Page 4
August 25, 1999
I (J £ ^
By Martha Richmond
Contributing Writer
Over the past several years, many
positive changes have taken place
along the boulevard Many of those
changes are due to urban renewal
and the tax increment financing that
it makes available to the projects
and programs that can truly make a
difference.
What is Urban
Renewal?
Urban Renewal is a program
authorized by State of Oregon laws
adopted in 1957 and 1961. Its pur
pose is to help communities im
prove and redevelop areas which
are deteriorated, unsafe, have a lack
of infrastructure such as streets,
utilities and sidewalks, and have
extensive vacant and under-utilized
property. In addition to being un
sightly and unsafe, these areas of
ten impose a burden on city ser
vices and can be costly to city tax
payers.
More than 40 Oregon cities and
counties currently have urban re
newal programs in operation. 1 he
Portland Development Commis
sion (PDC) is Portland’s urban re
newal agency. In the four decades
since PDC was established. City
Council has created 19 urban re
newal areas in Portland starting
with the South Auditorium Project
near Civic Auditorium, where 110
acres of downtown property
emerged as an attractive array of
new offices, shops, housing and
pottiani» ©bseruer
- C fo c u s J >
¿ ^ E NEWAL?
public plazas. PDC currently ad
ministers eight plans. One of those
plans, for the North Macadam area,
was adopted just a few weeks ago.
into the normal property tax col
lections.
How does Urban
Renewal work?
The community must prepare a
document called an Urban Renewal
Plan for the area in which it wants
to work. The plan details what the
community intends to do in the
area and how and when it intends
to do it. Renewal Plans must be
prepared with involvement by the
general public. A renewal plan can
only be adopted by Portland s
City Council after it calls for
and conducts a formal public
hearing on the plan. After the
Urban Renewal Plan is
adopted, PDC is responsible
for directing and making the
major decisions needed to
carry out the plan. PDC staff
The idea is this: Take an area
that is deteriorating, one where
property values and tax revenues
are low. Draw a line around it.
Plan streets, green spaces, utility
lines, and other improvements that
will attract significant new private
investment, the creation of jobs
and a full range of housing. Issue
urban renewal bonds to pay for
the planned improvements. Imple
ment the plans and encourage in
vestors to come in or expand in
the area.
The result: The city as a whole
gains new public assets and pri
vate investment Because of the
additional tax base created by
the new private development
in urban renewal areas, the city
is able to finance other public
benefits such as parks, en
hanced greenways and oppor
tunities to concentrate growth,
such as office buildings and
housing complexes outside of
existing neighborhoods. 1 he
increase in tax revenue result
ing from the new private in
vestment (called “tax incre
ment”) is used to pay off the
public urban renewal bonds
that finance public improve
ments. When they are paid off,
all the tax revenues go back
Community Renewal
Plans
administers Portland’s urban re
newal plans under the direction of
the PDC Board
Martin Luther King
Jr. Blvd.
Martin Luther Kingjr. Blvd is
part of the Oregon Convention
Center Urban Renewal Area. This
district was first designated in
1989 and included an area
bounded by the Willamette on the
west, 16th Avenue on the east, 1-84
on the south and Russell Street on
the north. In 1993, as a result of
the Albina Community Plan, the
area was expanded to include the
length of Martin Luther Kingjr.,
Blvd. from Russell to Portland
Boulevard and NE Alberta from
MLK to NE 15‘h.
Future Plans
Recently, PDC began looking
into the possibility of creating an
other new urban renewal area
along Interstate Avenue that would
run from the Rose Garden arena
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