Vollmer Prepares Bill To Blight St. Aloysius
Alderman Vollmer’s latest bill is BB368, a measure to blight the city block known for the last century as St. Aloysius, and provide for 10-year tax abatement on the new development.
It looks from the wording that the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) will hear the plan at their next public meeting on Tuesday January 24, 2006 at 3pm (more info).
For those of you following along at home here are all the dates that I know of at this time where the public, especially neighborhood residents, can share their views:
Note: don’t be confused by the dates on the SWGNA website, those are meeting dates for 2004 — not 2006.
– Steve
The fundamental problem is that it’s (become?) waaaaaay too easy to “blight” a property. For a property to be truly blighted, it needs to (or should) be a slum or a derelict industrial site. It shouldn’t just be a perfunctory hurdle in the legislative process.
If I remember correctly, Colorado made it tougher by requiring that a property needs to meet 6 out of 8 criteria (up from 1 of 8) before a government can declare it “blighted”. While this would make it harder for all the cities in St. Louis County to play TIF roulette, in the long run it should benefit all taxpapyers in the metro area . . .
Steve, from a legal standpoint, does blighting a property make it exempt from Preservation Board review?