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Bill
Concerning Urban Renewal and Agricultural
Land Passes First Test in House
House Bill 10-1107, Concerning Limitations
on the Inclusion of Agricultural Lands
within Urban Renewal Areas, was heard by
House Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural
Resources Committee yesterday (February 2,
2010). The bill was amended and passed to
the House Committee of the Whole for 2nd
reading.
HB10-1107
would prohibit the inclusion of agricultural
lands within URAs with the following
exceptions: (1) is a brownfield site; (2) is
at least two-thirds contiguous to urban
level development and one half of the area
is urban level development; (3) is an
enclave surrounded by urban level
development; (4) there is agreement to
inclusion by all affected taxing entities;
or (5) it was included in URA as of
effective date of bill. The bill also
would replace the current agricultural
assessed value of land for tax increment
purposes to its market value, which would
increase the TIF base.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Randy Fischer
(D-Larimer) presented the bill, discussing
the impacts created when agricultural lands
are included in an Urban Renewal Area. He
indicated that the bill was just as much
about maintaining pristine agricultural
areas as it is about addressing the impacts
when URA and TIF are used to develop these
areas. According to Rep. Fischer, the bill
will also “level the playing field” between
downtown areas that need redevelopment that
can be more costly then building new
developments on vacant land.
The Colorado State Fire Chiefs Association
supports this bill as it begins to address
one of the impacts of Tax Increment
Financing on fire protection districts, but
made clear that it did not represent an
“end-all” solution. The CSFCA information
sheet on this bill, that served as the basis
of the Association’s testimony can be found
here. The
CSFCA also expressed support for the bill on
behalf of the Special District’s Association
(with their permission).
CML (Mark Radtke) testified in support of
the bill, but indicated that CML would be
seeking amendments to strike the provision
that the valuation of ag land increases to
the fair market value for determining the
TIF base; that ag land can be included if
jobs would be created; and that clarifies
the provisions of the bill cannot be applied
retroactively.
Michael Tedesco, Executive Director for the
Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority and Larry
Atencio, Pueblo City Council President
testified in support of the bill, indicating
that it was a reasonable approach. Both
testified on the need to allow ag lands be
included in URAs as they would not have been
able to attract new industries, such as
Vestas without this ability. They testified
that they would like the bill amended to
allow ag land to be included in a URA if but
expressed the desire that the bill be
amended to allow ag land to be included in
URAs if it would result in the creation of
primary jobs.
Rep. Fischer and other members of the
committee questioned how you would define
“primary jobs” and how you would determine
if the URA was creating them (versus
transferring jobs from a neighboring
community).
Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson
and Larimer County Manager Frank Lancaster
both testified in support of the bill.
Commissioner Johnson discussed the problems
of including ag land in a URA and expressed
that it stretches the URA statutes beyond
their intent. He said that development of
ag land is generally neither “urban” or
“renewal”; it is new development on vacant
land. One issue raised by Commissioner
Johnson is how long the land would have to
be zoned as agricultural.
Others that testified in support of the bill
were Mayor Doug Hutchinson of Fort Collins,
Stephanie Thomas of the Colorado
Environmental Coalition, and a
representative of the Colorado Farm Bureau.
Carolynne White, an attorney with Brownstein
Hyatt Farber Schreck, who represents a
number of URAs, testified in opposition to
the bill due to the chilling effect it would
have on the creation of URA’s. She
expressed that the bill could be improved
with some of the amendments that had been
discussed.
Dick McLean, Mayor of the City of Brighton;
Manuel Esquibel, City Manager; and a
representative of the Brighton Chamber of
Commerce all testified against the bill.
Mayor McLean expressed that they would not
have been able to bring Vestas to their
community, with all the jobs they bring, if
this law had been in place. He expressed
that Brighton brought all affected taxing
entities together to determine how to go
forward with this URA and share revenue.
Rep. Fischer indicated that reaching
agreement with all taxing entities was one
of the ways his bill would allow ag land be
included in a URA.
The committee also heard from the bill
drafter that the requirements of the bill
would not apply retroactively to URAs that
existed prior to enactment, unless the Urban
Renewal plan is substantially modified.
An amendment to require agricultural land be
assessed as such for five years before it
has the ag designation for the purposes of
inclusion in a URA was passed. Another
amendment that deletes the requirement for
cities to submit the URA plan to counties,
in cases where the entity is a city and
county, was also passed. An amendment that
would have allowed ag land to be included in
the URA when the only TIF revenue to be used
is sales tax, failed.
The bill, as amended, was passed unanimously
to the House Committee of the Whole, for 2nd
reading. It is anticipated that an
amendment to allow ag land to be included in
URAs if it would result in the creation of
primary jobs will be offered on 2nd
reading. The preamended version of the bill
will be posted when it is available.
For more information on the impacts of Tax
Increment Financing on fire protection
districts, see the CSFCA issue brief
here.
In other action at the Capitol yesterday,
HB10-1018,
Concerning Increased Authority to Regulate
Waste Tires (Rep. Looper and Primavera, Sen.
Gibbs) was heard by House Transportation and
Energy Committee. The bill had significant
amendments, including those proposed by the
CSFCA, and the hearing lasted until 6 p.m.
The bill, as amended, was ultimately passed
unanimously to House Appropriations
Committee.
Please watch the CSFCA legislative page for
updates and status sheets contact Paul
Cooke, CSFCA Executive Director or Steve
Pischke, Legislative Committee Chair, if you
have any questions.
Posted 02-03-10 |
