LITTLETON — City leaders on Tuesday set the stage to dismantle Littleton’s urban renewal authority and the dissolution of three of four redevelopment areas in the city, conceding at some level that revitalization efforts in this southern suburb had become “increasingly divisive and political for the city and its citizens.”
But a big wrinkle developed during the meeting when a motion put on the table by Councilman Jerry Valdes passed by a slim 4-3 vote, keeping alive the urban renewal designation for Columbine Square, a mostly shuttered strip mall at East Belleview Avenue and South Federal Boulevard.
Deputy city manager Mike Braaten told the council that keeping that single redevelopment area intact would necessitate a governmental body, presumably an urban renewal authority, to administer it. Abolishing Littleton Invests for Tomorrow, or LIFT, the city’s current urban renewal authority, could present a complication, he said.
In a sign of just how complicated the issue of urban renewal has become for Littleton, the council put off to Dec. 6 its final vote on the future of LIFT and the city’s three other redevelopment areas: North Broadway, Littleton Boulevard and Santa Fe.
Only a handful of Colorado communities have done away with their urban renewal authorities, including Windsor, Estes Park and Castle Pines. Urban renewal law, which gives local governments public financing powers to inject life into economically lagging parts of town, has been widely used in Colorado, including at the Denver Pavilions on the 16th Street Mall, the Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial and Lakewood’s Belmar.
Councilman Bill Hopping questioned his colleagues about whether they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they were to do away with LIFT.
“It works in other communities and it works well,” Hopping said. “There is no reason it can’t work here.”
But urban renewal skeptics claim LIFT has not performed well. They argue that it is not needed to attract development to Littleton and that using redevelopment tools, such as tax-increment financing, requires the issuance of bonds and presents unnecessary risks to the city’s finances.
Paul Bingham, a Littleton resident who has long opposed LIFT, told the council Tuesday that the city’s planning and zoning department has received plenty of interest from developers in just the past 90 days without LIFT’s help.
“If we get rid of urban renewal, we still have ways to develop,” Bingham said. “It’s called market forces.”
Littleton’s move Tuesday, though preliminary, was “unusual,” according to Kevin Bommer, deputy director of the Colorado Municipal League. But he said it is within the rights of a home-rule city to do so and it wouldn’t mean Littleton will necessarily miss out on future redevelopment opportunities.
“Littleton is clearly one of the crown-jewel cities,” he said. “People want to be there and development will certainly come at a level and pace the council sees as appropriate.”
But a few people who spoke Tuesday urged the council to not kill LIFT.
That included Kyle Schlachter, a LIFT board member, who said it is the council’s “responsibility to allow the city to reach its full potential” by keeping the authority intact.
Norman Stucker, a former South Metro Denver Chamber board member, pleaded with the council to allow more time for property owners in the redevelopment areas to respond to the city’s plan.
“If the intent is to just kill urban renewal, you can do that — but just be transparent about it,” he said.
Littleton has been at the forefront of a long-running dispute over urban renewal, which came to a head last year when voters passed a ballot issue that required commonly used urban renewal tactics, such as tax increment financing or eminent domain, to first go to a vote of the people.
