Using a Redevelopment Area to Attract Private Investment

<p>The neighborhood of Doherty Heights has seen better days. Once a vibrant residential neighborhood that was home to families and retail businesses close to the downtown core, Doherty Heights is now better known for its vacant storefronts and dilapidated houses. The majority of the city’s housing code complaints come from Doherty Heights. Police have identified Doherty Heights as an area of concern. To make matters worse, the neighborhood lies along Main Street, so every visitor to the city gets to see the blighted housing stock and commercial buildings first-hand. As part of a larger effort to revitalize Doherty Heights, city officials are exploring ways to attract private investment to the community, and they want to know how a redevelopment area can help them achieve their goals. The School of Government Development Finance Initiative has been working with city officials on various options, and as part of that effort, I was asked to provide the following brief overview of the city’s redevelopment authority.</p> <p>What is a redevelopment area?</p> <p>A redevelopment area is a geographic area targeted for redevelopment by a local government pursuant to the Urban Redevelopment Law (North Carolina General Statutes (G.S.) Chapter 160A, Article 22). Buildings in the area can be residential, commercial, or both. To be eligible for designation as a redevelopment area, the targeted area must be classified as blighted—meaning the growth of the area is impaired by the presence of dilapidated or obsolete buildings, overcrowding, or other unsafe conditions—or as being in danger of becoming blighted. The local planning commission is responsible [...]</p>