Urban renewal areas aren't the way to handle growth
Sandpoint Mayor Ray Miller and the honorable members of the Sandpoint City Council have been aggressively promoting a Northern Urban Renewal Area (URA). Several of my friends have been appointed to the URA board, seemingly in spite of a clear agenda to support this project prior to their appointment.
This letter is to say "shame on all of you" for allowing the smell of money from the real estate explosion in our area to cause you to lose your vision of what is best for the citizens of Sandpoint and Bonner County.
If you want quality of life in our town, have the fiscal discipline to stop double-digit annual budget growth at all levels of local government so the middle class does not disappear.
The URA is just another example of the willingness by local government to spend money that does not come from their pocket, either collectively or individually.
The URA is a defined area that includes the land immediately to the west, east and south of the Sandpoint Airport. Excluded is most residential land on both the west side and east side of the airport. Also excluded is almost all land to the west of Great Northern Road.
The URA has been proposed by the city to add sewer, water and pave Great Northern Road. However, everyone within the URA will pay for this.
This is not acceptable and is symptomatic of the problems that occur with growth that is not prefaced with responsible planning.
Proponents of this URA say the improvements on Great Northern Road are necessary for economic development. Great, then let those people along Great Northern Road pay for these improvements.
Those of us on the south and east of the airport bought land that was more expensive because we paid for sewer, water and pavement in the cost of our land.
Those who bought on the west side of the airport paid less for the same reason, city services were absent. If these improvements to Great Northern Road are so vital, propose a city bond and let Sandpoint taxpayers vote to tax themselves.
Second, proponents of the URL tell me my land values will go up. I do not care as I make my living manufacturing, not in land development; in fact I do not care if my land appreciates, as this does me no good.
Then proponents tell me that the mil rate for my property taxes will decrease. Unbelievable logic as the only figure I care about is the number on my tax bill and it keeps going up.
The residential developers, jet aircraft owners, jet aircraft manufactures, Litehouse and the airport land developers on the west side of the airport have the resources to pay for their own services. With all due respect, please leave me out of your improvement projects.
The greater issue for all of us is that both the cities and the county fund services demanded by real estate growth from general taxes. Currently, developers sell the land and then all taxpayers see an increase in their tax bills to fund the additional infrastructure improvements to our police, sewer, water, roads, etc.
In essence, common citizens are subsidizing both developers and new residents to town. This is both inequitable and punitive for those who live here.
Impact fees and local improvement districts should be the mechanism to fund all new growth. It really is quite simple; if you want to live here and build here you pay your fair share for that privilege.
Put the cost where it belongs, on the developers and buyers — not on the citizens who already live here. We have already paid our share once.
? Dr. Snedden is a local resident and owner of Unicep Packaging, Inc., which is located in Sandpoint near the airport and was the business of the year in 2004. Dr. Snedden lives outside the city and cannot vote on the URA but will pay approximately $40,000 in property tax in the next year without the URA.