COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
REDI says enhanced enterprise zone tosupport job growth, public schoolsBy Madeline O'Leary
January 21, 2012 | 4:10 p.m. CST
New jobs and more funding for education could result from Regional Economic Development Inc.'s plans to create
an enhanced enterprise zone in Columbia. Business developments and expansions within the zone would benefit
from a 50 percent property tax abatement for the next 10 years. The proposed enterprise zone boundaries are
highlighted in the map below. ¦ Nicole Thompson
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COLUMBIA — Regional Economic Development Inc. is pushing forward with the idea of
developing an enhanced enterprise zone that could create jobs while generating property tax
revenue for Columbia schools and other taxing entities.
Boone County has lost a total of 1,920 manufacturing jobs since 2004, according to a REDI
report delivered to the Columbia City Council on Tuesday. The enhanced enterprise zone
would provide tax incentives intended to spark expansion of existing businesses or
manufacturing companies and the creation of new small businesses.
Businesses in the zone would be eligible for a 50 percent
abatement of property taxes over 10 years on new or
expanded buildings and infrastructure. Personal property
such as furniture, equipment and vehicles would be
ineligible for the tax abatement, Bernie Andrews, executive
vice president of REDI, said.
“Once the zone is designated, new building must take place
for the company to receive the tax credits,” Andrews said. “If
an existing manufacturing company (within the zone) adds
on a 25,000-square-foot expansion, then only the expansion
can be taxed at 50 percent.”
Although manufacturers in the enhanced enterprise zone
would get tax breaks if they expand, tax revenue to the
community still would rise, Andrews said.
REDI Chairman Dave Griggs cited an example during his
presentation to the council. If a business along Route B,
which would be included in the enterprise zone, were to
make $10 million worth of investments in real property and
$5 million worth of investments in personal property, the
net increase in property taxes collected over 10 years would be $1.3 million. Of that, about $1
million would go to Columbia Public Schools.
Heightened competition between branch plants is another benefit of the enhanced enterprise
zone program, Andrews said.
“It’s a pretty good tool for manufacturing companies,” he said. “With the program, branch
companies that come to Columbia can compete against other branches across the state for
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cost.”
REDI officials hope the program will entice businesses such as Kraft Foods, Dana Corp. and
Quaker Oats to expand their operations.
To be eligible for benefits, a business must create a minimum of two jobs. Ultimately, however,
the local Enhanced Enterprise Zone Advisory Board will determine business eligibility.
REDI is recommending the following people be appointed to the advisory board:
Todd Culley of Boone Electric Cooperative or Randy Morrow of Boone Hospital Center
Carrie Gartner of the Downtown Community Improvement District
Louis Gatewood of the Columbia Housing Authority
Mariel Liggett of Williams Keepers
Jonathan Sessions of the Columbia Board of Education
John Strotbeck of Kraft Foods
Representatives of other taxing entities, which might include the city of Columbia, Boone
County, the Daniel Boone Regional Library and the Boone County Fire Protection
District.
Solidifying the selection of the seven members of the advisory board is one of the next steps in
the completion of the enhanced enterprise zone designation application to the Missouri
Department of Economic Development. The exact zone area still needs to be established, and
eligible business clusters have yet to be determined.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Resolution to create enhancedenterprise zone deems large portion ofColumbia 'blighted'By Madeline O'Leary
February 7, 2012 | 12:13 a.m. CST
COLUMBIA — The boundaries of a proposed enhanced enterprise zone in the city are
dependent on what can be considered "blighted."
The enterprise zone discussed at Monday's City Council meeting wraps around more than half
the city and encompasses areas possessing "inadequacies that lead to blight."
Solidifying boundaries is the next step in Regional Economic
Development Inc.'s push for an enhanced enterprise zone. In
an effort to create jobs and foster economic growth, the zone
would provide tax incentives intended to spark expansion of
existing businesses or manufacturing companies and the
development of new, small businesses in "blighted" areas.
Distinguished by unsanitary and dangerous conditions,
defective streets and crumbling infrastructure, areas that are
considered "blighted" are seen as economic and social
liabilities that threaten either public health, safety, morals or
community welfare, according to the resolution presented to
the council.
Under state statute, areas must be "blighted" to qualify as an
enhanced enterprise zone.
Columbia citizen John Nelson said he did not believe any
areas in Columbia met the criteria to be considered
"blighted."
"I'm opposed to the enhanced enterprise zone happening in
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Columbia in general. I don't think anything here is blighted. I agree with what (REDI) wants to
do, but I do not agree with how they're doing it," Nelson said. "They're using a Missouri statute
that does not apply to Columbia."
Nelson said he believes REDI should reconsider how to allow businesses to gain incentives.
"There has to be another way without marking 60 percent of the city blighted," he said.
Although the boundaries of the zone are vast, that doesn't mean that more than half of
Columbia is considered economically downtrodden, nor will blight-finding relate to eminent
domain, said Dave Griggs, chairman of REDI's board of directors.
"If one specific geographic point qualifies (as 'blighted'), and if we want to include that point,
then we have to include the whole census tract," Griggs said.
The previously mentioned statute uses census tracts — demographically homogenous county
areas — as a "unit of measure." If a specific site in Discovery Ridge were deemed "blighted,"
then that entire census tract is the "unit of measure" that must be specified to include that
single site of interest, Griggs said.
He said identifying these "blighted" points and their associated census tracts are a "necessary
part of the process."
According to the statute, a different method of classifying areas, which doesn't involve census
tracts, could be approved.
Fifth Ward City Councilwoman Helen Anthony suggested removing the term "blighted" from
the resolution altogether. But in order to get approval from the state to develop an enhanced
enterprise zone, the term must be used, City Manager Mike Matthes said.
"At some point, we have to say the area is blighted to the state," Matthes said.
Matthes said that declaring the area "blighted" will not stop investment.
"The official map presented to businesses will say 'enhanced enterprise zone,'" Matthes said. "It
will not say 'blighted side of Columbia.' This will focus economic incentives on the city. There's
no reason to fear that investment will stop."
Griggs said that "blight" is not an inoffensive term but its use is unavoidable in this situation.
"It's an economic development term, and it's not necessarily appropriate," he said. "But it's
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what's required by statute."
First Ward City Councilman Fred Schmidt said he saw the term as a non-issue and said the
potential economic benefits of an enhanced enterprise zone outweigh the argument about the
terminology.
"If the government can help by giving jobs to the community, call me Mr. Blighted," Schmidt
said.
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George Kennedy writes a weeklyopinion column for the Missourian.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
GEORGE KENNEDY: Many questionsstill surround enhanced enterprisezonesBy George Kennedy
March 1, 2012 | 1:34 p.m. CST
The poor will always be with us. That’s what the Bible says and the decennial census confirms.
If you want to learn about tax abatements, though, you’ll do better with section 135.950 of
Missouri’s revised statutes.
And if you’re wondering what the poor and the privileged
have in common, look no further than our town’s
controversy du jour, the enhanced enterprise zone (EEZ).
It turns out, you see, that if we want to take advantage of the
statute to lure new industry to the university’s Discovery
Ridge or the underground labyrinth at the quarry adjoining
North Stadium Boulevard, the EEZ must include the census
blocks that are lowest in income and highest in
unemployment along with the actual sites targeted for
development.
Contrary to what you may have thought, then, the least
among us are essential to enhanced economic opportunity.
Whether they’ll benefit is just one of many questions.
I wrote and some of you may have read last week about the
suspicious citizens who gathered to share their anger and
their foreboding about the possible effects of an official
designation of “blight” for half the city.
A few of those worriers were present Tuesday when Mike
Brooks, the president of Regional Economic Development
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neighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood input
Columbia City Council passesordinance to create new EEZ board
EEZ board returns to City Council
Inc. — usually referred to as REDI — explained the rules and
the possibilities of the proposed EEZ. They and a handful of
journalists sat around the edges of the City Hall conference
room. His intended audience, members of the Downtown
Leadership Council, was more representative of the
economic elite. They occupied the table in the center of the
room.
The leaders seemed less hostile than the followers, but they
asked many of the same questions. This week there were
answers.
Brian Treece, vice chairman of the leadership council, wondered how to reconcile the city’s
publicized pride in various “Top 10” listings with the designation of blight. Mr. Brooks
explained the requirements of the law.
A bit later, Mr. Treece asked how the EEZ would benefit the poor and unemployed. By creating
jobs, Mr. Brooks replied.
When he offered a law firm with out-of-state clients as one example of a qualifying business, I
couldn’t help wondering how many unemployed lawyers we have. To be fair, I’m sure REDI
will look harder for manufacturers than attorneys.
Mr. Brooks pointed out that the EEZ rules are more flexible than some better-known business
lures. The “Quality Jobs” enticement beloved by our governor, for example, requires 40 new
jobs and salaries above $30,000. An EEZ requires a minimum of two new workers paid at least
three-quarters of the county average wage.
In return, the company would have up to half its local taxes forgiven for up to 10 years. Tax
credits from the state would also be available.
Nobody mentioned Mamtek, the Chinese prospect that won not only tax credits but a new
building in Moberly before it was exposed as a myth. The Missouri Department of Economic
Development, which approved that handout while ignoring warning signs, also oversees the
118 EEZ’s already established all over the state.
Another good question came from Janet Hammen of the leadership council. How are those
other EEZs working, she asked. The answer was that a consultant hired by REDI looked into
zones created in Springfield, Rolla and Jefferson City and found no negative consequences. I
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don’t know whether Ms. Hammen was satisfied, but I would have preferred something a little
more positive. If avoiding harm is the standard, that’s setting the bar pretty low, isn’t it?
Mr. Brooks, in his opening remarks, had said, “I’m sorry that we’ve managed to raise such
consternation in the community.”
I didn’t hear consternation from the downtown leaders. They took no action Tuesday, though
they probably will later. Still, as Mr. Brooks left for another meeting, I found myself hoping for
his sake that he isn’t working on commission.
George Kennedy is a former managing editor at the Missourian and professor emeritus at the
Missouri School of Journalism.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Public voices concerns about EnhancedEnterprise Zone, "blight" at meetingBy Hannah Cushman, Madeline O'Leary
March 6, 2012 | 9:55 p.m. CST
COLUMBIA — Carol Shoemaker, coordinator of enhanced enterprise zones for the Missouri
Department of Economic Development, facilitated a question-and-answer session with the
public Tuesday following a brief presentation on the program's history and benefits.
Much of the public comment echoed questions that remained unanswered at last week's
meeting between the Downtown Leadership Council and Regional Economic Development Inc.
Questions concerning blight
Citizens still expressed concern over the use of the term
"blight." Although a distinct definition exists under Missouri
state statute, Mike Brooks, president of REDI, said only two
pieces of the state's definition were used to designate the
"blighted" areas in Columbia: unemployment and poverty.
Yet Shoemaker said the definition of "blight" could be
represented by something as simple as a cracked sidewalk or
a vacant building. She continued and saidthat the census
data used to determine "blight" in Columbia only examined
Brooks' pieces of the definition, unemployment and poverty.
But Mayor Bob McDavid said that "blight doesn't really have
a definition."
Citizens criticized the conflicting nature of these definitions
and raised concerns about lowered property value and
potential abuse of the blight decree.
"If the public believes there is a stigma attached to blight,
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property values will go down," said Brent Gardner, Columbia real estate agent and member of
the Downtown Leadership Council.
Questions concerning proposed zone's outcomes
Citizens also voiced uncertainty that jobs created by the zone's incentives would benefit the
areas used to meet requirements for blight.
For example, some of the low-income, high-unemployment areas encompassed by the
proposed boundaries of the enterprise zone are located in the inner city of Columbia. But the
targeted zones for industrial development — where the jobs would exist — are located near the
outskirts of the city.
In addition to this, the public raised questions concerning job training for unskilled workers
and what measures the city would take to ensure the employment of past felons.
"A contractual promise must be written up guaranteeing accessibility to these jobs for the
people who need them most," commenter Joan Wilcox said.
Shoemaker reminded the public that she had no local authority and recommended these ideas
be brought before the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Advisory Board or another governmental
body within the city.
When evidence for growth in economically depressed areas was requested, Shoemaker could
not provide any quantitative data and recommended that the public contact the officials in one
of the other 118 existing enhanced enterprise zones in Missouri for such information.
What's next
Enhanced Enterprise Zone Advisory Board meetings are scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon on
March 9 and 16 at the Daniel Boone City Building.
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In this letter from Allan Moore, acertified real estate appraiser, whointerviewed people involved withexisting enhanced enterprise zones,he said that a 'blight' designationdoes not adversely affect the market.This letter comes in connection withthe Columbia City Council's efforts toassuage residents' worries about theconnotations of being marked as'blight.'
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
City leaders, legislators look to alterdefinition of blightBy Madeline O'Leary
March 8, 2012 | 6:56 p.m. CST
COLUMBIA — City leaders are trying to ease public consternation about how the legal
declaration of blight required to establish an enhanced enterprise zone might put areas of the
city at risk of eminent domain.
"We are simply trying to do whatever we can to address questions from the community," said
Mike Brooks, director of Regional Economic Development Inc.
Columbia legislators and REDI representatives are looking
to alter the enhanced enterprise zone's state statute so that a
local government's declaration of blight cannot be used to
trigger other laws that also require a blight declaration.
"We are trying to clarify what we think already exists,"
Brooks said. "We want to make sure that the blight
designation under the enhanced enterprise zone does not
meet the blight requirements for redevelopment
authorities."
Brooks also said he plans to include "areas that are
identified as 'distressed'" in the definition of blight.
"Distressed" areas are pinpointed by the federal government
and grant eligibility for economic resources such as
Community Development Block Grants to the communities
that need them most.
Brooks said he began talking with local legislators last week
about changing the definition of blight.
"Our entire local delegation is working together to get a
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REDI board votes to end effort forColumbia EEZs
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SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
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Columbia City Council passesordinance to create new EEZ board
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change made," Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said. "We are
trying to shrink the blight definition and are very much
against the expansion of eminent domain."
Kelly said the intent of narrowing the definition is to prevent
indirect negative effects of establishing an enhanced
enterprise zone.
"Sometimes harm can be done inadvertently, and we want to
eliminate any possibility of inadvertent harm," Kelly said.
The possibility of a blight decree leading to lower property
values is one type of "inadvertent harm" the public has
repeatedly expressed worries about.
"A concern we hear is that the blight declaration will have a
negative effect on real estate," Kelly said. "I don't think that's
true."
According to an email sent to Brooks from Allan Moore of
the Missouri Appraisal Institute, the establishment of enhanced enterprise zones and the
required blight decree "absolutely have not adversely (affected) real estate values," and "market
participants do not recognize (enhanced enterprise zones) in their decisions to buy or develop
property."
The institute drew those conclusions after examining enhanced enterprise zones in Rolla,
Jefferson City and Springfield.
"I am not aware of any other communities that have had this problem with the definition of
blight," Brooks said. "At least we have reached out to answer questions about real estate value."
Kelly said he didn't know how soon the legislature might vote on a new blight definition.
"We are in the 'being careful' stage now. We are doing research, examining statutes and taking
a close look at language," Kelly said.
Whether altering the definition of blight will alleviate public worries about an enhanced
enterprise zone is the "million-dollar question," Brooks said.
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This document, provided by RegionalEconomic Development Inc.executive vice president BernieAndrews, demonstrates possible citytax revenue with an enhancedenterprise zone. State regulationrequires a local tax abatement of atleast 50 percent.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Enhanced Enterprise Zone Boardclarifies proposalsBy Hannah Cushman
March 9, 2012 | 5:17 p.m. CST
COLUMBIA — After questions about the proposed enhanced enterprise zone and its associated
blight decree were left lingering by previous meetings, a group of concerned citizens who
gathered in City Hall on Friday morning finally got some answers.
There, members of the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board collaborated with top Regional
Economic Development Inc. officials to tackle several items on the laundry list of public
grievances.
Minimizing the effects of blight
REDI moved Thursday to prevent a local declaration of
blight from being used to trigger other laws that require the
designation at the state level. Board member Carrie Gartner
suggested the same safeguard, a clarifying ordinance, at the
local level.
"I recommend city staff draft a resolution to council saying
that no eminent domain will occur as a result of an EEZ
blight designation," Gartner said, winning
unanimous approval from her peers.
Gartner made the recommendation in hopes of formalizing
assurances already issued from City Council and REDI.
"We should take (eminent domain) off the table as even a
possible option," she said.
Reducing the size of the map
In answer to public alarm at the size of the enhanced
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enterprise zone map — earlier versions encompassed more
than half of the city — REDI has shaved six census blocks,
most residential, from the area wrapped by the zone's
boundaries.
Among the areas on the proverbial cutting room floor are
East Campus, Stephens College and Boone Hospital.
In all, 10,000 residents were removed from the map, said
Bernie Andrews, REDI's executive vice president.
Ensuring impoverished neighborhoods benefit
Per state regulation, a baseline of 50 percent of local tax
abatement must be offered to qualifying entities in an
enhanced enterprise zone.
But additional abatement can be offered to businesses in
order to "incentivize other standards," said Columbia Public Schools representative Jonathan
Sessions.
Among the standards discussed Friday were hiring practices. Board members suggested
offering additional abatement for employing a certain number of residents from
neighborhoods within the zone or members of minority groups.
Providing evidentiary support
Andrews produced a spreadsheet detailing revenue created by a hypothetical $1
million investment along the Route B target area, should an enhanced enterprise zone be
approved.
His findings showed that even with the state-mandated 50 percent local tax abatement, the city
would receive $104,000 in revenue from the investment over a 10-year period.
Andrews said personal property, which includes things such as machinery, was not factored
into that figure. Items in that category will be subject to full taxation.
REDI Chairman Dave Griggs said businesses receiving state and local incentives must reapply
annually. Companies are eligible to receive local abatement and state tax credits for a
maximum of 10 years.
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When that decade ends, or if a company fails to qualify for the following year, it will be taxed
100 percent, effectively doubling revenue generated by its investments.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia City Council rescinds blightresolutionBy Madeline O'Leary
May 7, 2012 | 10:33 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — City Attorney Fred Boeckmann's recommendation to the Columbia City Council
to rescind the blight decree was met with restrained applause and subdued cheers, despite
Mayor Bob McDavid's request for no demonstrations at the council's meeting Monday evening.
The council unanimously voted in favor of Boeckmann's recommendations.
Originally adopted by the council Feb. 6, Resolution
20-12A established an Enhanced Enterprise Zone Advisory
Board and certified that a portion of Columbia and pieces of
Boone County contained "inadequacies that lead to blight."
Now that the resolution has been rescinded, Regional
Economic Development Inc. will have to restart the process
of getting a map approved and an advisory board
established.
REDI President Mike Brooks said he found it "hard to
respond" to the recommended rescission and asserted that
"every good faith effort" had been made to "help Columbia
be a stronger player in the creation of jobs."
"I hope the council realizes that it's important to have public
buy-in before resolutions and ordinances are
established," Columbia citizen Traci Wilson-Kleekamp said
during public comment. "The public wants to be in on these
decisions, particularly if it's about economic development
involving blight and people's property."
Kleekamp also recommended that the advisory board be
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more diverse and representative of Columbia's population and that a dynamic conversation
take place about all the available tools for economic development.
Under the state statute for enhanced enterprise zones, establishing a blight decree was a
necessary step in the process of creating an enhanced enterprise zone. The enhanced enterprise
zone program would use tax incentives to encourage new development in the manufacturing
sector. New development, according to REDI, would result in job growth.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development used poverty and unemployment
statistics from the 2000 census to determine which areas qualified as blighted. The boundaries
of the zone map included the areas considered blighted.
Yet the blight decree opened the flood gates to public backlash concerning potential eminent
domain abuse, declining property values, the use of 12-year-old data to paint an economic
portrait and skepticism regarding the effectiveness of an enhanced enterprise zone as a tool for
economic development.
The most potent argument, however, was the questionable legality of the original resolution
itself.
Article II, Section 15 of the City Charter states that the council must enact "legislative business"
by ordinance rather than resolution. Opponents of the blight decree declared that the use of a
resolution kept the public from providing meaningful input in the process. City ordinances
require multiple readings and opportunities for public input, whereas resolutions do not.
"The point is that the blight decree and advisory board should have been established by
ordinance," Boeckmann said. He apologized for not recognizing that misstep in February.
Despite the rescission, members of the public continued to push the importance of addressing
unemployment and poverty in Columbia. Tim Rich, executive director at Heart of Missouri
United Way, said unemployment is the "real crisis" that exists in Columbia, and for United
Way to provide a path out of poverty to the people who need it most, available jobs need to be
at the end of the pipeline.
"We must get the jobs into these poor communities," Rich said during public comment. "I
encourage you to do whatever it takes to get those jobs here."
Even with the need for job creation, Sixth Ward City Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said the
process of establishing economic development programs such as the enhanced enterprise zone
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still needs to be done correctly.
"In terms of jobs, the community is starting to have a larger dialogue about how the enhanced
enterprise zone could be one component in economic development," Hoppe said. "I look
forward to furthering that discussion and I appreciate everyone's work."
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Columbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conference
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EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood input
Columbia City Council passesordinance to create new EEZ board
EEZ board returns to City Council
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Ordinance to establish EEZ Board inColumbia receives first readingBy Hannah Cushman
May 9, 2012 | 7:45 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — At 6 p.m. Wednesday, a special meeting of the City Council was called to order.
At 6:02 p.m., the meeting was adjourned.
In the space of those 120 seconds, Council Bill 121-12 — an
ordinance that would add provisions for the establishment
of an Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board to the City Code —
received its first reading.
Wednesday's special session occurred only two days after the
rescission of Resolution 20-12A, which created an enhanced
enterprise zone advisory board in addition to finding blight
or its precursors in 60 percent of Columbia.
The resolution was the first step in the city's application for
an enhanced enterprise zone, a tax incentive program
marketed by officials at Regional Economic Development
Inc. as a way to generate manufacturing jobs in Columbia.
Before the meeting, Mayor Bob McDavid predicted there
would be no real discussion. "(The meeting is) a formality,
an advertisement," he said.
A public hearing will be held May 21, when the bill receives
its second reading.
Dan Goldstein, one of several leaders of Citizens Involved
and Invested in Columbia, or CiViC, said he disapproved of the council's haste in adopting an
ordinance. He said, however, that he and other CiViC members were not surprised by it.
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"We pretty much expected it," Goldstein said.
Goldstein said he'd like to see neighborhood representation among the new board members.
Citizens — not private firms like REDI — should direct development, he continued.
The board's composition is mandated in the enhanced enterprise zone statute. Thus, the new
advisory board will have a framework identical to its original iteration. Its members will
include:
One member appointed by the Columbia Public School District.
One member appointed by a taxing entity within the proposed enhanced enterprise zone.
Five members appointed by the mayor.
Whether the five open seats will be filled by new individuals has yet to be decided. McDavid
said he has requested recommendations for these spots from council members.
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe called public input a vital part of the process of
implementing and maintaining an enhanced enterprise zone. She said she would consider
recommending citizens to serve on the board.
McDavid said he is open to this and any other suggestion. "I want (the council) to have
ownership of this," he said.
Unlike the Feb. 6 resolution, a finding of blight was not included in Wednesday's ordinance.
McDavid said the new board will recommend new boundaries for the enhanced enterprise
zone, which will be considered in a second ordinance. A timeline for when that ordinance will
be available has not been specified.
At the end of the day, McDavid said, the council has the final word on the boundaries. Citizens
are free to approach their councilperson with input.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia's blight debate: A question ofjobs vs. neighborhood valuesBy Hannah Cushman, Madeline O'Leary
May 18, 2012 | 6:00 a.m. CDT
Protesters march down Elm Street on May 1 to protest the proposed blight decree. Some Columbiaresidents are concerned that labeling certain neighborhoods as "blight" would lower property valuesand cause other potential abuses. | Sam Gause
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Hannah Hemmelgarn reads the newspaper outside her house in the 800 block of Alton Avenue inColumbia on May 3. The house is in what has been designated as a proposed blighted area. She andother residents disagree with that label. | Leah Beane
Rick and Eric Ruhr talk with North Central Neighborhood Association President Pat Fowler on May 3about an upcoming meeting to discuss issues of concern to the residents of the neighborhood. TheRuhrs are two of many in the neighborhood who believe the term "blighted" should not be applied tothe homes in the area. | Leah Beane
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From left, Ethan Braughton, Dave Dollens and other Occupy CoMo protesters march down CherryStreet on May 1. Some of the Occupy CoMo marchers were protesting the proposed blight decree. | Sam Gause
Whitney Nichols, left, baby-sits for Kate McGaughey, 6, and Jeff McGaughey, 8, on April 23 at theMcGaugheys' home in the Old Hawthorne neighborhood. The upscale community off Route WW ineast Columbia was included in a blight designation approved by the Columbia City Council on Feb.6. The council has since rescinded that decree, which was based on 2000 census data. | GrantHindsley
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MoreStory
Related ArticlesColumbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conference
REDI, city advisory boardrepresentatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
Some Columbia residents are worried about the potential effect of a proposed blight decree in North Central and
other neighborhoods. ¦ Missourian staff
COLUMBIA — Pat Fowler has come a long way from stacking paint cans behind her front door.
At the far end of her front hall, her kitchen is in a state of organized chaos. Recipes are penciled
on the walls. The ceiling is open to the rafters and new insulation.
At the near end of the hall, Fowler eyes a refurbished living
room, the first victory in her effort to restore her home on
North Sixth Street "to as close to its original condition as
(she) can afford."
She peers in with a look of comic guilt as she describes the
green and gold of her grandmother’s house, a color scheme
she found laughable in her youth.
"Here I am all these years later, and I painted a room
Roses grow at the front of Eric Ruhr's extensive backyard garden in early May on Seventh Street.Ruhr plants things that flower at different times in the season and has a sign that reads: "My favoriteflower is always the one that is blooming now." Ruhr's home could fall within the boundaries of anenhanced enterprise zone that would provide tax incentives for development that producesinvestment and jobs. | Leah Beane
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LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
Columbia's blight debate: EEZs'value as job-creation tool unclear
Columbia's blight debate: Timeline ofenhanced enterprise zone effort
Columbia's blight debate: How anEEZ benefits businesses
avocado," she said.
Fowler is one of many North Central Columbia
neighborhood residents improving their properties. A
sparsely attended church was converted to an art center for
children. Rental properties have been fitted for energy
efficiency. Fowler would like to see the degree of personal
investment her neighbors put into their homes and their
community encouraged.
It’s a trend she fears will flatten under the weight of a blight decree that would be required if
the city follows through on a plan to establish an enhanced enterprise zone to create tax
incentives for economic development.
Toward that end, the Columbia City Council passed a resolution Feb. 6 establishing an EEZ
board and declaring much of the city blighted or near blighted. The whole of the North Central
neighborhood fell under the original blanket designation.
The council rescinded that resolution May 7 but already has introduced an ordinance to get the
EEZ process back on track by re-establishing the board. Members of the previous board had
been revising zone boundaries. Their most recent version excludes Fowler's home but still
includes the northern half of her North Central neighborhood.
Promoted by officials at Regional Economic Development Inc. as an incentive to spur job
creation by luring manufacturers to Columbia, the EEZ program continues to face strong
pushback from residents. Concerns fester in particular around its precursory finding of blight.
Blight’s amorphous definition
Fowler picks her way along an uneven dirt path that cuts through the community garden in the
heart of North Central. She pauses to study a mess of vines before turning in delight.
"Oh, look at the strawberries," she says, gesturing toward the tiny gems budding among the
tangle.
More foliage grows wild across the street in the lawn of a house with a facade pockmarked with
neglect: The paint peels, the porch sags, the door yawns. It is a tick on the body of an otherwise
vital community.
"We have probably half a dozen properties that are in that condition," said Fowler, president of
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the North Central Neighborhood Association. "We’re trying to figure out ways to approach
owners constructively about their properties."
Under some state-sanctioned definitions, just one dilapidated house is ample justification for
declaring North Central blighted. But discrepancies in how blight is interpreted are among the
primary reasons for residents’ angst over EEZs.
Missouri’s EEZ law, Section 135.590 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, defines a "blighted area"
as one that is an economic or social liability by reason of:
The predominance of defective or inadequate street layout.1.
Insanitary or unsafe conditions.2.
Deterioration of site improvements.3.
Improper subdivision or obsolete platting.4.
The existence of conditions that endanger life or property by fire and other causes.5.
Any combination of such factors.6.
REDI President Mike Brooks feels "area" is the key word in that definition.
"The premise here is that it's all based on this (census) block group. You will note that there
has not been one single reference to any individual home, any neighborhood, any commercial
building."
Before it passed the Feb. 6 resolution, the City Council amended it to say that areas within the
zone need only display "conditions that lead to blight."
Carol Shoemaker, coordinator of enhanced enterprise zones for the Missouri Department of
Economic Development, said at a March 6 forum that blight could amount to something as
simple as a cracked sidewalk. At the same meeting, Mayor Bob McDavid said blight had no
real meaning at all.
Retired Judge Harold L. Lowenstein recognized the haphazard legal standard in a 2009 piece
on blight and redevelopment that appeared in the Missouri Law Review. A finding of blight
must cite only one condition that meets the "unsafe or insanitary conditions" provision, he
wrote. "(B)light, under such broad constructs, is evidently in the eye of the consultant."
REDI tailored its findings to the business sector in this case, Brooks said. "The information
we'll submit for the application only mentions vacant industrial lots, vacant factory buildings.
It's going to be the kinds of infrastructure issues that are deteriorating. This is not about
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picking off people’s properties."
Still, other city officials remained apprehensive about the designation.
On Jan. 25, City Counselor Fred Boeckmann emailed REDI Vice President Bernie Andrews
asking for clarification. "I don't see how the proposed enhanced enterprise zone meets the
statutory requirement that the area be blighted, have pervasive poverty, unemployment and
general distress," he wrote.
But a municipality’s finding of blight often faces much less scrutiny from the state. Lowenstein
wrote that the precedent for judicial review is largely deferential. As such, it "is rarely more
than a rubber stamp of the finding."
Economic side effects
Although city officials declared blight in February to pave the way for economic development,
residents worry that the label will lead to the opposite. Property value ranks high on their list of
potential collateral damage.
The value of one’s home depends on multiple factors, such as neighborhood, schools and
amenities. Fowler said there also are intangibles, such as public perception of a neighborhood.
In his search for evidence of EEZs’ impact on property values, Brooks compiled real estate data
from Springfield — including average home price, percent of asking price received, average
days on the market and number of homes sold — into a spreadsheet that spanned 2003 to
2011.
When Brooks shared his work with peers, one pointed to Springfield’s decreased home values
in 2008 as evidence of blight’s adverse effect, REDI Chairman Dave Griggs said.
"Real estate values are a matter of the overall economic climate," Griggs said, noting the
collapse of the housing market. "Of course (they) have flattened."
But it’s perception that troubles Fowler. "If you give a certain part of town a reputation, it
sticks."
She told the story of a "telling" interaction she had with an MU professor who studies poverty
programs.
"I told him where I lived ... and he said, 'Really? I always thought that’s where the poor people
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lived.'" That’s the impression of North Central among those who have not seen it blossom
firsthand, she said.
"We’re not seeing a lot of young families move in, even though this is perfectly affordable for
them," Fowler said. A blight designation, she said, would compromise the downtown
neighborhood’s ability to attract more homeowners and become more vital.
REDI operatives remain unconvinced. They consulted Lee Terry, chief executive officer of the
Columbia Board of Realtors, who reached out to counterparts in St. Joseph, Springfield and
Jefferson City for information about property values within their EEZs.
"St. Joe was the only community where that Realtor director knew there was an enhanced
enterprise zone," Griggs said.
Furthermore, they point to a letter from Allan Moore, owner of REDI investor Moore &
Shryock LLC, as evidence that blight has little effect on real estate.
Griggs tapped Moore to ask contacts in other cities whether an enhanced enterprise zone had
affected property value. Brooks said Moore "talked to (three of) his peers" in Jefferson City,
Springfield and Rolla, two of whom were commercial appraisers.
All three said the designations had resulted in neutral, or even positive, outcomes. In the end,
Moore concluded that "the 'blighted area' designation does not adversely affect the buying and
selling decisions of market participants."
Tracy Greever-Rice, interim director at the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis and an
opponent of the original EEZ map, found Moore’s report lacking.
"I don’t think we should be basing policy on casual observation and conversation," she said.
Boone County Assessor Tom Schauwecker, the elected official charged with appraising the
value of every property in the county for tax purposes, worked with Moore in the 1980s.
"An appraisal," he said, "is an opinion based on facts." Selling prices rely on a multitude of
intrinsic and environmental factors. His top three: "location, location, location."
Determining how any variable, including a blight decree, will influence a property would be
"speculative," Schauwecker said, adding that a retrospective analysis such as the one Moore did
is the best way to examine how certain conditions affect property values.
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Griggs argued before the City Council on Feb. 6 that an EEZ could enhance property values. He
said he would want his property included in the EEZ because it would increase the chance that
someone might buy it, making it worth more.
Greever-Rice said that assessment fits only if the property owner is of the mind to sell. Griggs’
is a "cruel logic" that more acutely affects areas where people are poor or own less real
property.
A $35,000 house has fewer tangible indications of value than a $1 million house, Greever-Rice
said. Intangibles such as perception, therefore, have a heavier influence on value. Because
Americans accumulate wealth through the value of their homes, a blight designation
disproportionately affects the pockets of homeowners whose properties stand to lose the most
from a negative perception.
"We don't have to take away wealth to create jobs," Greever-Rice said.
Fowler also warned that an EEZ could put homes in danger.
If "you create an incentive for the land under our homes to be more valuable than our homes,"
she said, "you invite people in to acquire our properties, rezone them, and then they will
displace people of modest means that live there."
Eminent domain
Opponents of an enhanced enterprise zone also fear that it will put private property at risk of
eminent domain. Declaring property blighted, they argue, opens the door for the government
to condemn it on the grounds that redevelopment is in the public interest.
Eminent domain is the power vested in governments to take, with "just compensation," private
property for public use. The definition of public use, however, has proven just as subjective as
that of blight.
The most contentious eminent domain case in recent history began with what has famously
become known as "the little pink house." When New London, Conn., condemned Susette Kelo’s
home in 2005 to make way for a redevelopment initiative promising 3,000 new jobs and an
additional $1 million in annual tax revenue, she sued the city.
Kelo’s became the first eminent domain case in more than two decades to reach the U.S.
Supreme Court. The court’s 5-4 decision upheld the governmental practice of acquiring private
land and reselling it to private developers, so long as the redevelopment creates a public
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benefit, such as an increased tax base.
Missouri was one of 42 states to pass legislation limiting eminent domain in the fallout that
ensued. House Bill 1944 most notably featured a provision that barred use of eminent domain
"for solely economic development purposes."
But that’s no comfort to concerned Columbia residents, who argue the EEZ blight designation
and the subsequent desire to eradicate blight function as additional rationale to condemn
property.
"Blight and eminent domain are kissing cousins," Mike Martin, who publishes The Columbia
Heart Beat, said at the inaugural meeting of Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia. The
political action committee formed in response to the city’s push for an EEZ.
That relationship, however, has an expiration date. The Missouri law also stipulated that
acquisition of blighted property for redevelopment can occur no later than five years after a
blight designation. That means future city councils will have less leeway than feared.
Faced with similar opposition, leaders in Rolla sought legal opinions regarding the connection
between an EEZ and eminent domain. They published a fact sheet that included a comment
from attorney Mark Grimm of Gilmore & Bell P.C.
"There is no authorization in the EEZ law for eminent domain and accordingly, cities and
counties are not allowed to bring condemnation actions under the EEZ law," Grimm wrote.
When the same quote showed up in a fact sheet REDI presented to the Columbia City Council
in February, Brooks was criticized for using Grimm’s opinion out of context despite proper
attribution. Brooks said he hadn’t spoken to the attorney when he first published the quote.
When they did talk, Brooks said Grimm affirmed his stance.
"He would stand by that comment in that document," Brooks said.
MU graduate student Maurice Harris researched the EEZ program as a REDI intern last year.
He said he didn’t consider eminent domain a legitimate consequence of the program because
the blight designation covers entire census blocks.
Parcels in a blighted area must be considered individually, according to Section 523 of the
Missouri Revised Statutes. A government cannot condemn them unless it finds "a
preponderance" of the individual properties blighted.
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"If some desperate city tried to (use eminent domain), it would be easily taken to court," Harris
said, adding that the cost of condemning and acquiring a census block would be
"astronomical."
In light of public fears, state Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, and other lawmakers pursued
legislation declaring that any finding of blight for enhanced enterprise zone purposes cannot be
used to meet conditions of blight under any other state statute.
Although the original bill, House Bill 2033, received no action after an April 10 public hearing
before the House Economic Development Committee, lawmakers tacked the provision onto a
Senate bill last week. The bill was in conference Thursday.
Columbia’s EEZ board, which was dissolved May 7, also voted to introduce similar legislation
to the City Council.
"I recommend city staff draft a resolution to council saying that no eminent domain will occur
as a result of an enhanced enterprise zone blight designation," board member Carrie Gartner,
who also is executive director of the Downtown Community Improvement District, moved
March 9 to unanimous approval.
Greever-Rice calls the state and local moves to prevent eminent domain an "empty gesture."
Should a legal decision come down to the statutory definition of blight as it relates to an EEZ
and eminent domain, she said, neither piece of legislation offers much protection.
"I don't think it would take a very smart lawyer to say, 'Well, (the definitions are) exactly the
same words,'" she said.
Brooks acknowledged the blight definitions in state EEZ and eminent domain laws are
identical, but he remained adamant that the EEZ statute does not provide for the use of
eminent domain.
That’s a difficult argument to make in a community whose history with blight has featured the
use of eminent domain. In the 1960s, Columbia’s black business district, the Sharp End, was
flattened in the name of urban renewal. Today, the area that includes part of northwestern
downtown includes businesses and public housing.
As demolition occurred in Columbia, the definition of blight was experiencing an awkward
state of flux.
"Through the first half of the 20th century, blight was understood as a condition of
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substandard housing," University of Iowa professor Colin Gordon wrote in a 2003 article for
the Fordham Urban Law Journal. As late as 1949, blighted areas were federally defined as
"predominantly residential."
Between 1949 and 1974, the federal government subsidized urban renewal, helping cities
acquire and clear wide swaths of land and then sell them to private developers. Yet legislation
didn’t require cities to include housing in redeveloped districts, Gordon wrote. Furthermore, by
1965, up to 35 percent of the federal grants could be spent on commercial development.
"Urban business leaders saw urban redevelopment as a means of loosening the 'dirty collar' of
substandard housing that encircled most central business districts," he wrote. "Slums were to
be cleared not for better housing, but for a more abstract faith in local economic development
and growth."
These days, blight’s residential roots have all but disappeared. Its past consequences, however,
remain painfully present.
"What happened in earlier generations ... has created a racial divide in our city that has not
healed yet," Fowler said.
Neighborhood activist Traci Wilson-Kleekamp said substantial public input would be one
means of closing the rift between city hall and residents.
"We don't exactly have a great track record for how we've treated people of color in the past.
We need to be a lot more thoughtful about how we go about doing this process of developing
our local economy," she said.
The data debate
Before the council rescinded its finding of blight May 7, half of North Central had escaped its
shadow. Fowler explained why she continued to speak out.
"Part of my neighborhood association and neighbors are still affected, so I still have what I call
a dog in this fight."
Indeed, the area she specified — "above Wilkes Boulevard all the way to Business Loop, across
Providence Road and north of Sexton" — was still within the zone’s boundaries. Fowler said
she feared for the small businesses in that area.
"Those are the places where we take our cars to get fixed and our metal soldered," she said.
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Offering incentives for development would put those business owners, particularly ones who
lease their buildings, at risk of displacement.
That blight split North Central is but one example of how outdated census blocks can fail to
account for new development. The 2000 census data behind the blight decree fail to reflect
Columbia’s progress in some areas.
Columbia’s population grew 28 percent between 2000 to 2010, and new development exists on
property that was vacant 12 years ago.
"One really good example of an area that we’ve talked about whether or not to include in the
enhanced enterprise zone is the Vanderveen subdivision just north of I-70,"” Greever-Rice
said. "That didn’t exist in 2000. The 2000 census data for that part of Columbia is going to be
inaccurate."
Greever-Rice illuminated another possible kink in the poverty statistics: students. In a college
town such as Columbia, poverty cannot be determined by looking at all households collectively,
she said. Family households must be examined specifically, excluding the number of people
living in situational poverty due to the college lifestyle, she said.
Greever-Rice used her daughter, a student at MU, as an example.
"As a member of our family, she's not poor. As a young adult figuring it out, she's cash poor,"
she said. "That totally skews the way poverty looks in Columbia."
John Blodgett, senior programmer and data analyst for the Office of Social and Economic Data
Analysis, said it struck him as odd that Department of Economic Development representatives
didn’t contact him for help. Blodgett has dedicated more than 30 years to examining and
compiling census data.
"I would think they would have checked sources," he said. "Why would you use 12-year-old
data when you have more recent data?"”
REDI officials say they didn’t have the option of using more recent data. Joel McNutt, project
manager for the state Department of Economic Development, told Andrews in an April 2011
email that 2010 census data was not being used for any of its projects. It’s the state’s job to
determine whether certain areas qualify to be in an EEZ.
"We have no control over the data," Brooks said, adding that while 2010 population and
household data are available, the same is not true for poverty data.
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"So the demographics piece is there," he said. "The psychographic data, if you will, is not."
Blodgett said that doesn’t have to be the case. He could mine the American Community Survey,
a long-form questionnaire the U.S. Census Bureau uses to gather economic and other data
from a sampling of Americans every month, to come up with more recent poverty numbers.
"It’s more timely, and I think overall that it’s probably better," Blodgett said. "The data are out
there. They’re hiding, but they’re out there."
Greever-Rice added, however, that the American Community Survey data can contain large
margins of error. She thinks that might be why the state relies on 12-year-old numbers.
"When you get to the point that you’ve decided on which economic development tools you want
to use," Greever-Rice said, "then you have to respond to the state, or whoever’s offering those
tools, using the process that they have in place and the data that they require."
Where REDI might be at the mercy of the state, the state is at the mercy of the computer
system employed to crunch the numbers. The current program needs to be updated to include
the most recent American Community Survey data, Department of Economic Development
spokesperson John Fougere said in an email.
"The new EEZ system will be available by January 2013," he added.
Yet before any decisions are made, and before any ideas are pursued, Greever-Rice said a
public conversation about the community’s economic values and goals should take place.
"That conversation needs to be open and transparent, and it needs to use the most current,
accurate data available," Greever-Rice said. "We didn’t do that as a community, and there’s no
reason not to stop and do that part."
An opportunity for input
Fowler clearly has caffeine on the brain.
Standing at the rear of the community garden, she becomes animated while speaking of warm
weekends and neighborhood coffee conferences to come. As she talks, she points toward a
picnic table built from recycled lumber. It’s white-washed and covered in pastel hand prints, a
nod to the hands that have contributed so much to North Central.
"This isn’t blight," Fowler concluded. "It’s community."
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The untrained eye can easily miss those little details. That’s why Fowler and others want a
chance to show city officials where to look. While some would settle for the statute-required
public hearing, others would like to see neighborhoods get an official voice.
Dan Goldstein, a leader of Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia, said the original EEZ
board was too exclusive. REDI "is a private company who put together a private board of
private investors."
Now that the city has the chance to start from scratch, Goldstein hopes residents from affected
communities will have a vote.
An ordinance that would create a new Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board will receive its second
reading and be subject to public comment at the City Council’s May 21 meeting. Should the
council approve it, members will have a chance to recommend appointees to McDavid.
Goldstein said that regardless of the board’s membership, public opinion should factor into
official decisions about an enhanced enterprise zone. If that opinion is negative, he said, the
city should explore other options.
"We should be moving toward programs the public can get behind rather than ones they’ve
united against."
But, in reference to an introductory economics class, Schauwecker said benefits such as those
the EEZ offers often require tradeoffs. With an EEZ, the tax revenue sacrificed at least would
result in jobs that could benefit the entire community, he said.
"We’re not going to solve our economic problems until we send people back to work."
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford.
Columbia's blight debate
Chart | How enhanced enterprise zones benefit businesses
Jobs | Effectiveness of enhanced enterprise zones uncertain
Timeline | Enhanced enterprise zone debate
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Map | Poverty rates, population change in Boone County
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SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood input
Columbia City Council passes
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Keep Columbia Free seeks volunteersfor potential recall petitionBy The Missourian staff
May 19, 2012 | 3:18 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — Keep Columbia Free is seeking volunteers to circulate petitions that would seek
to recall any City Council member who votes in favor of recreating an enhanced enterprise zone
board.
The council is scheduled to consider an ordinance Monday night that would re-establish the
board, replacing one the council dissolved at its last regular meeting. The board would be
charged with establishing proposed boundaries for an enhanced enterprise zone. The state EEZ
program requires that areas within the zone be blighted.
If the council approves the zone, some businesses that locate
or expand within it would be eligible for local tax
abatements and state tax credits. Supporters of the zone,
including representatives of Regional Economic
Development Inc., say the zone would help Columbia and
Boone County compete for manufacturing jobs. Opponents
say that a blight decree would harm property values and
open the door to abuse of eminent domain. They also worry
that the incentives would erode the local tax base.
Keep Columbia Free member Mark Flakne issued a news
release Friday warning council members of potential recalls.
"Due to the overwhelming public outcry resulting from the
City Council’s plan to declare large areas of Columbia
'blighted' and create an Enhanced Enterprise Zone, Keep
Columbia Free is asking for volunteers to step forward and
take action to recall any and all current City Council
representatives who choose to ignore the wishes of their
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ordinance to create new EEZ board
EEZ board returns to City Councilengaged constituents and vote in favor of establishing an
EEZ board," the news release said.
Keep Columbia Free seeks volunteers for potential recall petition http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/149378/keep-columbia-f...
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MoreStory
Related Media
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia's blight debate: EEZs' value asjob-creation tool unclearBy Hannah Cushman, Madeline O'Leary
May 20, 2012 | 6:00 a.m. CDT
A vacant building at 1391 Boone Industrial Drive is within the proposed boundaries of an enhanced enterprise zone
for Columbia. ¦ Parker Miles Blohm
COLUMBIA — Vacant factory buildings blemish the roadsides of Route Z, Prathersville Road
and Vandiver Drive, towering over parking lots that span concrete flats the size of several
football fields. "For sale" signs — symbols of the manufacturing sector’s eight-year decline in
Columbia and Boone County — mark the barren, industrial landscape.
Boone County has lost 1,920 manufacturing jobs since 2004, according to a report Regional
Economic Development Inc. delivered to the Columbia City Council on Jan. 17.
"There’s a significant number of people who were in
manufacturing ... who are now working part time at
Walmart and part time at Hy-Vee," REDI Chairman Dave
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A vacant building at 2207 NelwoodDrive was included within theproposed boundaries of an enhancedenterprise zone.
A vacant building sits at 1391 BooneIndustrial Drive. It is within theproposed boundaries of an enhancedenterprise zone. REDI officials hopeto attract manufacturing industries toreplace jobs lost during therecession.
Here is a PDF of a PowerPointpresentation prepared for theRegional Economic Development Inc.Board of Directors. It shows whichemployers and which areas of thecity, primarily industrial, would betargeted for development incentivesunder an enhanced enterprise zone.
Related ArticlesColumbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conference
REDI, city advisory board
Griggs said. "I’d hate to guess at the number of qualified
electricians and carpenters who have moved from our
community to follow the work."
REDI officials say the enhanced enterprise zone program
has the potential to bring those factory jobs back to Boone
County. EEZ tax incentives would provide job opportunities
for the unemployed and underemployed by encouraging
manufacturers to expand or locate in the county.
In fact, REDI President Mike Brooks said there’s a company
waiting in the wings right now, but its move to Columbia
depends heavily on available incentives.
"We’re trying to figure out if we can make the deal work,"
Brooks said. "It’s an early-stage company, so the (tax
incentives) would be very meaningful to them."
Brooks hopes an enhanced enterprise zone will provide
those incentives. The City Council’s recent rescission of a
February resolution that established an Enhanced
Enterprise Zone Board and declared much of the city
blighted or near blighted, however, has stalled the city’s
application for an EEZ.
REDI’s pursuit of an EEZ has faced harsh criticism.
Opponents caution against reduced property values, an
erosion of city and county tax bases and the prospect of
government abuse of eminent domain. It’s doubtful, they
say, that an EEZ would create enough jobs to justify the
incentives or that it would do anything to benefit the people
who need jobs most.
Areas and industries best-suited to Columbia’sneeds
Before the rescission of the EEZ resolution, REDI identified
targeted areas zoned for industrial development within the
proposed zone boundaries. Several of those areas are
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representatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
Author to discuss EEZ, alternatives atColumbia library
Columbia's blight debate: Old dataused to examine poverty, population
Columbia's blight debate: Timeline ofenhanced enterprise zone effort
Columbia's blight debate: A questionof jobs vs. neighborhood values
Columbia's blight debate: How anEEZ benefits businesses
considered “certified sites.”
Certified sites, REDI Vice President Bernie Andrews
explained at the April 11 meeting of the EEZ board, are
shovel-ready sites with infrastructure in place. Columbia’s
Ewing Industrial Site — complete with sewer systems, gas
and electricity — is one such tract.
"This is an advantage because the businesses looking to
relocate to these sites would save six or seven months on
construction," Griggs said.
The EEZ also would target specific industries. North
American Industry Classification System codes — six-digit
figures that categorize companies for the purpose of data
collection — allow cities and counties to customize EEZs to
suit their needs by designating who is eligible for tax benefits.
MU graduate student and former REDI intern Maurice Harris did most of the research on the
EEZ application process in the summer of 2011. He said the program’s malleability is part of its
appeal.
Griggs told the EEZ board at a Feb. 23 meeting that a REDI subcommittee emphasized
manufacturing when listing eligible codes. State statutes make religious organizations,
educational services, public administration, retail, gambling and food-and-drink
establishments ineligible for EEZ benefits.
Brooks cited food manufacturers and data centers as likely areas for expansion.
The strings attached to EEZs, Griggs said, are "less onerous" than those tied to other incentive
programs such as Chapter 100 bonds, which have associated legal fees alone that can exceed
the minimum investment required by an EEZ.
"An enhanced enterprise zone allows us to provide access to state tax credit programs that
(are) not available through any other means to many, many companies in Columbia," Griggs
said.
Brooks said he’s attracted to EEZs because of the number of high-quality jobs Columbia has
lost over the past decade. While many manufacturing jobs have disappeared, the city has
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gained 4,000 new jobs in the food and retail sectors. Still, the average annual wage in those
sectors was about $19,000 in 2009, less than half the manufacturing average of $39,000.
"This isn’t a damning discussion about those jobs" in food and retail, Brooks said. "It is rather
an acknowledgement that if we as a community don’t do something different, we’re not going
to change that trend line for the manufacturing jobs."
EEZs’ effectiveness unclear
It’s difficult to tell whether EEZs work well in Missouri because the program is relatively young
and because thorough oversight has been lacking. In 2010, the State Auditor’s Office panned
the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s management of the program.
State auditors analyzed data from all 58 EEZs and visited four around the state in 2007 and
2008. They produced a 20-page report titled “Enterprise Zone and Enhanced Enterprise Zone
Tax Credit Programs.”
The Department of Economic Development, the report said, had done too little to verify
information provided by businesses that applied for credits and therefore fell short in
determining whether the businesses were meeting expectations for economic benefits.
"As of March 30, 2010, only 15 of the 51 businesses that had been issued enhanced enterprise
zone tax credits since the inception of the program in 2006 had been visited" by the
Department of Economic Development, the audit report said.
Auditors also found that "the business investment and jobs assumptions used to create the
economic forecasts provided to the General Assembly" were overly ambitious. Tax incentives
contributed to 6.1 percent fewer jobs and 29.5 percent less investment than businesses
projected.
One business, for example, forecast an investment of $40 million in its first year but only spent
$2.9 million during that time period. That’s a nearly 93 percent difference.
The department also gave false economic benefit information to the General Assembly in a tax
credit analysis form, the audit said. Auditors selected 40 businesses that submitted
information to the Department of Economic Development in 2008. The department provided
inaccurate investment assumptions for 17 of them. That’s an error rate of 43 percent.
"One business submitted an estimate to (the department) indicating it would invest
$11,388,848; however (the department) used an assumption of $49,358,848 (333 percent
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more) in the economic forecast," the report detailed. "Another business’s notice of intent to
(the department) estimated it would invest $5,697,000, but (the department) used an
assumption of $87,600,000 (1,438 percent more) in the economic forecast."
The audit report drew two main conclusions about the EEZ program:
The Department of Economic Development does not adequately monitor businesses
receiving credits.
1.
The economic benefits of the program as reported to the legislature are overstated.2.
These weaknesses, the report said, "make it difficult to determine whether the programs are an
effective use of state resources."
The Missourian provided Griggs and Brooks a copy of the audit report. After reviewing it,
Brooks said one has to consider lapses between the time a project is proposed, the time tax
credits are administered and the time jobs are created.
"It would appear there are more announcements of awards each year, which would indicate
that communities are able to use this program to create jobs and investments with these tools,"
Brooks said in an email.
When public ire about the EEZ application piqued her interest, neighborhood activist Traci
Wilson-Kleekamp submitted a request under the Missouri Sunshine Law for all email
correspondence among REDI and city officials regarding the EEZ. What she found in the
emails dissatisfied her.
Wilson-Kleekamp expressed frustration with the apparent lack of empirical evidence that EEZs
work.
"In all the records, you will not find any substantive or deliberative conversation that shows
that (REDI) did any research to prove that this is the most viable, productive tool that they
have in their chest to resolve the economic development issue we have," Wilson-Kleekamp
said.
In terms of "process, policy and professionalism," she contended, both REDI and the city have
missed the mark.
The emails Wilson-Kleekamp obtained, which she shared with the Missourian, indicate REDI
tried to get some data. On Feb. 13, Andrews from REDI asked Carol Shoemaker, an incentive
specialist with the Missouri Department of Economic Development, whether she could provide
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fiscal year-end reports for other EEZs so that REDI could gauge their effectiveness.
Shoemaker said no.
"That would be in the form of a Sunshine Request," she replied. "You could request any of the
existing zones to send you their annual report, and that would be their choice to do so or not."
Shoemaker did provide "general information." She said 198 companies had been approved for
EEZ credits and 49 more were in the process. Approved companies proposed a total of 11,620
jobs and $2.33 billion in investment, most over a five-year period.
Shoemaker offered other numbers during a March 6 forum. There, she said EEZ projects have
generated 5,115 jobs and $1.6 billion worth of new investment in Missouri. She also reported
that the state's annual cap on EEZ tax credits has increased from $4 million to $24 million over
the past three years.
The state has issued $22.2 million in EEZ tax credits since the program's inception in 2004,
Department of Economic Development spokesman John Fougere said in an email. Spread out
over an eight-year period, that's less than the current cap for one year.
Per Shoemaker’s advice, REDI obtained annual EEZ reports from Springfield, where four
zones are in place. Figures from 2010 show those Springfield zones produced 89 jobs and $8.4
million worth of investment.
Still, data on the 7-year-old EEZ program are mixed. Shoemaker also said March 6 that the
average zone that month held four businesses that invested a total of $3.1 million and
collectively created 97 jobs. In Columbia, that would account for a little more than 5 percent of
the nearly 2,000 manufacturing jobs the city has lost over the past decade.
Wilson-Kleekamp said an EEZ might be but a single instrument in an economic policy toolbox
that should involve a range of strategies and a detailed plan of attack.
"To me, that is the meat and potatoes of what we should be talking about," she said. Before
officials can decide on a strategy to combat unemployment, "they need to have a very robust
conversation about what ails our unemployed."
Wilson-Kleekamp said leveraging existing resources, such as the Columbia Area Career Center
and MU research, could be a way to create more and better jobs "without putting so many
people as collateral."
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During public comment at the May 7 City Council meeting, Second Ward resident Khesha
Duncan said it is important to provide opportunities to people who live within an EEZ.
"I just don’t think it’s ethically and morally OK to use people for their poverty or
unemployment, then turn around and not be able to guarantee that they will be the first in line
when living-wage jobs are brought in the community," Duncan said.
Creating a comprehensive plan to offer that assurance would be a "giant step" toward building
a bridge of trust, she said.
Although the former Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board discussed whether to offer extra
incentives to companies that employ zone residents, Brooks said that’s unlikely given the
difficulty of documenting those hires.
"I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll do what we can to encourage (that), but, you
know, it’s going to be limited," Brooks said. "The fact is, you offer jobs, and you hope that
people will take the opportunity."
Hope is not enough if REDI wants to remedy unemployment by rejuvenating a depressed
sector of the city’s economy, Wilson-Kleekamp said. She’d like to see REDI and the council
develop a firm rubric for attracting specific businesses and holding them accountable for job
creation, as other communities have tried to do.
REDI already employs the Synchronist Business Information System to weed out companies
that might come to town and capitalize on incentives, only to leave when they expire.
Synchronist is a survey that gauges several variables, such as a company’s value, potential for
growth and likelihood of downsizing or leaving a community.
The system also measures a company’s needs, such as available workforce. Brooks identified
the training of said workforce as one of REDI’s primary concerns.
With the proper skills and work ethic, Griggs said, residents of affected areas will have the
opportunity to take advantage of entry-level manufacturing jobs and potentially advance to
higher positions.
"This program and how we are targeting manufacturing jobs with it truly can be a tremendous
benefit to the lower socioeconomic class, who doesn’t have the bachelor’s degree, who doesn’t
have four or six years of college," he said.
The need for change
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Subdued celebration resonated through the City Council chambers May 7, when the resolution
that established blight and the EEZ board was rescinded. Amid the quiet victors, others rose to
speak about the need for jobs to alleviate poverty.
Tim Rich, executive director at Heart of Missouri United Way, pointed to unemployment as the
"real crisis" in Columbia. Jobs, he said, are key to the United Way’s efforts to help people
escape poverty.
Rich said he knows this because his parents worked hard to rise from poverty.
"They had to change the way they lived. They had to move out of the community they were in to
find jobs. We don’t want that to happen here. We want the jobs to remain here."
Despite "mind-boggling" statistics — 43 percent of children in Columbia public schools are
eligible for free or reduced-price lunches — Rich thinks many Columbia residents don’t
understand the problem because they’ve never driven through an impoverished neighborhood
nor met a person who lives in poverty.
"That is a critical issue because if you can’t see the face of poverty then you do not believe that
it exists," he said.
Peggy Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Central Missouri Food Bank, has seen that hunger
translate to home life, too. She told the council that the food pantry distributed food to 20,596
people in 2010. In 2011, that number climbed to 22,638, a 10 percent increase.
Kirkpatrick believes situational poverty — or poverty caused by circumstances such as job loss
— is driving that trend.
"I have been begging many of you, I have been standing on desks, asking to please put these
people back to work," she said.
One hundred potential jobs at Veterans United Home Loans escaped to Overland Park, Kan.,
CEO Greg Steinhoff told the council.
Founded in Columbia, Veterans United employs close to 900 people, Steinhoff said. Yet a
favorable incentive package led the company to open a new office in a neighboring state.
Overland Park put out a "welcome mat" that made the business environment more conducive
to growth and expansion, he said.
Incentives "matter to companies," Steinhoff said. "They are real decisions that company
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executives make every day, and they certainly impact where those jobs are placed and
ultimately how the people in those areas are benefited."
Steinhoff is also a former director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. He
said that during his time in Jefferson City he personally approved several EEZ applications.
Although he acknowledged the importance of correct public process when applying for the
program, he lauded EEZs as a tool to "recruit core jobs."
"Core jobs are those jobs that bring net new economic impact to an area," Steinhoff said.
"These are the kinds of jobs that are not in the community currently, the impact being that they
support the creation of other jobs, bring new money to the community and provide
employment to the areas that need those jobs."
Kirkpatrick said she intended to remain impartial about whether to establish an EEZ, but she
added that the program’s potential might be too great to ignore.
"If you put off the enhanced enterprise zone initiative and go back to the drawing board, I don’t
know what that costs," she said. "But it’s just that much further away from getting people back
to work. Let’s get them training, but let’s get the people who already have the life skills back to
work."
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford.
Columbia's blight debate
Main article | Columbia residents worry about property values and eminent domain in
neighborhoods designated as blighted. Proponents of an enhanced enterprise zone insist the
worries are unfounded and that the city needs to offer incentives to attract manufacturing jobs.
Chart | How enhanced enterprise zones benefit businesses
Timeline | Enhanced enterprise zone debate
Map | Poverty rates, population change in Boone County
Columbia's blight debate: EEZs' value as job-creation tool unclear http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/149236/columbias-bligh...
9 of 9 4/23/13 12:46 PM
MoreStory
Related ArticlesColumbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conference
REDI, city advisory boardrepresentatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
Columbia's blight debate: EEZs'value as job-creation tool unclear
Columbia's blight debate: A questionof jobs vs. neighborhood values
Columbia's blight debate: How anEEZ benefits businesses
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia's blight debate: Timeline ofenhanced enterprise zone effortBy Hannah Cushman, Madeline O'Leary
May 20, 2012 | 6:00 a.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — Here's a look at how the move toward and the debate about an enhanced
enterprise zone for Columbia and Boone County have evolved.
February 2011: Representatives of Regional Economic Development Inc. express interest in
establishing an enhanced enterprise zone in Columbia and Boone County.
May 2011: REDI Vice President Bernie Andrews sends
REDI President Mike Brooks an email informing him that
MU graduate student and REDI intern Maurice Harris had
begun an informational report on EEZs.
July 13, 2011: Harris presents a report on EEZs, which
includes a summary of the program’s purpose and which
areas of the city would qualify and details of the application
process, to the REDI board of directors. REDI board
members later decide the EEZ program is worthy of further
review.
Aug. 16, 2011: A subcommittee of the REDI board holds its
first meeting. It has three main responsibilities: To
recommend EEZ boundaries, to use North American
Industry Classification System codes to compile a list of
businesses that would be eligible for EEZ benefits and to
recommend how much of a tax abatement the eligible
businesses within the zone should receive.
Aug. 31, 2011: The subcommittee reaches consensus on zone boundaries and eligible
businesses.
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Sept. 14, 2011: The subcommittee presents its recommendations at a meeting of the full
REDI board, which unanimously approves the pursuit of an EEZ.
Jan. 17: The Columbia City Council at a work session receives a memo summarizing the REDI
subcommittee’s research.
Feb. 6: The City Council approves Resolution 20-12A, which establishes an Enhanced
Enterprise Zone Board and declares 60 percent of Columbia as blighted or having conditions
that lead to blight. The EEZ boundaries also include parts of Boone County. The board is
charged with determining which businesses would be eligible, what level of tax abatement
should be offered and whether the zone boundaries should be revised.
Feb. 22: Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia forms to oppose the City Council's blight
decree.
Feb. 28: REDI President Mike Brooks and others make a presentation about EEZs to the
Downtown Leadership Council. Brooks apologizes for "public consternation" about the
process.
March 6: Carol Shoemaker, an incentive specialist with the Missouri Department of
Economic Development, leads a community forum on EEZs. Members of the public express
worries about the definition of blight, the potential impact on property values and the potential
abuse of eminent domain.
March 13: Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia files paperwork with the Missouri
Ethics Commission to become a political action committee.
March 16: The EEZ board and REDI representatives begin revising proposed zone
boundaries.
April 2: At the City Council's regular meeting, Fifth Ward Councilwoman Helen Anthony
inquires about the feasibility of rescinding that part of Resolution 20-12A that established the
boundaries of the EEZ. City Manager Mike Matthes suggests the council wait for a report from
REDI about the potential impact of a rescission on the EEZ application.
April 9: Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia begins circulating a petition calling for
Resolution 20-12A to be rescinded in its entirety.
April 16: After receiving the REDI report at a regular council meeting and receiving input
from members of the public, Anthony asks that a resolution rescinding the EEZ boundaries be
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placed on the next council agenda.
May 7: The council hears more public testimony for and against the EEZ. On the advice of City
Counselor Fred Boeckmann, it votes to rescind all of Resolution 20-12A. The move dissolves
not only the zone boundaries but also the EEZ board.
May 9: The council holds a two-minute special meeting to introduce Bill 121-12, which would
re-establish the EEZ board. Mayor Bob McDavid says he will accept recommendations from his
council colleagues about whom to appoint if the bill is approved.
Friday: Keep Columbia Free seeks volunteers to collect signatures on petitions to recall any
council member who votes in favor of creating a new EEZ board.
Monday: The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on the ordinance.
Columbia's blight debate
Main article | Columbia residents worry about property values and eminent domain in
neighborhoods designated as blighted. Proponents of an enhanced enterprise zone insist the
worries are unfounded and that the city needs to offer incentives to attract manufacturing jobs.
Chart | How enhanced enterprise zones benefit businesses
Jobs | Effectiveness of enhanced enterprise zones uncertain
Map | Poverty rates, population change in Boone County
Columbia's blight debate: Timeline of enhanced enterprise zone ... http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/149303/columbias-bligh...
3 of 3 4/23/13 12:46 PM
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia's blight debate: Old data usedto examine poverty, populationBy Samantha Sunne
May 20, 2012 | 6:00 a.m. CDT
Map data ©2013 Google
COLUMBIA — Some citizens are concerned that 12-year-old demographic data might paint an
Columbia's blight debate: Old data used to examine poverty, po... http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/149150/columbias-bligh...
1 of 2 4/23/13 12:53 PM
MoreStory
Related ArticlesREDI board votes to end effort forColumbia EEZs
City Council sends eminent domainamendment to April ballot
Columbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conference
REDI, city advisory boardrepresentatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood input
Columbia City Council passesordinance to create new EEZ board
EEZ board returns to City Council
inaccurate portrait of Columbia and Boone County. The city's population has grown about 30
percent from 2000 to 2010.
This map shows the population change and poverty rate in
the various parts of Boone County. Poverty data is from the
2006-2010 file of the American Community Survey, which is
administered by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sources: American Community Survey and the Office of
Social and Economic Data Analysis
Columbia's blight debate
Main article | Columbia residents worry about property
values and eminent domain in neighborhoods designated as
blighted. Proponents of an enhanced enterprise zone insist
the worries are unfounded and that the city needs to offer
incentives to attract manufacturing jobs.
Chart | How enhanced enterprise zones benefit businesses
Jobs | Effectiveness of enhanced enterprise zones uncertain
Timeline | Enhanced enterprise zone debate
Columbia's blight debate: Old data used to examine poverty, po... http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/149150/columbias-bligh...
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia City Council passes ordinanceto create new EEZ boardBy Elizabeth Pearl
May 21, 2012 | 11:04 p.m. CDT
Willy Maxwell and others protest the enhanced enterprise zone ordinance outside the Daniel BooneCity Building on Monday night. “This is a race to the bottom,” Maxwell said. | Robert Swain
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Eugene Elkin, Shari Korthuis and Dawn Zeterberg protest the enhanced enterprise zone ordinanceoutside the Daniel Boone City Building on Monday night. “Everyone is stepping up, it's world wide,”said Elkin. | Robert Swain
Dozens of people gathered to speak and hear discussion about the enhanced enterprise zoneordinance at the City Council meeting on Monday night. | Robert Swain
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MoreStory
Related ArticlesREDI board votes to end effort forColumbia EEZs
City Council sends eminent domainamendment to April ballot
Columbia residents plan second A
Opponents of an enhanced enterprise zone objected to an ordinance re-establishing an EEZ board at Monday's
Columbia City Council meeting. ¦ Robert Swain
COLUMBIA — A diverse group of demonstrators gathered in front of the Daniel Boone City
Building on Monday to speak out against the enhanced enterprise zone and its related finding
of blight.
Among the throng of protesters gathered around a sign proclaiming "FIGHT THE BLIGHT,"
David Dollens, a 40-year resident of Columbia, said he believes the EEZ will negatively impact
the poor and take taxes away from services like schools and transportation.
"It's going to eat the poor up," Dollens said. He asserted that
Mayor Bob McDavid would not pick anyone who would
represent the people most affected by blight.
Inside, after a two-hour public hearing, the Columbia City
Council unanimously voted Monday to pass an ordinance
that will re-establish the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board.
The board will replace a previous one the council dissolved
Shari Korthuis takes the floor and speaks out on the enhanced enterprise zone ordinance at the CityCouncil meeting on Monday. Korthuis was one of many people speaking out about the ordinanceand protested outside the Daniel Boone City Building before the meeting. | Robert Swain
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People's Visioning conference
REDI, city advisory boardrepresentatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegates
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meeting
SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary
LETTER: EEZ data in Missouri notverified
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood input
Author to discuss EEZ, alternatives atColumbia library
EEZ board returns to City Council
earlier this month.
The new board will consist of seven members: one appointed
by the Columbia Public School District, one by the taxing
districts within the EEZ and five chosen by the mayor.
McDavid said Monday before the public hearing that if the
board were approved he would reappoint Randy Morrow,
John Strotbeck and Louis Gatewood.
He also said he would appoint attorney Jeremy Root. A
member of Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia,
Root has to date been an ardent opponent of the EEZ blight
decree. He was recommended by council members Daryl
Dudley and Helen Anthony of the Fourth and Fifth wards,
respectively.
McDavid also said he would appoint Anthony Stanton, whom First Ward Councilman Fred
Schmidt and Douglass Neighborhood Association President Tyree Byndom suggested.
Those appointments became official when the council re-established the board.
Toward the end of the meeting, City Clerk Sheela Amin asked for clarification on how long each
of the mayor's appointees would serve on the board. State law requires that those terms be
staggered.
McDavid appointed Strotbeck and Stanton to four-year terms, Root and Morrow to three-year
terms and Gatewood to a two-year term.
The new board will be charged with advising the council on zone boundaries, reviewing
applications to join the EEZ and monitoring business activity within the zone.
Hoppe expressed hope Monday that the new board would produce much narrower boundaries
for the proposed zone.
The original resolution marked 60 percent of the city as blighted, a contentious categorization
that led to opposition from Columbia residents. Many said they felt that blight would lead
to decreased property values, an eroded tax base and eminent domain abuse.
Mary Hussmann, a member of Grass Roots Organizing, spoke during the meeting about the
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council's role in the city.
"Your job is not to build walls but bridges," she said. "The blight/EEZ plan not only damages
the reputation of Columbia, but is unfair and costly to the residents of Columbia.”
Keep Columbia Free, a political action committee, announced a plan Friday to circulate a
petition to recall the council members who voted in favor of the ordinance and another to put
an initiative on the next ballot to rescind it.
The group, said member Mitch Richards, will begin gathering signatures immediately despite
the unanimous vote.
"Tomorrow's another day," he said.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
EEZ board returns to City CouncilBy Jessica Salmond
May 21, 2012 | 2:20 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — The Columbia City Council is poised to revisit the Enhanced Enterprise Zone
Board — this time, in the form of an ordinance.
The council established the EEZ Board with Resolution 20-12 on February 6, but when the
resolution was rescinded May 7 after months of public unrest, the board was dissolved.
On Monday night, the council will vote whether to
reestablish the board after a public hearing. The ordinance
received its first reading May 9.
The new EEZ Board would be structurally identical to its
predecessor. As mandated by Missouri state statute, it would
consist of one member appointed by Columbia Public
Schools, one member appointed by another taxing district
and five members appointed by Mayor Bob McDavid.
The ordinance specifies that the board's responsibilities
would include:
Advising the council on EEZ-related issues.
Assessing applications from within the EEZ.
Submitting an annual progress report to the Missouri
Department of Economic Development.
Karl Skala, a member of Citizens Invested and Involved in
Columbia, predicts the ordinance will pass Monday evening.
With Skala's help, CIVIC has sent out thousands of emails
about Monday's public hearing. Skala has also updated
CIVIC's public and private Facebook pages as well as his
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own page about the hearing.
CIVIC has been in contact with other groups in its campaign to spread the word, too.
"There has been quite a bit of effort to make people understand this is an important issue,"
Skala said.
With an eye on the future, Skala said he's interested in the mayor's appointments to the
board. Previous members were seated with little input from the council or the public, he said.
But because McDavid decided to accept recommendations from council, Skala is optimistic
about the new board's membership.
"We should be in a better place, and it should result in better represented appointments... But
it's still the mayor's call," Skala said.
Supervising editor is Hannah Cushman.
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Related Media
This map is one of two newproposals being discussed by theEEZ Board concerning thedevelopment of enhanced enterprisezones in Columbia.
COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
EEZ Board considers two proposals,neighborhood inputBy Marie French
June 1, 2012 | 6:20 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA — The new Enhanced Enterprise Zone (EEZ) Board reviewed two new zone
options at its first meeting Friday morning.
Bernie Andrews, executive vice president of Regional Economic Development Inc., talked to
the board about new zone maps called for by the previous board.
There are two proposals currently under consideration. The
first involves one contiguous zone; the second involves two
zones, one in north Columbia and one in south Columbia.
Andrews described potential manufacturing and industrial
sites, as well as existing manufacturers, within the
boundaries of zones in both scenarios.
Andrews said two of the three proposed maps would not
contain any new census blocks. The north zone would
incorporate one new census block, which includes the
Parkade neighborhood.
"There is a company that is considering moving to
Columbia, and it’s looked at various sites in Columbia,"
Andrews said. "The only site that would work for that
company is in that (new) census block group."
Andrews said the contiguous map proposal required the
addition of three primarily residential census block groups
in order to qualify for the program, resulting in a total of 14.
The north zone map would include only eight census block
groups, while the south zone map would include four.
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This map is one of two newproposals being discussed by theEEZ Board concerning thedevelopment of enhanced enterprisezones in Columbia. This map showsthe northern zone in a two-zone plan.
This map is one of two newproposals being discussed by theEEZ Board concerning thedevelopment of enhanced enterprisezones in Columbia. This map showssouthern zone in a two-zone plan.
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EEZ Board discusses property taxabatement, job creation requirements
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John Strotbeck, the newly re-elected chair of the board, said
there were few negatives to creating two separate zones.
“It’s basically administrative,” Strotbeck said. “It’d be two
applications.”
Anthony Stanton, one of the board's new members, raised
the issue of using 2000 data instead of 2010 census data.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development, which
administers the EEZ program, has not yet updated the
poverty information it uses to qualify census blocks for an
enhanced enterprise zone. While the state will consider only
the 2000 data, Stanton said the board should still look at the
2010 data.
“We’re exceeding the minimum requirements,” Stanton
said.
Jeremy Root, another new board member, agreed the most
recent data for poverty should inform the board’s decisions.
“I think our community has asked for us to understand it,
and they’re going to ask for City Council to understand it, as
well,” Root said.
Root also said he wanted the board to get input from
residents within the zone, since they were most likely to be
affected. The board members discussed the issue and
informally agreed to invite affected neighborhood
associations to future meetings once the zone proposals are
finalized.
“We don’t want to create any bigger fights than we have to,”
Stanton said.
Strotbeck asked whether the Columbia City Council had any
timeline for the recommendation. REDI President Mike
Brooks said there is a company interested in coming to
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Columbia that is looking at tax incentives.
Catherine Parke, a member of Citizens Involved and Invested in Columbia who attended
Friday's meeting, said the process should not be rushed.
“That there might be a company that is considering coming to Columbia has nothing to do with
it,” Parke said. “All the time that needs to be taken must be taken.”
The board also voted against adopting the previous board’s list of North American Industry
Classification System codes, opting instead to discuss which sectors would be eligible at the
next meeting.
Andrews also reviewed the board’s duties. Per its establishing ordinance, the board is
responsible for making recommendations to the council on areas for a zone, identifying eligible
industries and deciding on appropriate levels of tax abatement.
Andrews said the issue of blight was outside the scope of the board's purview and an issue for
council to deal with.
“They certainly are aware of the issue of blight and are looking for avenues to address that,”
Andrews said.
Supervising editor is Hannah Cushman.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
EEZ opponents rally at Columbia CityCouncil meetingBy Marie French
June 18, 2012 | 10:39 p.m. CDT
Nestor Mackno, left, Jacob Fasching and Mike Diel hold signs to protest the enhanced enterprise zone Monday
evening in front of the Daniel Boone City Building, where the City Council was meeting. ¦ Caitlin Jones
COLUMBIA — More than 60 people demonstrated outside of the Columbia City Council
meeting on Monday night to show continued opposition to the potential establishment of an
enhanced enterprise zone in Columbia.
The demonstrators filed inside just before the council meeting began. Despite Mayor Bob
McDavid's acknowledgement of the crowd – urging them against any "demonstrative actions"–
both the mayor and the council members were largely unresponsive to the show of opposition.
The council was not voting on or introducing any
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EEZ-related actions at the meeting.
During the scheduled public comments portion of the
council meeting, David Stokes, a policy analyst for the
Show-Me Institute, presented preliminary results from an
analysis of the original Enterprise Zone Tax Benefit program
to show that programs like EEZ are not effective.
Established in 1982, the Enterprise Zone program was a
precursor to the EEZ program. Like EEZ, the Enterprise
Zone program provided tax credits for job creation and
investment by companies within established zones. The
Missouri Department of Economic Development began to
phase it out in 2004 by state statute in favor of the EEZ
program.
Stokes said he compared economic data from counties in
Missouri with large zones to bordering counties without an enterprise zone. He said he found
no significant difference in the economic performance of the two samples between 1980 and
2005.
“Whatever the numbers may be, the burden of proof is on the wrong foot,” Stokes said. “It
should be the burden of supporters of such things to prove that they work.”
An EEZ is a state-run program that provides tax incentives at the state level and requires the
local government to provide a property tax break of at least 50 percent on new real property
investment. To qualify for the tax breaks, the companies must invest a minimum amount on
facility improvement and create at least two jobs.
The establishment of an EEZ also requires the area to be declared blighted, which has sparked
opposition to the program. Opponents have also questioned the effectiveness of EEZs at
creating jobs, according to previous Missourian reports.
Stokes said he was invited to speak by Keep Columbia Free, a local organization that opposed
the EEZ program and has initiated a petition for the recall of First Ward councilman Fred
Schmidt because of his support for the EEZ.
After Stokes' address, Mitch Richards, treasurer and spokesperson for Keep Columbia Free,
urged the council to listen to the public opposition to the EEZ program.
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“We ask that you rescind the ordinance and dissolve the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board,”
Richards said. “We ask that you listen to us.”
Richards asked members of the audience who opposed the EEZ to stand at the end of his
comments. Most of the audience stood and applauded. Many of them were among those
demonstrating outside of City Hall before the meeting.
Before the 7 p.m. council meeting began, the crowd of EEZ protesters outside City Hall grew
from about 25 people to more than 60.
Members of Food Not Bombs served a meal,while demonstrators held signs with slogans like
“Fight the blight."
Several organizations were represented at the demonstration including Citizens Involved and
Interested in Columbia or Civic, Occupy CoMo, Keep Columbia Free and Grass Roots
Organizing.
Mary Hussmann, an organizer for GRO, said she didn’t think the council was listening to the
people.
“You listen to the people, and you change your mind,” Hussmann said. “That’s not a sign of
weakness. That’s a sign of courage.”
The City Council originally passed a resolution in February that created an Enhanced
Enterprise Zone Board and declared more than half of Columbia blighted.
This resolution was rescinded on May 7, but an ordinance re-establishing the EEZ Board was
passed on May 21. The EEZ Board is still working on formulating its recommendations to the
council.
President of Keep Columbia Free Mark Flakne said the council's unanimous re-establishment
of the EEZ Board showed that city council was not listening.
“We feel that we have been ignored,” Flakne said. “At least now they see why they’re being
recalled, or why they’ll lose the next election.”
Supervising editor is Ted Hart: [email protected], 882-7884
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Related ArticlesSHOW ME THE RECORDS: Districtreport cards compare data betweenColumbia Public Schools, state
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
SHOW ME THE RECORDS: EnhancedEnterprise Zone summaryBy Karen Miller
June 18, 2012 | 12:01 a.m. CDT
Each week, the Missourian highlights a government record that is available to the public.
Open records help people keep government in check and help them better understand how
government affects their lives.
For a complete list of Show Me the Records, go to http://columbiamissourian.com/records.
The records: Documents from the city and the Missouri
Department of Economic Development relating to an
enhanced enterprise zone in Columbia.
Why you’d want them: Regional Economic Development
Inc. is pushing for an Enhanced Enterprise Zone in
Columbia. The zone will provide businesses with tax credits.
However, there has been controversy over declaring areas
"blighted" in order to qualify.
Where you get the records: Documents are available on
the Enhanced Enterprise zone document page.
How much it will cost: The information is free.
SHOW ME THE RECORDS: Enhanced Enterprise Zone summary http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/146998/show-me-the-re...
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SHOW ME THE RECORDS:Missouri court records availableonline
SHOW ME THE RECORDS: MUdemographics and financialcomparison
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
REDI, city advisory boardrepresentatives discuss EEZ withneighborhood delegatesBy Dani Vanderboegh
October 8, 2012 | 11:49 p.m. CDT
¦ Matthew Schacht
REDI, city advisory board representatives discuss EEZ with ne... http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/154381/redi-city-adviso...
1 of 4 4/23/13 12:45 PM
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*This story has been changed to indicate that the Enhanced Enterprise Advisory Board will
meet next week but that it will be a few weeks before it submits proposals to the Columbia
City Council and the Boone County Commission for approval.
COLUMBIA — Residents of neighborhoods included in proposed boundaries for two enhanced
enterprise zones met with representatives of Regional Economic Development Inc. and the
chair of a city advisory board Monday night to ask questions and offer their feedback on the
latest version of the plan.
REDI board chairman Dave Griggs and executive vice
president Bernie Andrews led the informational meeting.
The 18 attendees included City Council members Gary
Kespohl and Michael Trapp as well as representatives from
five of the 15 neighborhood associations that were invited.
Griggs and Andrews explained the newest version of the
enhanced enterprise zones and the benefits of EEZ to
Columbia. Board members expect that EEZ will:
Increase competitive business recruitment and job creation
in Columbia.
Allow Columbia to compete with other cities in Missouri for
business bids.
Currently, there are 122 EEZs in Missouri. In relation to
cities of Columbia's size: Springfield has four, St. Joseph has one, Independence has two,
Jefferson City has one, and Kansas City has three.
Be used as a significant tool to support manufacturers currently operating in Columbia.
The Enhanced Enterprise Advisory Board has been working since late spring to revise a
proposal for creating the zone or zones, which would make some businesses that expand or
locate within them eligible for state and local tax incentives.
A previous board was dismantled in May after the Columbia City Council heard considerable
opposition from the public to a previous recommendation that would have placed a large
percentage of the city and parts of Boone County in an EEZ. Opponents decried the declaration
of blight that accompanies an EEZ, and they worried it would harm property values and
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prompt the city to use eminent domain to acquire private property for redevelopment.
The new advisory board has worked with REDI to produce maps for two proposed EEZs known
as the north and south zones.
The north zone would encompass the Route B corridor, industrial areas east of Range
Line Street, much of Business Loop 70 and several neighborhoods, including Parkade,
Ridgeway, Douglass, North-Central and Derby Ridge. A report from REDI indicates the
north zone is home to several manufacturing plants that have closed or experienced
significant layoffs since 2005.
The south zone would include LeMone Industrial Park, the Discovery Ridge Research
Park, the Crosscreek development, Lenoir Woods Senior Center, the Shepard Hills
subdivision on Timberhill Road and the High Hills mobile home community.
*The EEZ Advisory Board will continue to discuss the zone boundaries and the types of
businesses that will be eligible for tax incentives. It's next meeting is 5 p.m. Oct. 17 in
Conference Room 1B of the Daniel Boone City Building. The board's recommendations will be
subject to public hearings and the approval of the Boone County Commission and the
Columbia City Council City Council. Board member Jeremy Root said he doesn't expect
commission or council action until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Residents were invited to voice concerns throughout Monday night's meeting. One major
concern was distrust between the community and the city. Several attendees referred to the
Sharp End urban renewal project of the 1960s as the cause for their distrust.
"I'm feeling like we need to collectively talk about the history of displacement," North Central
Columbia Neighborhood Association President Pat Fowler said. "We have that history, and it
sits in the middle of every conversation we have."
Another concern Fowler addressed was the longevity of employment created by the EEZ
businesses. Each business in Columbia would be required to hire 10 new employees, offer
health insurance and pay for half the cost and pay 75 percent of the county average wage,
which is currently $32,565. That equals about $24,500 annually.
Fowler's concern was that families will have difficulty living on less than $40,000 a year. She
argued that public assistance would become a necessity and that a long-term plan for upward
mobility would serve the community better.
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There has to be a way that a city can create jobs and raise wages while not displacing people,
Fowler said.
Residents also asked for data on other cities and their economic progress since their creation of
EEZs. Several residents suggested that REDI provide more information about the process of
establishing zones.
EEZs are established through the Missouri Department of Economic Development and must
meet not only the requirements for a blight declaration but also certain demographic criteria.
At least 60 percent of the residents of an EEZ must have incomes below 90 percent of the
county or state median income, and residents collectively must have a level of unemployment
greater than or equal to that of the county or state.
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia residents plan second APeople's Visioning conferenceBy Matthew Schacht
October 9, 2012 | 5:07 p.m. CDT
COLUMBIA – Columbia residents dissatisfied with the city-led process that led to the creation
of the vision known as Imagine Columbia's Future in 2008 plan to hold a second conference on
generating ideas for Columbia's future.
Organizer Monta Welch said two main concerns unite the citizens group: skepticism about
whether enhanced enterprise zones will deliver well-paying jobs and a sense of urgency that the
city must phase out non-renewable energy such as coal.
Other topics on the agenda include transportation, public
health, education, and food and water security, among
others.
Small groups will spin off from the conference and meet
regularly in the weeks after Wednesday's gathering.
The grassroots effort, dubbed A People's Visioning, held its
first conference Aug. 27, and about 70 people attended.
Since then, the group has generated a tentative list of ideas
about how to improve the city.
"It has been a process of folks from all sides of the aisle,
liberals and conservatives and everyone in between," Welsh
said. "Folks in the community should know that something
is being done with the visioning at the grassroots level."
Ideas the groups have brainstormed so far include fostering
community gardens; protecting historic neighborhoods with
overlay zoning designations, using micro-loans and local
credit unions to foster neighborhood revitalization and
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Commission "mom-and-pop" businesses, and finding creating ways to
encourage green technologies that keep climate issues in
mind.
The people's visioning group will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Friends Room of the
Columbia Public Library. The gathering will start with refreshments and live music, and
discussions will begin at 7 p.m.
For more information, contact Welch at (573) 443-4117, or visit the group's Facebook page.
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford.
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COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
City Council sends eminent domainamendment to April ballotBy Dan Burley
November 19, 2012 | 11:45 p.m. CST
COLUMBIA — On April 3, voters will have their say on the city's eminent domain power.
The Columbia City Council unanimously approved a charter amendment Monday night that
prevents the city from exercising eminent domain for economic development with the
intention of transferring the property to private entities.
The amendment stemmed from public discussion regarding
a proposed enhanced enterprise zone, or EEZ, Sixth Ward
Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said during the meeting.
An EEZ is a state-run program that provides tax incentives
to spark expansion of existing businesses or manufacturing
companies and the development of new small businesses. To
apply to the state for the creation of an EEZ, the proposed
area must be declared "blighted or possessing conditions
that lead to blight."
The blight designation worried opponents of an EEZ. They
feared areas of the city declared blighted might be at a
greater risk of eminent domain. Eminent domain is the
power vested in governments to take, with "just
compensation," private property for public use.
"Blight greases the wheels, as they say, for eminent domain,"
Monta Welch, head of A People's Visioning and an EEZ
opponent, said before the meeting.
In response to the public dissatisfaction, Hoppe asked city
staff about a possible amendment to the city's charter that
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limits the use of eminent domain for economic development, according to city documents. She
cited the recent Supreme Court case on eminent domain, Kelo v. New London, as reason to
further articulate the city's power.
She presented a charter amendment in September that limited the city's right to exercise
eminent domain to acquire property unless the property was previously declared blighted.
The amendment's language, however, created concern that the council was laying out a process
for exercising eminent domain — something the council didn't intend, Second Ward
Councilman Michael Trapp said in an interview.
"We removed it to readdress the language," Fifth Ward councilwoman Helen Anthony said at
the meeting. "Now it's more narrowly construed."
Trapp said he thought the amendment provided no substantive change to the dialogue on EEZ.
"It's a law about a feeling," Trapp said. "Nobody likes (eminent domain) on the left, nobody
likes it on the right. Eminent domain tramples individual rights except in its most narrow use."
Trapp referred to the language added to the state's EEZ charter last spring which specifies that
blight designations for EEZs cannot be used "to meet the conditions for blight under any other
statute of the state," including eminent domain.
Mike Brooks, director of Regional Economic Development Inc., the public-private partnership
pushing for an EEZ, said that everything he’s ascertained from the city’s legal counsel indicates
no connection between the blight designation required for EEZ and the blight designation used
for eminent domain.
“The only thing they have in common is the word ‘blight,’” Brooks said.
Brooks said an EEZ identifies blight in terms of census blocks. Eminent domain identifies
blight in a more specific, parcel-by-parcel manner.
Mary Hussmann, an organizer for Grass Roots Organizers and an EEZ opponent, said she was
pleased with the council's passage of the amendment but thinks of it as a first step.
"It won't help us to vote in April if the proposed EEZ is voted on before then," Hussmann said.
An EEZ Advisory Board, appointed in May by Mayor Bob McDavid, is in the process of defining
boundaries for an EEZ. The board has proposed two zones, but no definite boundaries have
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been identified, Brooks said.
The consternation about EEZs began in February when the council approved a resolution that
established an EEZ and declared 60 percent of Columbia as blighted or having conditions that
lead to blight.
The public outcry over the blight designation by groups such as Citizens Involved and Invested
in Columbia prompted the council to rescind the resolution in May and create the advisory
board.
Supervising editor is Karen Miller.
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