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TO: Honorable Mayor and Councilmen April 5, 1977 FROM: James W. Senden SUBJECT: H.R.A. Redevelopment Plan These are my comments regarding the H.R.A. Redevelopment Plan currently -under consideration by the council. I will begin by saying that conditions currently exist which cause me to be concerned about the old downtown area and some adjacent areas. There are some deteriorated buildings both residential and commercial, some vacant land with bad soils, some areas with incompatible development on adjacent parcels and some traffic flow problems. One result is a large area of the city with a very low and declining.tax base. At the direction of the City Council an H.R.A. was created to address these problems. An H.R.A. has the power to do something about these problems. In fact, the H.R.A can do things that the city council cannot. The first order of business was a thorough study and I think a thorough study was done. Developing a plan of the type we are considering is a difficult time. -consuming task. The commissioners deserve our thanks for their efforts. Much in the plan is good but I find much that needs to be improved. I believe in fact that the plan as submitted is not acceptable and needs some drastic changes before it ever could be acceptable. For example I object to the gerrymandering of the redevelopment district boundaries in order to get the tax increment from properties already developed. This seems to me to be outside the intent of the law and certain to cause legal difficulties in addition to being inappropriate. The redevelopment boudaries should be redrawn to exclude all properties where no H.R.A. activity is contemplated in the next eight to teen years. Further, the H.R.A. has apparently not followed its own guideline which reads, "the H.R.A. shall solicit and give serious consideration to citizens inputs". This must be done before any plan can be acceptable to me. Further, the plan does not address the traffic flow problems which are a significant part of the problem. I believe that. 'unless these traffic problems are solved both H.R.A. and private development money would be wasted. Further, there are too many areas which are designated for light industrial rather than light or heavy industrial. This classification will turn away good businesses and reduce the value of the property in some cases. More optionashould be left open at this time. Further, there is too much emphasis in the plan on impractical, niceties -which would maketheplan more expensive than necessary. I do not believe that either the citizens or the