Hermiston will have a new urban renewal area after the Hermiston City Council voted unanimously Monday night to support the plan.
The council approved an ordinance to create the North Hermiston Urban Renewal Area (NHURA) that will include several infrastructure projects and will ultimately connect Highway 395 to N.E. Fourth Street aligning with Aspen Drive.
The council held a public hearing at its July 10 meeting and heard no opposition. The Hermiston Planning Commission recommended the council adopt the plan at its June 14 meeting.
The reason for creating the NHURA is to ease congestion in the busy north Highway 395 corridor between Theater Lane and Elm Avenue and to address infrastructure deficiencies that are limiting the development potential in the proposed district.
The proposed new area consists of approximately 102 total acres, 93.49 acres of land in tax lots and 8.51 acres of public rights-of-way.
The new connecting street will provide nearly 1,300 feet of new street frontage for an area which currently has less than 100 feet of highway frontage. The street will also provide pedestrian and bicycle improvements.
City Planner Clint Spencer said it will be a year or two before work begins on the various projects.
“I would think it would be 2025 or 2026 when we see dirt turning,” Spencer said.
The new connecting street is proposed for construction in the easement for the Hermiston Drain. At the July 10 council meeting, Spencer said constructing the street in the easement allows otherwise unbuildable land to be productively utilized for the public good as well as providing new points of access for the irregularly shaped parcels along the easement.
A new signal is also proposed for the N. 1st Street/Aspen Drive intersection. This signal is expected to provide better traffic spacing and allow for more left turns onto the highway.
NHURA projects also include an extension of N.E. North Street south from the current terminus to Aspen Drive. This street extension is approximately 100 feet and will provide opportunities for commercial and residential traffic to use the newly-constructed signal at N.E. Aspen Drive and avoid the unsignalized intersection of E. Oregon Avenue and N. 1st Street.
A new municipal water line is also proposed following the N.E. Aspen Drive route, looping water between N. 1st Street and N.E. 4th Street and to serve new commercial development in the future.
The total cost of all the infrastructure projects is estimated at $4.8 million.
Urban renewal allows for the use of tax increment to fund its projects. Tax increment revenue is the amount of property taxes generated by the increase in total assessed values in the urban renewal area from the time it is first established. That revenue is what is used to pay for projects and programs in the NHURA Plan. City staff is recommending the city borrow up to $5 million to pay for the improvement projects. Revenue generated over the life of the area will be used to pay off the loan. It is expected that it will take 16 years of tax increment collections to pay off the loan.
I have not followed all details of this, but from what I have read and the help of this image, I think this is a good expansion.
Both NE 4th and N 1st Place need development to alleviate the congestion on 395. This is a start.