Blight Study to be Conducted for Area Along U.S. Highway 136, in East Beatrice

BEATRICE – The Beatrice City Council has approved a study of an east Beatrice area to determine if it can be declared blighted, which would open the way for use of tax increment financing for development.

Called area number nine, it extends from near 19th and Court, east to nearly Orange Boulevard. It includes about a city block on either side of U.S. Highway 136, including the now-vacant Shopko Hometown and Earl May Garden Center buildings. It also includes open lots near where an old drive-in movie theatre once operated.

City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says the cost of the study by Hanna:Keelan Associates would total $9,000.

"This area is about 98 acres total. It would actually put us over the limit for the number of acres we're allowed to have blighted and substandard in the community. You're allowed to designate 35 percent of the community, so we would have to remove about 55 acres between now and when the study is done, from that designation".

If the study finds blight exists, the planning and zoning commission and city council would act to designate the area as such.
Tempelmeyer says there are around 118 acres now included in blighted areas of the city, that could be removed from that designation.

"Many of those would be in floodplain areas, already city property....areas you know you're not going to use tax increment financing for. I don't see that as being an issue. If you recall, the last time we did this we removed the airport runways...there were many acres taken out of there, to free up some land use".
Only areas inside a city limits are eligible for use of tax increment financing.

The council authorized the study on an 8-0 vote.