Mayor Nancolas and the Urban Renewal Team have the following request to consider form the Oppenheimer Group for downtown Caldwell. It appears the city with no plan remains the city with no plan. The following is a quote from the May 6, 2009 Urban Renewal minutes
"Doug Oppenheimer presented a request for partnership in the development of a three-story, 32,00 sq ft building in downtown Caldwell to house the Veterans Administration (1st floor) and TVCC (floors 2&3). By starting with those projects that bring the critical mass to the downtown area (VA,TVCC), the retail and city hall projects will follow more naturally and will have the potential to be built without bonding or entering into long-term indebtedness. The requested partnership with CEURA would consist of assistance with parking, building demolition, site & boundary survey, and site purchase. Mayor Nancolas reminded the commissioners that from the authors of the R/UDAT study completed years ago to the current developers. the message is consistent that downtown redevelopment is absolutely critical to the health and future prosperity of Caldwell and its citizens. Activity breeds activity and a healthy community must invest in human capital. While the costs for improving blight (environmental issues, FEMA issues, land cost, demolition, costs) are greater than the cost of building on bare, open ground, the improvement of a blighted downtown is imperative to the health of the community-at-large. Chairman Waite recommended a special workshop to allow the commissioners to study the current requests for funding and financial options to FEMA."
It appears after years of pouring Urban Renewal Taxes into various non-tax producing projects and local property values in steep decline, Team Garret may be making a move toward blight removal. It is also apparent the City Hall "catalyst" project may be on life support and headed for the morgue of bad ideas.
It is folly on the part of the city to think the Veterans Administration is focused on downtown Caldwell as their sole site. There are at least two other areas of town where developers are courting the VA know to THE GUARDIAN.
As a final note, it also appears the Mayor and Team Garret have gone back and actually read the R/Udat and Leland Report studies as they head into the sunset of the current urban renewal life span.
Not to fear. The Mayor and City Council can quickly snap off another area of Caldwell as "blighted" and start yet another Urban Renewal Agency along with the bucket-o-cash they siphon off the property tax base and continue to pour our tax dollars into pet projects of limited economic value to Caldwell.
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