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Committee member urges rejection of developer proposal for former jail site; 30‑day quiet period begins
Summary
Committee members said they will reject a developer proposal for the former jail site because it requested city subsidies the city cannot afford, and will enter a 30‑day quiet period before resuming negotiations; staff said advertising and procurement errors delayed the process.
Committee members at a Columbia City Redevelopment Commission meeting said the commission would reject a developer’s proposal for the former jail property and enter a 30‑day quiet period that pauses negotiations.
The decision followed discussion of procurement problems and missed advertisements. "They missed last Saturday's advertisements…so it got ran last Wednesday," a committee member said, noting a consultant, Veritas, had reached out to the firm that submitted a proposal and that another party had partially submitted. The member said negotiations could begin in about five days.
A second committee member described the developer’s offer as financially demanding. "That proposal, was really nice but asked for a lot of contribution from the city that we don't have," the committee member said, adding the proposal would have asked the city to subsidize rent for units that were unleased during an initial period and included a three‑story plan with apartments above retail.
The committee member recommended rejecting the proposal and moving into a 30‑day quiet period, during which the commission cannot negotiate with other respondents; after the quiet period the parties would return to discuss each side’s nonnegotiables and try to find common ground.
Staff noted the procurement delays and outreach by Veritas as reasons discussions had not advanced. The transcript records no formal vote on the proposal during the meeting; commissioners said the next step would be to pause for the quiet period and reconvene to set negotiation parameters.
Clarifying details from the meeting: Veritas contacted the submitting firm (noted by a committee member), one other party had partially submitted paperwork, a committee member estimated negotiations could start in about five days, and the proposal included a three‑story mixed‑use design with restaurant space on the ground floor and apartments above. Funding requests from the developer included subsidizing unleased rent over an initial term (the exact subsidy formula was not specified in the transcript).
