The story of the 700 block of S. Public, part one

What happened and why!

If you’re one of those people who don’t think you can make a difference on a local level allow me to show you that it can indeed be done. Get those happy dance shoes ready.

EXHIBIT A: THE 700 BLOCK OF S. PUBLIC RD

This unassuming block is on the west side of S. Public Rd. It begins at Kimbark and runs down to Spaulding. There’s a collection of small buildings each with its own personality, one look and you know they’ve been here for quite a while. I love this block. Maybe you do too. It’s quirky, funky, and in my humble opinion very Lafayette, and just what I want for my downtown. Nothing fancy thank you.

WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THIS AREA?

This block is part of the urban renewal district which falls under the oversight of the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority or LURA. If you are unfamiliar with LURA I wrote about it in my “Following the Money” series. You can get all the details here. In a nutshell LURA is a state-regulated board created 25 years ago. It’s charged with addressing blight, funded with something called tax increment financing (TIF), and has an executive director who handles the day-to-day work in the district. LURA meets monthly, has a big chunk of money to spend, and is one of three boards whose meetings are streamed online along with the council and the planning commission. (Quick sidestep, in 2015 fellow political hobbyist Vicky Uhland and I successfully lobbied Sally Martin, former chair of LURA, to stream these meetings for public viewing)

A BIT OF HISTORY

When this story began in 2019, 701 the corner lot at Kimbark, ( the lower image above) was owned by LURA due to a condemnation threat to the property owner via eminent domain that convinced him to sell in 2018.

Since 2009 the rest of the block 705, 707, 709, and 711 was owned by Gerry Morrell and his family, with the intent to build a new location for Morrell Printing. When they purchased 990 S. Public for the print shop expansion the focus for these properties became a mixed-use project. We learned that beginning in 2018 he had been in discussions with LURA. In 2019 the authority had a two-year option on the properties.

ENTER SETH WHITE AND VICKY UHLAND

In 2019 fellow political hobbyists Seth White and Vicky Uhland discovered the executive director of LURA Roger Caruso (who is long gone, insert another happy dance here) told the business owners on the 700 block, who rented on a month-to-month basis, they had to move out and offered them some relocation funds. Coal Creek Barbers (which had been in that location for over 30 years) and La Nena’s Salon and Boutique had already moved or were in the process of doing so. Rocky Mountain Legal Center and Deluxe Liquors (located on Public since the 1960s and owned by the Mangat family for 21 years) were also told they would have to move.

Here’s a snippet from a piece Vicky wrote on social media at the time that explains what they were told:

“Seth and I were told about a plan that showed the entire block being razed and replaced with a building that would house 20 condos and one space for a business. These condos were reported to be priced at $400,000 each. We don’t know whether this plan is still an option. We also understand that as of July 1, none of the 700 block business owners had been given the opportunity to buy their buildings.

***At some point, LURA reportedly decided in executive session on an amount of money to offer each owner as an incentive to vacate their businesses, and Roger Caruso began approaching these businesses with the incentive packages. This was not publicly discussed, so we don’t know why this is happening before there’s a publicly approved purchase, developer or development plan.

***At least one of the businesses said the incentives aren’t enough to pay for a move to another location. Others report short time periods in which to decide, and no ability to negotiate. And when Seth talked to Roger about this, Roger asked who was “blabbing” to him about the incentives. Roger said if it’s the business owners, they run the risk of losing their incentives.”

This was shocking.

A QUICK SIDE STEP TO EXECUTIVE SESSIONS

While some financial discussions about real estate transactions occur in executive sessions outside the public eye, they must be specific. In 2019 executive sessions listed on agendas did not provide the address of the property under discussion. Now we see a more transparent process and addresses are included. In this case, if there were plans and businesses were already being displaced the public expectation would be to see plenty of discussion, we saw nothing.

BACK TO SETH AND VICKY

They used social media to spread the word about what was happening. Some of us spoke at LURA’s July meeting. More folks started to express concern and speak up. On August 4th Vicky created an online petition, Save Our Public Road which began by stating:

“Through its closed-door efforts to remove longtime, mom-and-pop businesses and redevelop the 700 block of S. Public Road, we believe the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority is overstepping its authority and ignoring the values that have been repeatedly expressed by Lafayette residents.” It gained 752 signatures.

On August 6th Channel 7 did a news story about this, interviewing both Seth and Vicky. Residents petition Lafayette over 'secret' redevelopment project.

It’s worth noting that at the beginning of the July meeting, LURA Chair Muller read a prepared statement saying they could not discuss anything related to the development of the 700 block but everything they were doing was in line with state statutes.

LURA’S AUGUST MEETING

Lo and behold suddenly the agenda for the August 13, 2019 meeting had these items:

B. Comments from the City Attorney

C. Direction on the Contract for 705, 707, 709, and 711 S. Public Road

D. Comments from Property Owner Gerry Morrell

E. Public Comments

CITY ATTORNEY COMMENTS

Hmm says me, I was at that meeting but it was five years ago I should listen to it now. It was very interesting to hear what City Attorney Dave Williamson said then, knowing how this all played out.

He explained LURA’s role but cautioned them about displacing tenants saying that was fair game but there has to be a project. He said, “It’s important to define what the project is if you want to use relocation as one of your tools.” As you read above, Vicky and Seth learned Roger was showing a plan to business owners. But, and this is kind of a big one, we never saw or heard mention of that plan in any meetings. If you’ve watched any city meetings about developments you know there is a huge amount of work that happens before a plan is created. Why didn’t we see that in public at some point?

When given a hypothetical situation by one of the LURA members City Attorney Williamson said '“you cannot interfere with the contractual relationship between a property owner and his tenant.” He said “You could not go in and encourage a tenant to break his lease” but if they were working with the property owner, that would be fair game. But he again cautioned them against interfering in the tenant/landlord relationship.

He also said, “In the end you are a governmental entity and you need to be open to the public, transparent, and while you don’t absolutely have to have competitive bidding processes I think it’s beneficial to have competitive bidding processes when you are doing a project.”

STAFF PRESENTATION AT THE MEETING

Suddenly from Roger we see a list of options for LURA regarding these properties including a Request For Proposals (RFP) to developers and outreach to the community for input on what they might like to see happen including a public “wordle” exercise. I kid you not.

CHANGES TO LURA

To LURA’s credit after all this, we saw a more open and transparent board with attention to public engagement. Public input was solicited and in November 2019 the final draft of the RFP was approved.

THREE PROJECTS WERE SUBMITTED IN FEBRUARY 2020

If you know me by now you can guess I might have saved images from these projects. You are correct. Feast your eyes on these behemoths. (Did I give away my opinion there?) Was one of these the plan Roger was showing the businesses in 2019? We didn’t know.

Allery Place and the Market Green were submitted by the same developer using Hartronft Associates as the architect. You might recognize the name from a previous report of mine, “The lowdown-businesses old and new and what's up with those empty lots” where I gave an update about the vacant property at Baseline and Carr. A plan for that property, submitted by Hartronft Associates, is currently under review by the city. They are also the designers of what I called Shoehorn Terrace across from the cemetery on Baseline. Compare that front row in the Allery Place image to the Shoehorn Terrace development and the proposed development at Baseline and Carr. Copy and paste 101?

Funding from LURA was also part of the plans as the narrative from the developer, stated. “In round numbers we expect the Allery Place West concept to require between $800,000 and $1,250,000 of URA funds while the Market Green on Public concept will likely require between $1,600,000 and $2,500,000 of URA funds.”

The company that submitted the third design, Miner’s Square, pulled their project from consideration. But here it is.

ENTER COVID

Plans were made to have public input on the two remaining designs and then Covid hit and everything changed. When things picked up again later in 2020 the end to the two-year option was in view, timelines looked impossible to meet and the Morrells had indicated they weren’t interested in extending the contract. Roger was gone and Brigid Keating was the new executive director of LURA. In November LURA voted yes on a motion to terminate the agreement, leaving the properties in the Morrell’s hands.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Well, I’ve hit the length limit for this post so I’ll have to leave you hanging while I finish part two! Stay tuned.

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