City of Lamar Hosting Two Meetings for Civic Improvement

Do we want to see some of the old properties in town brought back to life? YES!

Do we want to improve the vitality of downtown Lamar and create connections to adjacent neighborhoods? YES!

Do we want to help property owners of vacant buildings that say “I don’t know where to start”?   YES!

Do we want to see economic gain by activating vacant, derelict properties? YES!

The City of Lamar has secured a brownfields assessment grant to help property owners revitalize their vacant properties. A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.  Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.

Please join us for an open house on Monday, May 6, 4:00-5:00pm at Lamar Community Building to learn about the Prairie Crossroads Revitalization Project.   Residents, property owners, realtors, public officials, financial institutions, and interested citizens should come by and meet our consultants who will be meeting with property owners on revitalization plans for their properties.  Let’s bring life back into our iconic properties!

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Did you know that City of Lamar has an Urban Renewal Authority (URA) called Lamar Redevelopment Authority (LRA)?   URA’s are created by municipalities to redevelop areas within their jurisdiction that are found to contain blight or slum conditions and require public participation to attract redevelopment.  An urban renewal project is a public/private partnership.  The majority of the funding comes from the private sector; public investment comes from tax increment financing (TIF), which is the increased amount of property tax or municipal sales tax revenue collected within the URA after the project begins.  This new revenue is generated by the increased property values that result the project.

Please join us on Monday, May 6 at 5:00pm at the Lamar Community Building for a Renewal & Revitalization Partners Workshop to learn about URAs and TIF in Lamar. Downtown Colorado Inc. will host the workshop and they are a statewide nonprofit organization that provides a strategic methodology for revitalizing the local economy in Colorado’s communities.  Their work focuses on establishing community-wide partnerships to facilitate and encourage community engagement for increased economic vitality.

Thank you!
Angie Cue
City of Lamar
Community Development Manager
Office   (719) 336-1448
angie.cue@ci.lamar.co.us