Boise Mayor Lauren McLean will nominate Danielle Hurd to the commission for the Capital City Development Corporation. The nomination will go in front of Boise’s City Council at its regular meeting tonight.
Hurd serves as executive director for the American Institute of Architects’ chapter in the northwest. She previously worked for CTA (now Cushing Terrell) as regional director of client relations and owned a privately-held art & design studio. Hurd also serves as district council chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Idaho chapter.
If confirmed, Hurd will replace former Boise City Council member Ben Quintana on the urban renewal commission. Quintana’s term ended in May.
This is McLean’s fourth nomination to the panel. Earlier this year she added herself, Latonia Haney Keith and Kate Nelson to the CCDC board.
Former mayor Dave Bieter remains on the board, as well as four members he appointed: Dana Zuckerman, Ryan Woodings, Maryanne Jordan, and Gordon Jones. Bieter declined to leave the board despite McLean’s public requests he step back. At its meeting in March, the agency voted to change its executive committee, swapping Bieter for McLean in the role of secretary/treasurer.
A bill in the Idaho legislature that would have required any elected official to leave an urban renewal commission if they were no longer in office passed the senate but later stalled in the house. The bill would have removed Bieter from CCDC, as well as former Meridian Mayor Tammy de Weerd from the Meridian Development Corporation board.
Urban Renewal in Idaho
When a city creates a new urban renewal area, the property tax collections inside its boundaries freeze at the time of creation. Any increase in property values and the extra tax it generates goes to the urban renewal agency instead of taxing agencies like schools, ACHD and police.
For instance: Say a property is worth $100,000 and pays $1,000 per year in property tax at the time of the urban renewal area. Over time, it increases in value to $150,000 and the owner pays $1,500 in property taxes. Of that $1,500, $1,000 would go to the regular taxing agencies and the extra $500 would go to an agency like CCDC.
The agency can spend the dollars on a variety of projects like infrastructure, streetscapes and property acquisition.
