Does Wilsonville want another urban renewal district?

Do voters want to use urban renewal to fund development in Town Center?

The community will weigh in on the topic via an advisory vote in the May 21 election. Although Wilsonville City Council is not tied to the outcome of the vote, the city has used this method of gauging citizen opinion on urban renewal in the past and always adhered to the results.

Creating an urban renewal district would help fund projects within the Town Center Plan, which calls for more housing, shopping, pedestrian pathways and green spaces — and fewer parking lots and large stores. It includes infrastructure projects such the I-5 Pedestrian Bridge and the construction of new roads.

Urban renewal, also known as tax increment financing, allows the taxes associated with property value increases to be reinvested toward public improvement projects. During a set period, the district’s tax base is “frozen” and any growth from increased property values goes to the district rather than taxing agencies like the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, Clackamas County and Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue.

Wilsonville Economic Development Manager Matt Lorenzen said school districts are not directly impacted by urban renewal, as they receive funding on a per-student basis from the state.

The money the other jurisdictions receive remains static until the urban renewal district closes. However, in the past Wilsonville has shared tax increment funds with the tax districts before the end of the urban renewal district after the revenue exceeded a cap. This concept is known as “revenue sharing.”

Wilsonville has used urban renewal districts in the past, including the Year 2000 Plan and the Westside Plan.

According to information sheets from the city, the Year 2000 Plan included areas in Old Town and the east side of town. The assessed value of the area within the boundary increased by 1,165% over a 33-year life span from 1990-2023. Projects like the Wilsonville High School gymnasium and improvements to Town Center Park were included in the plan.

The Villebois neighborhood was built with help from the Westside Plan urban renewal district, which increased the assessed value of the area from $6.7 million in 2003 to $800 million in 2023.

What are concerns about using urban renewal?

Former Wilsonville mayor John Ludlow opposes creating the urban renewal district because doing so may limit funding for things like schools and fire services.

“My bother is the school districts, and of course police and fire and library and parks, and everybody else takes a hit while we’re giving money away to private developers,” Ludlow said.

Lorenzen said money from urban renewal would only contribute to a private development in an instance where the project is demonstrated to be “financially infeasible” without public funding, such as building a parking garage beneath a building.

During his time as mayor in the late 1980s Ludlow supported using urban renewal to build a road where Memorial Parkway is now, which he said would have cost around $8 million dollars, but the idea did not pass an advisory vote.

He said he supported using urban renewal for that instance, but does not support it for the Town Center Plan, noting the high cost of projects within the plan.

A feasibility study for urban renewal in Town Center shows the identified projects will cost an estimated $190 million dollars, with an $100 million coming from urban renewal if an urban renewal district is created. The other funding would come from city system development charges and private developers.

System development charges are one-time fees charged to developers to help the city fund infrastructure improvements.

Ludlow was also concerned about the length of past urban renewal districts. The district for the Year 2000 Plan recently closed in 2023, after 33 years. Lorenzen said the Year 2000 Plan was predicted to close in 2003 after voters approved it in 1992, but the plan was amended with added projects to “accommodate the continuing growth” in Wilsonville.

“Those people (the taxing districts) deserve their money back long before that,” Ludlow said.

He wants those who support using an urban renewal district to do their homework.

“Look at the numbers, and see where that money should have gone. And tell me whether each of those tax districts is in good financial shape,” Ludlow said.

Longtime Wilsonville resident Doris Wehler, who previously served on the Town Center Task Force, said she has supported using urban renewal in Wilsonville in the past but not in this case.

Wehler said her biggest concern with the Town Center Plan is the number of apartments that could be built. She supports the idea of having apartments above commercial space, “just not so many of them.”

Town Center Plan documents show a possible 1,680 residential units being built in Town Center over the next 40 years.

In an email, Wehler also expressed concern about the cost of amenities and green spaces, and specifically stated that the I-5 Pedestrian Bridge Project is not worth the cost.

The feasibility study documents show the current estimated cost for the bridge is $24 million dollars, which Lorenzen said would be funded through grants and system development charges along with urban renewal dollars.

“Really what it comes down to: Do you want a suburban community or do you want an urban community in the middle of our town?” Wehler said.

The case in favor of urban renewal

Wilsonville resident and former West Linn-Wilsonville School Board Chair Chelsea King believes the benefits from using urban renewal would outweigh the short-term costs.

King, who supports the vision laid out in the Town Center Plan, said the amenities brought to Town Center would be more inviting to small businesses and safer for pedestrians.

To her, the development would be “adding local flavor” as opposed to urbanizing the Town Center.

“I would hope that the citizens of Wilsonville would see that, if they want an investment in our city and in our community, and in the vision of our town center that we collectively created in 2019, that this is the way to do it,” King said.

King particularly supports the I-5 Pedestrian Bridge project, which she said would benefit young people. She lives near Inza R. Wood Middle School and said her teenage son rides his bike to Edge Family Fitness in Town Center. She said her son was hit by a car last year while crossing the intersection by the I-5 underpass and came away with scrapes and a hematoma.

King said a pedestrian bridge can help remove youth from the busy intersections.

While she understands the pushback related to losing funding for the fire district and schools, King said the concern is “shortsighted.” She said the amenities will help bring people to Wilsonville, increasing the tax base and benefiting the tax districts, and noted that past urban renewal districts have benefited schools as well, with projects like a sports field at Wilsonville High School.

Resident Andrew Karr said using urban renewal for development in the Town Center “is an opportunity to transform Wilsonville Town Center into a vibrant, invigorating downtown.”

Karr previously served on the Wilsonville Development Review Board and the budget committee, and is currently on the planning commission. He’s also a former member of the Urban Renewal Task Force.

He described Wilsonville’s past urban renewal districts as “highly successful in building out improvements in infrastructure that would spur private investment that otherwise probably would not have occurred.”

“The whole idea behind an urban renewal district is to increase the value of property through investments, basically a public investment, because private investment won’t fund that infrastructure,” Karr said, adding that private investors will not come if the infrastructure doesn’t exist.

He said that private investors want to build “from the ground up” for their property, and not be responsible for infrastructure like roads, sewer and electrical.

In responding to concerns about money loss for tax districts like the county, schools and fire, Karr noted that representatives of those districts were included in the Urban Renewal Task Force and were in agreement with the plan.

He also noted that, in the Year 2000 Plan, there was a $4 million cap on tax increment collections, and money brought in over that cap was returned to the tax districts before the end of the urban renewal district.

“I think that this plan for the Town Center could be a game changer for the City of Wilsonville,” Karr said. “And I think an urban renewal district will be the best way to fund the infrastructure to complete that plan.”

More information about using urban renewal for the Town Center can be found here . The feasibility study, which includes information on the financial impact to the overlapping tax districts, can be found here .