The City of Valley Center will unveil a program in 2019 designed to provide incentives for homeowners to fix up their properties. The Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which will run from 2019 through 2022, gives qualified owners of single-family residences a property tax rebate. The program applies to certain properties that a recent survey has determined are in need of help. To be eligible for the program, owners of such properties must spend at least $5,000 or 10 percent of existing assessed value, whichever is greater, on the improvement. The five-year, 100 percent rebate is for the city portion of the increase [...]

About 250 homeowners in the special taxing districts set to pay millions of dollars for improvements to Queens Road have signed onto protest petitions opposing the districts, but the city says the petitions are not enough to stop the process. According to state law, 51 percent or more of property owners — whose properties also represent more than half of the geographic area of the taxing district — must sign a protest petition to prevent a taxing district from being established. A review by the city indicates the Queens Road petitions did not meet those requirements. Read more: LJWorld.com.

Lawrence city commissioners will soon consider whether to adopt a more comprehensive approach to neighborhood traffic problems that would go beyond adding speed bumps or other devices to streets. Earlier this year, the city announced it was re-evaluating its traffic calming program, which attempts to address issues such as speeding and cut-through traffic by adding physical devices such as speed bumps or traffic circles. At its meeting Tuesday, the commission will consider a new traffic calming policy that also includes traffic enforcement and monitoring, among other ways to address problem traffic. Read more: LJWorld.com.