County government, or smaller taxing districts that still must provide services to Timnath.
And if Timnath adds population in accordance with 2,000 acres of urban development, those residents will demand plenty of schooling, policing and health services.
?We will have to provide those services to a much larger Timnath, but will receive no funding,? said Frank Lancaster, County Manager for Larimer County. ?They?ll have to be subsidized by residents in other parts of the county.?
For the record, Larimer County has asked Timnath to consider alternative mechanisms, such as a metropolitan district or special improvement district, which don?t hog tax revenue.
Timnath should go to the negotiating table with the other taxing districts and work out a plan that gives Timnath what it needs, but doesn?t alienate the neighbors.
At any rate, Lancaster contends, legislators are ready to carry bills in the next Colorado General Assembly to make sure other would-be Timnaths are stopped in their tracks.

As Northern Colorado has grown relentlessly for several decades, Timnath has sat meekly on the sidelines
Now Timnath, population 230, is poised to grow. Annexation proceedings are under way that would add some 2,000 acres to the town, located across Interstate 25 from Fort Collins.
Growth is about to catch up.
That?s not necessarily a problem. But Timnath?s approach to supporting that growth is potentially harmful to the rest of Northern Colorado.
On Dec. 15 the Timnath Town Board approved an urban renewal authority to match town boundaries. By association, Timnath officials declared the town to be blighted.
All of…

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