Economy & Economic Development  November 13, 2015

Carbon Valley towns target blighted areas

Urban renewal a common tool for growing cities

The Carbon Valley has been one of the fastest-growing areas outside of Denver since the late ’90s, so it isn’t surprising that Firestone, Frederick and Dacono want to stamp out blight in their areas so their towns can continue to grow and prosper.

Blight describes an area that has a number of urban problems, including health and social deficiencies and physical deterioration. According to Colorado Urban Renewal Law, areas that show evidence of four out of 11 blight factors can take advantage of tax-increment financing to help remediate the blight and make the properties usable again from a development and community aspect.

All three cities have formed urban-renewal authorities to examine different segments of their towns that show evidence of blight. In the past year, all of the towns have initiated blight studies.

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Frederick

Matt LeCerf, town manager for Frederick, said the town has done several blight studies, three that have been completed and three urban-renewal areas that the town is working on right now. The last three studies should be completed by the end of the year.

Urban renewal acts as a very beneficial economic-development tool for the community and developers if evidence of blight is found, LeCerf said.

Frederick’s No. 1 goal is to eliminate the elements of blight that exist in the area.

“That will be achieved by having a relationship with a developer that wants to work together to eliminate the conditions of blight,” he said. “It works in eliminating eyesores and blight in the community, as well as an economic-development tool to build something we can all be proud of as a result of eliminating blight.”

To establish an urban-renewal authority, towns must get the support of many registered voters in the community who support the establishment of an Urban Renewal Board.

“You need to get buy in and educate citizenry about how it can work as an economic-development tool with respect to the properties included in urban-renewal areas,” LeCerf said. “The town of Frederick has taken a position where the establishment of urban-renewal areas is a partnership. We don’t believe we should be creating an urban-renewal area on any property unless it is OK with and a desire from the property owners as well.”

In March, Frederick conducted a blight study on three of its own properties, including the former town Public Works Building and two adjacent vacant lots. The vacant, dilapidated building served as the town’s public works building from September 1999 to November 2014.

The property is adjacent to a brand-new high school, and the town believes the property could be used for something better if all conditions of blight are eradicated. The town hopes that a private entity will purchase the 1.15-acre property and turn it into retail space or a restaurant, which would result in significant sales-tax revenue for the town over the 25-year life of the proposed tax-increment financing term and the creation of jobs in the area, the report stated.

The town’s survey of the site identified eight factors of blight, according to state regulations, including faulty lots, slum, deteriorated or deteriorating conditions, faulty street layout, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, deteriorating site or substandard improvements, unusual topography or inadequate public improvements and site underutilization.

It also is conducting studies on privately owned properties as well. One is out by the interchange, one is along Colorado Highway 52 and Colorado Boulevard, and another is by the Frontage Road. They vary in size from 5 acres to 140 acres.

LeCerf said that many Colorado municipalities are trying to get blight studies done by the end of the year because Colorado law is expected to change as of Jan. 1.

“There’s a lot of ambiguity and a lot of elements related to the new law that creates some uncertainty about what will happen Jan. 1,” he said.

Frederick found blight on the first three properties on which it conducted blight studies. Nothing has happened on one of the properties, but the town eliminated blighted structures from the other two properties that were not safe for occupancy, he said.

Firestone

Firestone commissioned a blight study at the end of January 2015. The town allocated $25,000 for the assessment. The town hired Denver-based consulting firm Matrix Design Group to conduct its study.

Firestone looked at eight properties, some within Firestone proper and others in adjacent unincorporated land.

The properties in the study are bounded by Interstate 25 to the west, Bella Rosa Parkway to the south, Colorado Highway 66 to the north and Weld County Road 17 to the east. There are two exceptions, the Del Camino properties, which are just west of the I-25/Colorado Highway 119 interchange, and the Del Rey West property, which lies just south of Bella Rosa Parkway.

In its study, Firestone identified seven blight factors, including slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures; faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; unsanitary or unsafe conditions; unusual topography or inadequate public improvements or utilities; existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes; buildings that are unsafe or unhealthy for persons to live or work in because of building code violations, dilapidation, deterioration, defective design, physical construction or faulty or inadequate facilities; the existence of health, safety or welfare factors requiring higher levels of municipal services or substantial physical underutilization or vacancy of sites, buildings or other improvements.

The study found that many urban areas don’t have curbs or sidewalks, making them unsafe for pedestrians. Other areas don’t have the drainage infrastructure they need to handle the greater than 1 percent chance those areas will flood every year. Without those controls, the properties can’t be redeveloped. Many of the properties in the blight study were severely damaged during the September 2013 flood.

Many roads in the study area don’t cross the St. Vrain River, which causes connectivity issues, the study found. The frontage road on the east side of I-25 also needs to be upgraded to accommodate increased traffic, but it can’t expand to the west because of the I-25 right of way, and it is difficult to expand to the east because of a steep grade where it crosses the river, the report found. That project will cost a great deal of money to complete.

Dacono

The city of Dacono authorized a condition survey at the July 13, 2015, meeting of the Economic Development Authority of Dacono. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether adverse conditions exist on the public and private parcels and public rights of way in the survey area. The town released the results of its blight study at a Nov. 2 meeting of its Economic Development Authority of Dacono, but Community Development Director Jennifer Krieger was not available for comment on its findings.

The Carbon Valley has been one of the fastest-growing areas outside of Denver since the late ’90s, so it isn’t surprising that Firestone, Frederick and Dacono want to stamp out blight in their areas so their towns can continue to grow and prosper.

Blight describes an area that has a number of urban problems, including health and social deficiencies and physical deterioration. According to Colorado Urban Renewal Law, areas that show evidence of four out of 11 blight factors can take advantage of tax-increment financing to help remediate the blight and make the properties usable again…

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