Oregon City urban renewal commission debates legal challenge, ballot and closure options over Charter Section 59

Oregon City Urban Renewal Commission members on Feb. 11 discussed a range of options — including filing a court validation, putting new ballot measures before voters, or closing and recreating the district — after staff reported that portions of Section 59 of the Oregon City Charter have been held preempted by state law.

The discussion matters because the commission oversees tax-increment financing for downtown and other redevelopment areas and the district currently generates about $3,200,000 a year in increment. Staff told the commission the agency holds roughly $9,000,000 in cash that is not currently being used and that closing the district and returning increment to taxing jurisdictions would yield about $900,000 in new revenue to the City of Oregon City general fund.

City staff presented background from prior ballot measures and court decisions and mapped the practical constraints in the charter. “E has been found to be unenforceable. So e isn’t part of 59 anymore,” City staff member Bill Conkle said, referring to the subsection added by voters in 2016. Staff also explained the charter’s definition of “bonded indebtedness” effectively bars entering agreements that create payment obligations extending more than…