Lafayette voters will likely get say on Downtown Development Authority creation

LAFAYETTE — Lafayette city officials gave preliminary approval on Tuesday to an ordinance that would allow voters to decide whether to replace the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority with a Lafayette Downtown Development Authority. 

Established in 1999 in an effort to revitalize an area of Old Town generally located along a stretch of Public Road from Baseline Road to the north to South Boulder Road to the south, LURA’s tax-increment financing is “sunsetting this year” in October, Lafayette economic development director Brigid Keating said. 

In anticipation of this funding expiration, city leaders and staff established the Old Town Tomorrow: The LURA Transition Project working group to evaluate options for continuing revitalization and economic-development work in Lafayette’s core district. 

“We have been working for over two years now on this. The Old Town Tomorrow project working group evaluated four options for Old Town after LURA, and what was recommended was Downtown Development Authority,” Keating said. “A DDA was recommended as a best alternative to support businesses, serve as a unified voice for Old Town and continue to revitalize the city’s downtown while also preserving its diverse, creative and eclectic character.”

A DDA, according to a Louisville staff memo, “is a quasi-governmental entity that provides both organization and financing for downtown revitalization efforts. It operates in an accountable and transparent manner and can utilize tax increment financing to fund district improvements. TIF is a tool used by local governments across the country to fund improvements in a specified area without raising taxes. Instead, as an area’s property and sales tax revenues increase, that value is captured and reinvested to fund improvements that will help achieve a community’s desired goals.”

The ordinance passed on first reading by Lafayette City Council this week would put two measures on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The first establishes the future Lafayette DDA’s existence and mission, which, according to the ballot language, includes “facilitat(ing) economic development and redevelopment of properties and infrastructure within the City’s central business district” and “halt(ing) or prevent(ing) the growth of blighted areas within such district.”

The second ballot measure allows the DDA to collect, retain and spend money for the purposes set forth in the first measure. 

A second and final reading of the ordinance to put the DDA question before voters is expected to occur on Aug. 20.