Urban Renewal looks to finish with additional $6.1 Million in spending
Looking east on First Street - The revitalization project of First Street has been on urban renewal's to-do list for years. Recent cost estimates for remaking the street with new street lamps, curbs, benches, and other pedestrian-friendly amenities are at $7 million. Urban Renewal is now floating the idea of increasing its spending limits by $6.1 million to complete this project as well as several others in the downtown core.
By Tom Peterson
The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Board instructed The Dalles City Staff to investigate increasing its spending by as much as $6.1 million as the agency is looking at several projects that will exceed its maximum indebtedness or spending limit of $29 million.
As it stands, Urban Renewal has about $2.2 million left to spend before it maxes out.
However, The First Street revitalization could need another $3.2 million to complete and there are $2.5 million in new downtown business grant projects waiting in the wings.
With the advent of the Farm Stand putting in a downtown grocery and recent decisions to move forward with a 116-unit apartment building on East Third Street it seems the central business district is riding a wave of improvements that could bolster property values in the area.
And there is much unfinished business according to some local leaders who are looking to tie renovations, a streetscape and central plaza together with a final funding push.
Urban renewal is coming up against a time crunch on completing the First Street Streetscape between Union and Laughlin streets. It involves the construction of curbs and gutters, decorative concrete sidewalks and paving stones, period street lights, street trees, irrigation systems, plazas, signs, drinking fountains, benches, planting areas, special crosswalk treatment, and other associated elements.
While the agency has held back $3.8 million for the project more recent estimates put the cost between $6.5 million and $7 million.
The First Street project would tie in with the Federal Street Plaza plan and a future business that is expected to develop on the former Tony’s Town and Country site.
Here is a view of Federal and Third streets in The Dalles looking east. The vacant lot is the former location of Tony’s Town & Country which was demolished last fall. The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Board decided to formally solicit ideas from developers on what they would place on the quarter-acre lot that would also energize a future Federal Street Plaza. It's just part of an overall vision that includes upgrades to First Street. One catch, they are looking at another $3.2 million to finish.
Several other downtown projects including improvements at Freebridge Brewing, the second floor of Sigman’s Flowers, and The Last Stop are also requesting grants. Those three projects combined are asking for $870,000.
Freebridge Brewing at the Mint building at 701 E. Second Street.
Sigman's Flowers building at 200 E. Second Street
On Tuesday, Aug. 20, a majority of Renewal Board members agreed they were in favor of taking a closer look at increasing debt capacity to fund all of the projects.
City of The Dalles Economic Development Officer Dan Spatz
The agency has already spent $26.8 million during the past 25 years and is projected to hit its $29 million limit in 2026, said City Economic Development Director Dan Spatz. It is also on track to pay off all its debt in the same year.
Increasing the spending limit will take support from 11 local boards and The Dalles City Council.
Urban Renewal money comes from 11 local taxing districts by taking a percentage of those taxing district assessments. Those districts are Wasco County, City of The Dalles, Port of The Dalles, Northern Wasco County Parks and Rec., Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue, Wasco County Soil & Water, Wasco County 4-H Extension, Wasco County Library District, Northern Wasco County School District, Columbia Gorge Community College and Columbia Gorge ESD.
In the last tax year, urban renewal received a total of $1 per $1,000 thousand of assessed property value from the districts above, bringing $1.7 million to the agency.
The money Urban Renewal receives is money that the taxing districts do not - at least initially. Urban Renewal districts are built on the promise that investments will eventually bring higher revenue to tax districts through increased property values later on.
The mission of the Urban Renewal Agency is to eliminate blight and depreciating property values within the Agency’s jurisdiction and in the process, attract aesthetically pleasing, job-producing private investments that will stabilize or increase property values and protect the area’s historic places and values.
Successful projects such as the Sunshine Mill are good examples of how Urban Renewal can partner with business owners to create prosperity where once there was a vacant building, adding revenue to the property tax rolls.
While increasing Urban Renewal’s debt ceiling “would not require formal approval of the other taxing districts, staff advises that expansion, if considered, be contingent upon the districts’ concurrence,” Spatz wrote in his report.
Board Member Dan Richardson who also sits on The Dalles City Council said raising the debt ceiling for urban renewal was “worth exploring” due to the potential of projects that are ready to roll.
He pointed out that tax districts that Urban Renewal draws its finances will be getting a bump from Google Community Payments within a few years as Google’s first new data center on River Road is expected to come online.. “That is unrelated,” he said. “But those districts get bumps in the next several years.”
Contractors at the new Google data center site on River Road. Will future Google Community Payments be enough to persuade 11 taxing boards to give Urban Renewal another $6.1 million in spending authority?
Community Development Director Joshua Chandler estimated it would take six months to go through the process of investigating and possibly increasing the maximum indebtedness. But he promised a finite list of projects with hard numbers.
“We will make it very clear what is going to happen… this is not a black hole of money that is opening up. This money has to be exact on what it will be spent on in the next five years with a game plan of what we are going to do.”
If the debt ceiling is not raised, Urban Renewal members will be given a choice: Follow through on First Street or put the money toward local business grants. There is not enough money for both.
Renewal Board Members Darcy Long, Dan Richardson, Scott Hege, Kristen Lillvik and Staci Coburn were in favor of Spatz and Chandler assembling a detailed report on the prospect of increasing indebtedness by $6.1 million.
Board Members Ben Wring and Walter Denstedt were opposed to increasing the debt. Board Members Marcus Swift and Timothy McGlothlin were absent.
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