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Eugene City Council wants to increase spending in its downtown urban renewal district by $16.2 million, but not without objection from the Lane County board of commissioners, according to a statement from the city of Eugene.

Eugene has about $850,000 remaining in the budget for the urban renewal district. That and the additional $16.2 million would go to the following:

• $8 million to go toward the construction of a downtown Lane Community College campus
• $4.8 million toward the debt on the Broadway Place parking garage
• $500,000 for improvements to a farmers market
• $2.5 million to entice the Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs into building a downtown clinic
• $1.2 million would be set aside for administrative costs associated with the urban renewal district

The council would also expand the urban renewal district to include the PeaceHealth Medical Group’s proposed downtown clinic.

Lane County commissioners voted 4-1 earlier this month to send Eugene City Council a letter warning them to not let the changes to the urban renewal district affect county revenues. Under the changes in the urban renewal plan, the urban renewal district would divert about $200,000 more a year from the county’s general fund. Lane County commissioners want that money to alleviate overcrowding at the county jail.

The Eugene urban renewal district was formed in 1968. Property taxes for the area are currently capped at the 1968 rates. Usually urban renewal districts only last twenty-years, but the downtown Eugene district has been extended numerous times.

Eugene City Council is in the process of gathering public comments on the proposed amendment. The council will vote on the matter at the end of May.