Fairview staff told the Economic Development Advisory Committee that urban renewal money could fund design, crosswalks and stripe changes for Halsey Street but not the full asphalt overlay county engineers say the roadway needs.

Sarah Selden, community development director, said the city has $1 million in the adopted budget for Halsey Street work and $300,000 in the urban renewal grant program. She said Multnomah County reports it has no street preservation or overlay project for Halsey in its budget for the next few years. Selden summarized the county cost estimates provided to the city and said the county estimated about $380,000 for the asphalt work and about $200,000 to $220,000 for a crosswalk with a rapid-flashing beacon. She said, “the actual asphalt work, no,” meaning urban renewal funds generally cannot be used for routine pavement overlay.

Selden explained that urban renewal funds typically can pay for changes that constitute an improvement, such as design work, restriping, crosswalks and ADA ramp upgrades. She told the committee that restriping and new crosswalks would likely qualify as an improvement under the urban renewal rules, while simple maintenance or overlay repaving generally would not. Committee members discussed options for accomplishing interim striping work and whether existing paint could be ablated and replaced without a full overlay.

The committee asked staff to continue talks with Multnomah County; Selden said the city is meeting the county the following week to review the preliminary cost figures and discuss phasing, cost splitting and possible ways to advance striping or interim improvements if the county cannot fund an overlay.

The discussion identified open technical questions: whether ADA ramp upgrades would be required when striping or interim treatments are done, and whether some combinations of treatments could be structured to qualify as an eligible urban renewal improvement. Selden said staff will seek clarification from the county and urban renewal consultant and report back to the committee.