March 11, 2004
Downtown Waterfront Urban Renewal Area Will Continue
Council Approves Four-Year Extension, Stresses Old Town/Chinatown
Wednesday morning, the City Council extended the life of the Downtown Waterfront Urban Renewal Area by an additional four years. The vote was 3-1, with Commissioner Randy Leonard the lone dissenter, and Mayor Vera Katz absent.
After a very brief discussion prompted by Commisioner Dan Saltzman to re-establish the intent to study all urban renewal areas in the central City, beginning immediately with the question of moving Old Town/Chinatown into the River District Urban Renewal Area (an idea (pdf) advanced by the League of Women Voters of Portland for which a majority of the Council has expressed support), the Council proceded to a very quick vote.
"This has been a very healthy discussion," said Commissioner Jim Francesconi, "and in fact in the beginning I was leaning towards voting against renewal." Francesconi credited the change of mind to four points: The renewal was only for four years; the "right kind of investment" could generate money; the area needs affordable housing; and the opportunity to help "a part of our City where people have been struggling."
"I'm not sure the projects I've heard discussed would not otherwise happen without an urban renewal district," said Commissioner Leonard. "I'm concerned this isn't the highest and best use of tax dollars."
Before casting his vote against the extension, Leonard said: "I tried to get myself to the point to support this ... but in all good conscience, I can't."
(Leonard pointed out that earlier in the Council session he had joined the other members in approving a set of tax abatement plans for projects that would help lower-income families afford housing in areas that needed development. He contrasted those situations with this one, saying that the abatement votes represented precisely the ways in which the City can help spur worthwhile projects that clearly would not otherwise occur.)
"If there's a district that should perhaps not come under scrutiny," said Commissioner Saltzman, "it's this one." This was a comparison to his support in general for revisiting the performance of, and the need for, all of the City's urban renewal areas. He did however say that the best outcome would be "if we can have two wins here" -- meaning an eventual move of Old Town/Chinatown into the River District, which would at that point allow for the discontinuance of the Downtown Waterfront URA.
"I'm glad we're doing this for four years," Saltzman said as he voted in favor of the extension, "and I'm glad we're going to ask the questions about the redraw."
Finally, Commissioner Erik Sten credited the League of Women Voters for an idea which ultimately pushed the Council to "a good compromise." Saying the limited four-year extension (as opposed to the more typical ten-year period) was needed in order to have time to address Old Town/Chinatown, Sten admitted, "I think it probably is time to close down this district."
Sten outlined two circumstances in which an urban renewal area makes sense: "If you make investments on the front end that cause development that wouldn't have happened otherwise," he said, "and very carefully in areas that are taking off."
"I would prefer the League of Women Voters approach," Sten said. "[because] it marries all of my concerns." Specifically, Sten mentioned the housing that might otherwise be lost if the DTWF URA was allowed to lapse before the City could address the prospect of moving OT/CT into the River District. Voying in favor of the extension, Sten called it "a little bit of a holding pattern."
In a press release after the vote, Portland Development Commission Chair Matt Hennessee said, "City Council's decision today gives us the time and resources to target key areas that still need the City's help, such as our historic Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood."
In addition to recommitting the PDC to its study of "the opportunities and constraints of consolidating, reconfiguring or expanding urban renewal areas in the Central City," the release lists some of the development efforts considered to be on the agenda for the DTWF URA.
Those projects include "public safety concerns, better link the downtown core to the river, energize the waterfront, create a successful downtown residential neighborhood and revitalize the City's historic districts," and the wishlist of PDC and its partners includes "transportation improvements for Burnside and Couch streets, access and streetscape improvements for NW 3rd and 4th Avenues and Naito Parkway, and light rail extension along the transit mall's north end."
One of the remaining and ongoing issues now that the DTWF URA has received its foru-year extension likely will be continued conversations with City Council about this list of projects. Many of them do not directly impact the Old Town/Chinatown area, which clearly is the area of most concern to the City Council.
And of particular personal concern to us is the potential for diverting URA funds to the distressing proposal to re-landscape Waterfront Park -- a proposal which includes an "artificial all-weather surface" for part of the Park's stretch along the Willamette River.
Technically, PDC is charged with the authority to designate which projects receive development funds within an urban renewal area. Hopefully, since the City Council must approve URA bond sales, the Mayor and the Commissioners will press for a clear focus on Old Town/Chinatown -- meaning (to our minds anyway), Ankeny Plaza and northward into the region past Burnside.