What We Do and Why

The La Junta Urban Renewal Authority (LJURA) is an urban renewal authority that serves as the City of La Junta’s redevelopment agency. LJURA is governed by a 9-member board of commissioners appointed and confirmed by the City Council for staggered terms.

LJURA’s primary function is to assist the city and property owners in elimination and prevention of slums and blighted areas. To accomplish its mission, the authority works in close partnership with the City of La Junta and City Council. Rather than specifying particular types of projects and activities, the law allows and encourages LJURA and other urban renewal authorities in Colorado to maintain flexibility and exercise judgment in determining which projects and activities best achieve its goals. 

The Colorado Urban Renewal Law (C.R.S. 31-25-101) governs LJURA and all of the state’s urban renewal authorities. It identifies the criteria under which an area can be found to be blighted and thus eligible for redevelopment using TIF. Under the law, urban renewal authorities can use TIF only when the blight criteria contained in the law are met.

LJURA’s mission is the elimination of blighted areas through creative redevelopment. Before the authority may get involved in a project, the area first must be found to be blighted. A blighted area means an area which, in its present condition and use, has substantially and adversely affected or slowed the reasonable growth of the community, hindered the provision of decent housing, or constitutes a social liability to the community, and therefore is detrimental to the well-being of the citizens. The Colorado Urban Renewal Law delineates the requirements for determining blight, and if blight is not found, LJURA cannot get involved.