The existing South Billings Boulevard Urban Renewal District (SBBURD) boundary may be modified by ordinance in accordance with the procedure described in M.C.A. § 7-15-4221. The City Council at its meeting on July 12 conducted a public hearing and approved the ordinance on first reading to expand the boundary of the SBBURD and adopt a modified Urban Renewal Plan, including a tax increment provision. Ordinances require two readings and so the Council is scheduled to complete 2nd reading of this ordinance at this meeting. 

City Council at its December 7, 2020 Work Session directed staff to move forward with the process to expand the SBBURD in 2021. The SBURA Board voted at its April 6 meeting to affirm its support for expansion of the SBBURD by the City. The City Council approved a resolution of intent to expand the District at its May 10 meeting as the first formal step for the City Council to move the process forward, and then approved first reading of the expansion ordinance at the July 12 meeting.

South Billings Urban Renewal Association Coordinator Jim Tevlin working with City staff in the past year and a half has been in contact with property owners and agents interested in having property included in the South Billings Boulevard Urban Renewal District. Several of these properties face significant hurdles to development with property conditions and cleanups, and public infrastructure needs that align with the goals and purpose of urban renewal efforts in South Billings. City staff also is proposing that recently purchased City property just south of the Billings Operation Center be included in the District expansion. The total acreage of all of the property under consideration is about 80 acres. Several of the properties to be included in the District expansion (See properties described below) had to be annexed into the City and zoned to city zoning districts prior to the Council formally expanding the SBBURD. These annexations and zone changes were approved by the Council at its meeting on July 12.
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The District was formed and amended in 2008, and the Urban Renewal Plan for the District was amended in 2019. However, the District boundary has not been expanded since 2008. While expanding urban renewal districts is not common, it is a tool available to communities under the urban renewal laws, and Billings has most recently used the tool in the East Billings Urban Renewal District in 2015. The process mirrors the process to create a district, with Council taking action on a resolution of intent to expand the District, updated Urban Renewal Plan, notification of property owners that would be included in the expansion, Planning Board review of expansion, legal notice of public hearing, and final Council action to expand the District.

The following properties are proposed in the attached Ordinance to be included in the SBBURD expansion:

Adkins Property - Northeast corner of the intersection of Jackson Street and King Avenue East, about 4 acres, owned by Jason Adkins with an in-holding owned by Robert Ronshaugen. The in-holding property will not be annexed to the City or included in the District expansion at this time. Property has some possible characteristics of blight and also would involve frontage and infrastructure improvements along King Avenue East and Jackson Street to facilitate development.

Compton Property - 3218 South Frontage Road, about 17 acres, owned by KSKC Properties, LLC (Tim Compton). Property is former Knife River gravel pit that was remediated, annexed into the City and sold to KSKC Properties, LLC in 2011. Property requires remediation work to develop due to the fill material on the site. Water and sewer infrastructure extensions and access are significant in this area, but improvements would benefit this and other properties in the area to access City services.

Torgerson (formerly Driscoll) Property - 3508 South Frontage Road, about 36 acres. Development would involve significant frontage and infrastructure improvements along the South Frontage Road.

Hogan Property - 3716 South Frontage Road, about 3.6 acres, owned by Evolution HC, LLC. Property was Annexed by the City Council in November 2020.

City Property - West of South Billings Boulevard and south of the Billings Operation Center on Midland Road, about 20 acres, owned by the City of Billings. The property is agricultural land and will be used to expand City services in connection with the Operations Center and other city services needs in the future. No master plan for future facilities has been developed at this time.

City staff find that several of these properties have qualifying conditions per MCA 7-15-4202 and 7-15-4206 (2), that all of them require public infrastructure improvements as identified in the 2008 and 2019 project and program recommendations of the adopted SBBURD Urban Renewal Plan, and that including some, or all, of these properties in the District would ensure development with municipal services and building to the infrastructure, site, land use and building requirements and standards of the City of Billings.

DETERMINATION OF BLIGHT
As described above, the proposed SBBURD Expansion area contains a number of underdeveloped properties and areas lacking complete infrastructure. The Council previously determined that the property included in the SBBURD was “blighted” in its adoption of Ordinance #08-5462 and Ordinance #08-5484 that (a) created the SBBURD and (b) adopted an urban renewal plan for the district. Deficiencies in public and private properties located in the district led to a determination of blight, as defined by state statute. As cited in the current Urban Renewal Plan, the area still meets several definitions of blight. Further details of the determinations summarized below are found in Section 5 of the SBBURD Plan Amendment attached to this memo: Deficient Structures - buildings, street infrastructure, water and sewer infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure; Deficient Land Use - surface storage lots, vacant lots; Protecting Public Health and Safety- conditions of blight, reduced “social capital” and community connectedness. The City desires to improve the quality of land use, city infrastructure and economic development potential of these properties by including them in the SBBURD to construct needed public infrastructure improvements, grow the tax base, increase the inventory of residential property, stimulate commercial development, and further implement the visions of the SBBURD Master Plan.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY