Urban revitalization in Iowa, January 1979

(1979) Urban revitalization in Iowa, January 1979. University of Iowa

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Abstract

As in many other states, interest in urban revitalization has become strong in Iowa in the last few years. That this should be true in Iowa, a relatively non-urban state, may be surprising, but the definition of "urban" in this report is intended to include all 955 municipalities in Iowa. The aim of urban revitalization is to encourage the extended use of structures and community facilities in existing towns and cities, as opposed to further development on agricultural land and in the limited number of wooded and natural areas of the state. A wide range of public programs and policies that affect urban revitalization are surveyed in the next section of the report, including programs at federal, state and local levels. The following· section directs attention at measures voted upon in the Iowa General Assembly during the 1978 session, as modified by the Joint Interim Study Committee on Urban Revitalization, and evaluates rely primarily on tax exemption for property improvements and the extension of credit through revenue bonding to private revitalization efforts, as incentives to reinvestment. The final major section of the report assesses the counterincentives to revitalization, primarily in the form of subsidies to urban development on fringe and rural land.