Preparing an
Urban Redevelopment Plan
Step by Step
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 1
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Why develop a URA plan?
• Provides cities and counties the power to
rehabilitate, conserve or redevelop a blighted
area
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 2
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Why develop a URA plan?
• Additional CDBG funding possibility through
Revitalization Area Strategies
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 3
Urban Redevelopment Plans
CDBG Revitalization Area Strategies
• RAS designation allows municipalities to
apply for CDBG every year
• Provides up to 20 points on CDBG annual
competition
• Provides 5 points on CHIP annual
competition and Set-aside (if available)
• Some $ may be available for planning
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 4
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Why develop a URA plan?
• Additional CDBG funding possibility through
Revitalization Area Strategies
• Expanding access to job tax credits through
Opportunity Zones
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 5
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Are You Considering
an Opportunity Zone?
Check the economic development section of our web site for the
interactive map of qualifying (15% or greater poverty)
census block groups.
www.dca.ga.gov
Enabling Economic Development
Development Tools
Opportunity Zones
Interactive Map of Potential OZ Areas
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 6
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Opportunity Zones
• 15% or greater poverty level.
• Area is part of:
▪ An Enterprise Zone
OR
▪ Where an Urban Redevelopment Plan (URP)
has been adopted.
• Area displays pervasive poverty, underdevelopment,
general distress and blight.
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 7
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Opportunity Zones Job tax credits
•
•
•
•
Any business may qualify.
Must create 2 full-time jobs (35+hrs.) to qualify
Tax credits are $3,500 per job
Each net new job eligible to claim the credit
for 5 years.
• Credit can be used against 100% of tax liability
with excess available to claim against
payroll withholding
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 8
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Who can Use the
Urban Redevelopment Act?
• Cities
• County
• City and county jointly (through
intergovernmental agreement)
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 9
Urban Redevelopment Plans
First Step in developing URP:
Issue Identification
What problems are you trying to address using the Urban
Redevelopment Law (O.C.G.A. 36-61)?
What resources are you trying to access?
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 10
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Some possible goals of URP:
▪ Revitalizing deteriorating neighborhoods
▪ Supporting nuisance ordinances to reduce
litter and crime
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 11
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Dealing with Slums
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 12
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Cleaning up nuisance properties
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 13
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Compatible infill development and
affordable housing
• Defining architectural character
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 14
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Deteriorating intown neighborhoods and vacant
properties
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 15
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• New town communities and planned unit
development
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 16
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Sidewalks and safer streets
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 17
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Humanized, accessible, green
public spaces
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 18
Urban Redevelopment Plans
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 19
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• More Possible Goals
▪ Attracting experienced developers and investors
▪ Partnering on brownfield projects
▪ Creatively financing public facilities and
infrastructure
▪ Enabling downtown projects beyond the normal
powers or district boundaries of a Downtown
Development Authority
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 20
Urban Redevelopment Plans
More possible goals:
▪ Dealing with badly sited or nuisance activities
▪ Cleaning up environmental hazards
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 21
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Possible goals:
▪ Reusing obsolete facilities: old plants and schools
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 22
Urban Redevelopment Plans
More Possible Goals
▪ Creating a mixed use, entertainment or other
special character area
▪ Reinvigorating declining commercial strips
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 23
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Infilling grayfields and former big box sites
• Enabling mixed –use development
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 24
Urban Redevelopment Plans
The Brainstorming Phase
• List all possible local applications for the Act
▪ Highlight potential redevelopment areas containing
these potential projects on a map
▪ Eliminate any area that might not be appropriate for
political or other reasons
▪ Superimpose block group boundaries meeting
poverty criteria
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 25
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Definition of a “Slum Area”
Any area where there are a predominance of buildings or
improvements that are conducive to:
▪ ill health,
▪
▪
▪
▪
transmission of disease,
infant mortality,
juvenile delinquency,
crime, or
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 26
Urban Redevelopment Plans
What is a Slum Area?
• Caused by such buildings or improvements being:
▪ dilapidated,
▪
▪
▪
▪
deteriorated,
old,
obsolescent,
inadequately designed for ventilation, air, light,
sanitation, or open spaces,
▪ over-populated.
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 27
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Review Existing Plans and Documents
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Your Comprehensive Plan
Small Area Plans
Downtown Master Plans
LCI Plans (ARC region)
Housing Plans
Tourism and Marketing Studies
Environmental and Historic Preservation documents
Local Development Regulations
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 28
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Timing and Scope
▪ A single phased plan
▪ New URA plans adopted over time
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 29
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Questions to Consider Up Front
▪
▪
▪
▪
What are our top priorities?
How much should we bite off at once?
What are the risks or impediments?
Do we have political support from elected
officials?
▪ Does the local government want to delegate
its redevelopment powers under the Act?
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 30
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Assembling a Preliminary Working Group
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
City/county manager
Elected officials
Planning staff
Fiscal officers
Representatives from relevant authorities
Public works/infrastructure staff
Local government attorney
Tax commissioner
Downtown manager
Public safety personnel
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 31
Urban Redevelopment Plans
People to Involve After the Initial
Data- Gathering Stage
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Neighborhood representatives
Downtown merchant representatives
Real estate professionals
Banking community
Major employers
Property owners in the proposed areas
Press
Relevant non-profits
Neighboring governments
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 32
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Choosing the Appropriate Implementing Entity
▪
▪
▪
▪
City or County
Downtown Development Authority (DDA)
Housing Authority
New Urban Redevelopment Authority
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 33
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Evaluate Your Local Organizational Capacity
▪ Do you have a DDA? If so, are they appropriately
skilled and interested?
▪ Do you have a housing authority?
(same questions)
▪ Do the most promising redevelopment areas and
proposed projects fall under their areas of
operation?
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 34
Urban Redevelopment Plans
City or County as implementing agency
•
•
•
•
Single purpose projects
Intergovernmental contracts will not be critical
Other competent organizations do not exist
Local government wants tight staff control of the
project
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 35
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Downtown Development Authority
▪ The target area fall primarily within the existing
DDA boundary
▪ The existing DDA is competent and interested in
taking on the project
▪ The projects are consistent with the DDAs statutory
or constitutional powers of the DDA
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 36
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Housing Authority
▪ The project goals primarily focus on neighborhood
revitalization, infill or housing rehabilitation
▪ The Housing Authority has the experience and skill set
to take on the project
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 37
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Urban Redevelopment Agency
▪ Political clout, credibility or a special skill set will be needed
▪ Project is primarily outside DDA or
Housing Authority boundaries
▪ Intergovernmental contracts will be important
▪ Project will involve issuing revenue bonds
▪ Project is multidimensional
▪ Local government wants more control over
specific powers being delegated
▪ City/county project (example: corridor revitalization)
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 38
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Other Advantages of Creating an Urban
Redevelopment Agency
▪ No political history or baggage
▪ Opportunity to customize skill mix and include
interest groups
▪ Local government can determine number of
members, set term limits, sunset provisions
▪ Members need not live in or own property in
URA district
▪ URA has no other responsibilities
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 39
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Delegation of “Redevelopment Powers”
▪ Local government can pick and choose which
powers to delegate
▪ Once delegated the local government gives away
these powers
▪ Local government may wish to take these powers back
through an intergovernmental agreement executed upon
delegation of the powers
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 40
Urban Redevelopment Plans
To Use the URA a Community Must Declare
“Slum and Blight”
• “Slum and blight” designation is a matter of
local legislative determination
• Data backing this designation is not specified
in the Act
• It is important to draw rational boundaries!
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 41
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Tips on Drawing Rational Boundaries
▪ Consider existing organizational boundaries
▪ Look at zoning districts carefully
▪ Some greenfield can be included, but
don’t ignore real blight
▪ Look at block group poverty criteria
▪ Don’t draw a line down the middle of a major arterial
▪ Make sure neighborhoods actually want
to be included
▪ Try not to split parcels
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 42
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Data Supporting the Slum Designation
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Lower than average growth in assessed tax value
Fewer new building permits than elsewhere
Deteriorated housing and building conditions
Visual Blight and litter
High crime statistics
Unemployment
Vacancy rates
Bankruptcies and business closings
Substandard public infrastructure
Bad street or lot layout
Fractured or unclear property ownership (clouded titles)
Delinquent property taxes
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 43
Urban Redevelopment Plans
The First Legal Step
• Adoption of a resolution by the city or county
finding that:
▪ one or more slum areas exist, and
▪ the rehabilitation, conservation, or
redevelopment of such area is in the interest
of the public health, safety, morals, or welfare
of the residents of the city or county.
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 44
Urban Redevelopment Plans
What’s next?
• Hold a public hearing
• Adopt a plan, that designates an
entity to implement the URP
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 45
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Proper Notice
• Advertise two weeks before
the public hearing in a local
circulation newspaper
• Suggested: Put the URA Plan on
display at a public building or the
public library
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 46
Urban Redevelopment Plans
• Consistency with the Comprehensive Plan
is required
▪ Urban Redevelopment Plan must be consistent
with the community’s “general plan”
▪ Be sure to describe relevant Comp. Plan goals
and policies in the URP text
▪ Update/revise the comprehensive plan
if necessary
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 47
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Avoid Drawing Out the Process
• Avoid a lot of publicity in the brainstorming phase
• Have most of your data gathering and planning
done before passing the “resolution of necessity”
• Hold some educational meetings with effected
stakeholders to assess and minimize
political opposition
• Public hearing should not be held until the plan is
finished and you are ready to adopt
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 48
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Fitting the Plan to the Situation
▪ How complex is the project?
▪ Does the outcome involve physical design
standards or elements?
▪ Would market analysis be helpful?
▪ What can be drawn from previous plans
and studies?
▪ Will the plan be used to sell the proposed
projects and recruit developers?
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 49
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Getting the Most Bang
for Your Consultant Buck
▪ Use a qualifications based selection process (not
competitive bidding) so that you can negotiate
the work scope.
▪ Make consultants compete for the work.
▪ Break the plan into work items and determine costs for
each?
▪ Assess the feasibility of doing some data collection or
mapping in house?
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 50
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Qualifications-based Selection Basics
▪ Advertise and issue a Request for Proposals (RFP)
▪ Check references and ask for similar work products
▪ Schedule meetings between top ranked firms and a
review panel
▪ Try to negotiate a work scope and price with
your first choice
▪ If agreement cannot be reached, move down your list
▪ Clearly specify deliverables and time deadlines
in your contract
▪ Designate a primary local contact
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 51
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Plan Checklist
• A Statement that the URP is consistent with the city’s
comprehensive plan
• Clearly defined boundaries of the redevelopment area(s) (which
need not be contiguous
• Explanation of negative conditions in the area necessitating
redevelopment and an explication of how the area meets the
act’s definition of slum and blight
• The city’s land use objectives for the area (types of uses,
building requirements, zoning changes, and
development densities)
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 52
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Plan Checklist, cont’d.
• Possible exceptions to development regulations
(recommended)
• Description of land parcels to be acquired
• Structures to be demolished or rehabilitated
• Strategy for leveraging private resources to
redevelop the area
• Strategy for relocating any displaced residents
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 53
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Plan Checklist, cont’d.
• Any covenants or restrictions to be placed on
properties in the redevelopment area in order to
implement the plan
• Public infrastructure to be provided
(transportation, water, sewer, sidewalks,
lighting, streetscapes, public recreational
space, parking, etc., to support redevelopment
of the area)
• A workable strategy for implementing the plan.
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 54
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Housing Displacement
•
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 55
“. . . provide reasonable
assistance for the relocation
of families displaced from an
urban redevelopment area, to
the extent essential for
acquiring possession of and
clearing such area or parts
thereof to permit the carrying
out of the urban
redevelopment project”
Urban Redevelopment Plans
URA Plan Must Encourage
Private Sector Participation
•
“A municipality or county shall, to the greatest extent
. . . afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the
sound needs of the municipality or county as a whole, to
the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban
redevelopment area by private enterprise.”
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 56
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Maximum Opportunity for Rehabilitation by
Private Enterprise
▪ Give property owners plenty of notice
▪ Encourage owners to rehab or redevelop their own
property before considering eminent domain
▪ Actively advertise available parcels to quality
private developers
▪ Do not disrupt functional businesses prematurely or
unnecessarily (If they must move, help them find
better locations in the new scheme.)
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 57
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Restrictive Covenants and Special Conditions
• A URA Plan allows the imposition of conditions more specific
than existing land use regulations.
• Conditions in the URA plan run with the property and control
development above and beyond other land use regulations:
“the provisions of the plan with respect to the future
use and building requirements applicable to the
property covered by the plan shall be controlling with
respect thereto.”
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 58
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Intergovernmental Contracts
▪ Can bind local governments for
specific periods of time, even if elected
officials or political climate changes
▪ Allow things that a local government
cannot do directly
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 59
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Raising Money With Tax Exempt Bonds
• Redevelopment entity may issue tax exempt bonds to be repaid
with profits from the urban redevelopment project. May be secured
by mortgages on property within the district.
• Bonds issued under this Code section shall not constitute an
indebtedness within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory
debt limitation or restriction
• Bonds can be retired from sources such as grants, loans and
other revenues.
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 60
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Ability to Wave
Local Development Regulations
• “. . . to plan or replan, zone, or rezone any part of the
municipality or county or make exceptions from building
regulations”
•
Examples: Cottage development, narrower streets,
mother in law suites
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 61
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Property Purchase and Disposition
under the Act
▪ Sale of property acquired under the act need not be to
the highest bidder
▪ Competitive RFP’s may be solicited and evaluated
▪ Bidder’s qualifications and the desirability of their
concept plans may be considered
▪ Conditions related to URP must be attached to deeds
and will run with the land
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 62
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Taxes and Fees
• Property owned by the URA is not taxable
unless/until sold to a private party
• Local government has the power to levy special
taxes and assessments within the urban
redevelopment area
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 63
Urban Redevelopment Plans
▪ Before: vacant parcels with acres of
unused parking lots
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 64
Urban Redevelopment Plans
After:
URP
Design
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Reclaim underutilized land that has existing infrastructure investments—
water, sewer, gas, electricity, streets, lights, etc.
Promote innovative development
Provide more in-town housing
Humanize blighted areas
Raise property values and tax revenues
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 65
Urban Redevelopment Plans
URP’s--Beyond the basics
•
•
•
•
Show the public what can replace blight
Can include design standards
Are like a “master-plan with teeth.”
Should be fiscally realistic and include
financing tools.
• Identify and protect historic resources
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 66
Urban Redevelopment Plans
Coming soon……..
The revised DCA publication:
“A Guide to Using
Georgia’s Urban
Redevelopment Act”
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 67
Urban Redevelopment Plans
URP’s--Reinvigorating Neighborhoods
and Communities
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 68
Urban Redevelopment Plans
For more info:
http://www.dca.ga.gov/economic/DevelopmentTools/index.asp
Urban Redevelopment Plans and State Enterprise Zones, contact:
▪ Kelly Lane (229) 896-4259
kelly.lane@dca.ga.gov
▪ Mary Alice Applegate (478) 742-5145
maryalice.applegate@dca.ga.gov
Opportunity Zone applications, contact:
▪ Joanie Perry (404) 679-3173
joanie.perry@dca.ga.gov
Job Tax Credits, contact:
▪ Dawn Sturbaum (404) 679-1585
dawn.sturbaum@dca.ga.gov
2010 CDBG Applicants’ Workshop
Page 69
Urban Redevelopment Plans