Lake City Development Corp., the urban renewal agency for Coeur d'Alene currently working on the McEuen Park plan, Midtown revitalization, and education corridor infrastructure, is amassing an extensive portfolio of "catalytic projects" aimed at attracting and promoting economic growth.

Past works include roles in developing public amenities and infrastructure serving the McEuen Terrace and Parkside Tower downtown high-rise buildings, the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Community Center, the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, and more than a dozen other high-profile projects.

Tony Berns, LCDC's executive director and lone staff member, says LCDC works independently and through collaborative partnerships with public agencies and private parties focusing on master planning, historic preservation, infrastructure, and facility development.

Coeur d'Alene City Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander says such urban renewal agencies are the only local mechanisms the Idaho Legislature has authorized to collect and spend tax dollars specifically to compete with jurisdictions in other states that provide developer incentives to attract economic development.

"LCDC creates jobs," says Goodlander, who also is a commissioner on LCDC's nine-member board.

LCDC's original redevelopment district, now called the Lake District, covers 729 acres and was created in 1997. It includes most of downtown, a portion of the Fourth Street corridor called Midtown, and areas bordering Northwest Boulevard.

In 2003, the City Council approved a second district called the River District, which encompasses 363 acres including areas south of Interstate 90 along the Spokane River, extending from the west portion of the Riverstone development west to the city of Huetter. The Lake and River districts sunset in 2021 and 2027, respectively.

LCDC collects tax increments from within the districts to fund infrastructure and facilities that contribute to economic development and benefit the public, Berns says. Tax-increment revenues are derived from the increases in taxable property values within the life of the district.

Berns says the agency has played some role in developing facilities that have created "hundreds and hundreds" of jobs, including more than 800 jobs in the Riverstone 160-acre mixed use development for which LCDC has reimbursed the developer there $1.5 million for public infrastructure improvements. LCDC also has a $6.7 million commitment in a developer-partnership agreement for a park and pond project there.

While that might seem like a small part of the more than $200 million in private funds invested in Riverstone, which overlaps LCDC's two tax-increment financing districts, Berns says it can be instrumental in overall financing.

"When a lending organization sees a city or urban renewal agency is supportive, that helps the project with its financing structure," he says.

Such projects have helped raise the taxable property value by $341 million in the Lake District and $147 million in the River District since the districts were created, respectively, he says, bringing the total tax-increment revenues to LCDC to $27 million.

In an upcoming project, LCDC will fund a major portion of the city's plan to convert the 15-acre McEuen Field site into a multipurpose park at the base of Tubbs Hill, Berns says.

The McEuen project also would remove baseball fields there.

A divided Coeur d'Alene City Council last week approved a $2 million design contract to Team McEuen for a somewhat scaled back vision for the initial phase of McEuen Park.

The first-phase cost of park improvements now is estimated at $14.2 million, of which LCDC has pledged $11.5 million. The project would include reconstructing Front Avenue between Second and Sixth streets, and putting in a grand plaza and pavilion, and a play area with splash pad.

The plan would retain the Third Street boat ramp, which earlier plans had envisioned removing from downtown and replacing elsewhere. Boat trailer parking, though, would be moved from the west side of McEuen Park to the to a lot that would be accessed from Seventh Street, south of City Hall, on the east side of the park under the current plan.

"Waterfront property is just too valuable to park boat trailers on," Goodlander says.

Likewise, a city parking lot next to the current boat trailer parking lot would be removed and replaced with a parking on the south side of Front Avenue that would include at least one level of underground parking.

"We'll be getting parking under the street so we'll have more green space," she says.

Goodlander says McEuen Field was one of LCDC's original charges when the agency was formed, but different incarnations of contentious improvement plans have kept it from moving forward.

"The council says to the urban district that we want to keep downtown vital and healthy," Goodlander says. "We have some really wonderful forefathers who secured waterfront for the public, and we want to connect the city to the waterfront wherever we can."

LCDC's current annual budget is $18.5 million, which includes $6.6 million carried over from 2011, an estimated 2012 tax increment of $5.1 million, and a bond draw of $6 million.

The bond draw, most of which would be used for McEuen Park depending on how far that plan proceeds, would come from a line of credit LCDC has established with Spokane-based Washington Trust Bank, Berns says.

LCDC's projected 2012 expenses total $13.7 million, including $4.9 million in payments on debt principal, $1.7 million for developer-partnership agreements, and $1.4 million for education corridor infrastructure.

The budget projects a year-end fund balance of $4.8 million.

LCDC, however, isn't without detractors.

Longtime LCDC critic Dan Gookin, along with Steve Adams, was elected to the Coeur d'Alene City Council in November on a platform calling for a public vote on the McEuen Park plan.

Gookin says he's concerned the City Council has empowered LCDC to circumvent the voting process that would have been required if the city had wanted authority to borrow against anticipated revenue to fund park improvements.

He contends the LCDC's districts are too large and collect tax increments from projects the agency isn't involved in, such as the Lowe's Cos. building, at 901 W. Appleway. Instead of going to LCDC, such taxes could be funding services that taxpayers outside of the district are subsidizing, Gookin says.

"We all pay a little more for urban renewal," he says.

Gookin also is skeptical about LCDCs claims of job creation and retention.

"The D in LCDC stands for development," he says. "LCDC pays lip service to jobs, but career and long-term jobs aren't the goal of LCDC."

Education corridor

One LCDC project Gookin does approve of is its involvement in the education corridor.

"The education corridor was done properly," he says. "It's very transparent, and everything going on there will be owned by the public."

The education corridor project was spurred by the 2008 closure of Portland-based Stimson Lumber Co.'s DeArmond Mill, located on 17 acres of land to the north of the North Idaho College campus.

The corridor includes North Idaho College and satellite facilities for Moscow-based University of Idaho and Lewiston-based Lewis-Clark State College, all of which plan to expand a collaborative education environment there.

A contract will be awarded soon for Phase 1B infrastructure work, which will connect River Avenue east of NIC to Northwest Boulevard. Three bids were submitted last week, and the apparent low bidder is Interstate Concrete & Asphalt Co., of Coeur d'Alene, which bid $1.07 million.

Last year, LCDC funded the $3.6 million initial part of Phase 1 in the education corridor. That work included constructing the roadway and installing a new traffic signal at the intersection of Hubbard Avenue and Northwest Boulevard, creating the northern entry to the education corridor.

Mic Armon, chairman of the NIC board, says when Phase 1B is completed, the college will have three entrances where it only had one before the LCDC projects.

Without LCDC funding, it would have taken a substantial amount of time to come up with alternate financing for such projects, he says.

"We would probably have had a flat piece of property with no infrastructure or access for many years," Armon says of initial improvements at the former mill site.

The overall vision for the education corridor is still being shaped, he says.

"There are about 13 potential building sites on that property," Armon says. "A long-term plan will be developed as needs come available."

Midtown

In Coeur d'Alene's Midtown area, which is centered on the Fourth Street corridor north of downtown, a $9.1 million workforce housing project might get off the ground this year if it receives approval for housing tax credits from the Idaho Housing Finance Association, Berns says.

LCDC has pledged $547,000 toward the project, which would include 45 low-income rental units on the 800 block of Fourth.

The project, which would be developed by The Housing Corp., an Idaho nonprofit, would include a four-story structure with 9,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom living units on the second through fourth floors.

Miller Stauffer Architects PA, of Coeur d'Alene, designed the project. A contractor hasn't been selected for it yet.

Dick Stauffer, a principal in Miller Stauffer, says infrastructure work already done through LCDC in Midtown has made the area more economically vibrant. That work included a $4 million beautification project that upgraded streets and sidewalks along a 10-block stretch of Fourth Street.

"It's not only effective, but forward thinking," he says of LCDC. "It's really looking at the next generation and people who will benefit."

LCDC also assisted in funding infrastructure projects at the McEuen Terrace and Parkside Tower high rises, both of which Miller Stauffer developed on the east edge of downtown, north of McEuen Field.

Through developer-partnership agreements, LCDC committed $343,000 for site remediation and public right-of-way improvements at McEuen Terrace, and $820,000 for Parkside Tower for public right-of-way improvements and moving utilities.

The developers, though, paid for the infrastructure up front, and receive 75 percent of the tax increment until they are fully refunded.

McEuen Terrace opened in 2002 and since has recovered developer-partnership costs through LCDC.

Through the remainder of the life of the Lake District, the tax increment coming from that project will help pay for McEuen Park and Midtown, among other LCDC projects, Berns says.

The agency's future goals include funding a parking structure on Fourth Street next to the old Federal Building, which is owned by Kootenai County.

LCDC has been buying up property on that block.

"We've got a good footprint of public space," Berns says. "We're not sure when we're going to pull the trigger on it. It's another three or four years out."