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A city-driven community advisory group thinks parts of North and Northeast Portland have a lot to gain by being added to the city’s largest urban renewal area.

The North Northeast Economic Development Initiative Community Advisory Committee, led by Portland Development Commission staff, last week voted to recommend adding 425 acres to the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area. If the recommendations are followed, representatives of the areas would be able to tap into money for redevelopment projects that they might not have been able to access otherwise.

The Interstate urban renewal area currently covers 3,744 acres in 10 neighborhoods. Since it was created 10 years ago, all of the urban renewal projects there have been identified and priced. In addition to the $64.8 million in future projects that are ready to go, the Portland Development Commission has already spent $94 million on projects in the urban renewal area. Completed projects range from new MAX light rail to storefront improvements.

But even with all of those projects identified, there is still $120.8 million in tax increment financing in the area that can potentially be borrowed against. This led the PDC to consider adding new neighborhoods that could use the financial structure to make much-needed improvements to storefronts and community spaces, while also helping spur development.

Businesses in the expansion areas, which would include 75 acres along Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and 103 acres in the St. Johns Town Center, would be able to use the urban renewal dollars for storefront improvement grants, commercial redevelopment loans, low-interest business financing and various other commercial redevelopment funding.

Charles Wilhoite, PDC chairman, said the recommendations will be included in a report that will be presented to the PDC board this summer. The board will then decide whether to implement the recommendations. The committee will reconvene in November to discuss one more potential expansion area: 32 acres within the Rose Quarter. Mayor Sam Adams asked the group to wait until financial information on the Rose Quarter redevelopment strategy was more concrete.

The North Northeast committee is comprised of 22 members that include public officials and representatives of various groups affected by the urban renewal area and the proposed expansions. While each expansion area was voted in with a large majority, not everyone was pleased with the process.

The group was assembled by the PDC to assess both the Convention Center and Interstate urban renewal areas. But members of the Interstate advisory committee feel they have been pushed out of the process to make decisions on the urban renewal area they are assigned to oversee.

“The Interstate Urban Renewal Advisory Committee has been lost in this whole process,” said Walter Valenta, one of two group members representing the Interstate advisory committee. “We are still processing this information, and I don’t feel comfortable voting for the people I represent when we haven’t even had a chance to meet and vote within our group.”

The Interstate advisory committee conducted a preliminary straw poll when the process started over a year ago. A large majority of the group was in favor of the Lombard Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard expansions, but was split on the Convention Center and St. Johns Town Center areas. The entire group voted against the proposed Rose Quarter expansion.

The North Northeast group also took time out on Wednesday to vote on some policy issues. The group supported making the Interstate urban renewal area project list the top priority for the adjusted area. They also agreed to require the developers of the Rose Quarter properties to sign a Community Benefits Agreement before any redevelopment can occur. The agreement would put stipulations on how many underrepresented employees the development firm must hire for the project. A city representative and all the stakeholders also would have to sign the agreement.