Government-led land-clearance authority could aid revitalization efforts

Creation of a “land clearance for redevelopment authority” — proposed in a recently released plan for downtown Cape Girardeau — could aid revitalization efforts, a key community leader said.

Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner said the governmental entity could buy tracts of land and raze dilapidated structures to facilitate new developments.

A strategic plan for the downtown, unveiled to the city council Monday, calls for establishing a land-clearance authority.

Representatives of the city, chamber and the Old Town Cape revitalization organization worked with a consultant to come up with the long-range plan.

But city officials have no immediate plans to establish such an authority.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the council has not discussed the proposal. Council action would be needed to form the authority.

Mehner and city officials said the idea was raised briefly several years ago, but never pursued.

Mehner said such an authority would be governed by a board of five commissioners as spelled out in state law.

The commissioners must be taxpayers who have resided in the city for at least five years. The mayor would appoint the commissioners.

But under state law, voter approval would be needed before such an authority could operate in Cape Girardeau. The statute requires such a vote in any city that has fewer than 75,000 inhabitants, according to online information from Gilmore & Bell, one of the nation’s leading public finance law firms.

Under state law, the city council would have to declare one or more areas in the city as blighted in order to establish such an authority.

Several Missouri cities including St. Louis and Springfield have such authorities. But the Missouri Department of Economic Development does not have a list of land-clearance authorities, agency spokeswoman Maggie Kost said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

“The Department of Economic Development does not have a role in creation or oversight,” she said. “The locality follows the statutes that provide the direct authority.”

Mehner described a land-clearance authority as a “city friendly, not-for-profit” entity.

The authority would work with the city to address “neglected” areas and neighborhoods with badly rundown structures, Mehner said.

Such authorities typically acquire parcels of land and raze dilapidated structures to provide larger, more usable tracts of land for developers, he said.

The authority could use the power of eminent domain to obtain property.

But Mehner said it is not “a land grab,” but rather a redevelopment mechanism to improve a community.

Mehner said the authority could boost redevelopment efforts in blighted areas of Cape Girardeau “with otherwise little chance of development.”

A land-clearance authority can issue bonds. Any property held by the authority qualifies for property-tax abatement, according to Gilmore & Bell.

Like other governmental entities, a land-clearance authority must hold public meetings, meet Sunshine Law requirements and approve annual budgets.

Every five years, as required by law, the council would hold a hearing to determine whether the authority is “making satisfactory progress.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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