The pipes carrying water and sewage in downtown Lincoln are old — beyond-retirement-age old.
More than 75 percent of the downtown sewer pipes are 50 years and older. Sixty-five percent of them are 75 years and older, David Landis, Urban Development Department director, told the City Council recently.
About 62 percent of the downtown water mains are more than 50 years old and 36 percent are more than 100 years old, Landis said as he provided reasons for why downtown, with all its new buildings, should still be considered blighted.
The council can remove the blight designation if it wants. But Landis suggested the underground water and sewer system in downtown Lincoln is still blighted. And tax-increment financing funds from downtown projects can be used to help replace old water mains and sewer pipes, he pointed out.
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TIF on the Color Court Building was used for water main replacement almost a decade ago. However, TIF funds have generally been used for above-the-ground amenities, including helping a developer pay for the land, or a prettier façade, or better heating and cooling equipment or an enhanced city streetscape.
TIF is funded by the taxes property owners pay on the increase in property value created by the redevelopment.