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Astoria Development Commission adopts new Partnership Program offering loans, credit lines and matching grants
Summary
The Astoria Development Commission voted to adopt the Astoria Partnership Program, a package of a $250,000 gap‑loan, a $150,000 revolving line of credit and up to $50,000 matching grants to support projects in the Astor East and Astor West urban renewal districts.
The Astoria Development Commission on July 21 approved a new Astoria Partnership Program to provide structured gap financing, revolving credit and matching grants for projects inside the Astor East and Astor West urban renewal districts. City Manager Spence described three funding mechanisms: a gap loan up to $250,000 with flexible forgiveness terms, a $150,000 revolving line of credit, and a dollar‑for‑dollar matching grant up to $50,000 for nonprofit or partner organizations.
"So the idea here is that you could be a for profit or nonprofit... you could be considered up to $250,000 with a reasonable terms in terms of interest with a 10 year term," City Manager Spence said while outlining the loan program and examples of eligible activity. Spence told commissioners that forgiveness would be applied selectively depending on whether a project met the commission's stated priorities such as workforce or affordable housing.
Staff emphasized the program is intended to implement council priorities — housing first, infrastructure second, and property enhancements third — and cited ORS 457 as the statutory authority for eligible urban renewal activities. Spence also described city‑sponsored projects as eligible with no preset limit, giving examples such as a hypothetical $500,000 roof replacement at the aquatic center or an $800,000 port infrastructure project.
Commissioners pressed staff on how binding the program limits are, whether forgiveness criteria would be codified, and how loan origination fees would be handled. Spence said adoption creates an official program the commission could amend later, and that specific forgiveness thresholds (for example, particular AMI percentages) were intentionally left to project‑by‑project deliberation to preserve flexibility.
Public commenters supported the concept. Residential property owner Andy Kipp asked whether "partner organizations" for city‑sponsored projects would be limited to other government entities, and Quinn Hayes described how a flexible city match could enable local historic preservation projects to move forward.
Commissioner Adams moved adoption of the Astoria Partnership Program; the commission voted in favor and the motion carried. The commission and staff said the program can be publicized immediately and applied to forthcoming applications.
