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When money is tight, even city governments need to explore new ways to get development projects to pencil out.

Such is the case for the Portland Development Commission. It’s taking a new approach in planning for a new urban renewal area in downtown by returning to the traditional blight-removal strategy to get more bang for its buck.

The PDC on Tuesday will meet with a 22-member evaluation committee to further discuss a new 325-acre URA in Portland’s central city. Instead of planning this URA around a specific project or site, the PDC will plan this one around blighted areas that need coordinated public investments.

“This URA isn’t about where we want it, but rather where we need it,” said Peter Englander, project manager with the PDC. “It’s more strategically placed, and has public involvement from more sources than any URA I have ever worked on.”

The proposed area, with a maximum indebtedness of $345 million, includes five downtown neighborhoods, most of the downtown business core, Portland State University and portions of two sunset URAs – the South Park Blocks and Downtown Waterfront.

Englander added that the new URA would be different from others around Portland because of ballot measures 5 and 50 from the 1990s. These measures limit the percentage increase of property values to 3 percent annually. This reduces the money the PDC can borrow against in the future.

Another issue is the passage of House Bill 2065 by the Oregon Legislature last year. This bill requires URAs to share revenues with other taxing jurisdictions at two points. Once tax increment revenues reach 3 percent of maximum indebtedness, the URA must share 25 percent of revenues thereafter with the overlapping districts, Portland Public Schools and Multnomah County. Once revenues equal 10 percent of maximum indebtedness, all future revenues go to the other taxing jurisdictions. These points are expected to be triggered at years 11 and 22.

Englander said the PDC is committed to working with the other taxing districts. And considering it will be the first URA to be affected by the new laws, the process will be a learning experience for the PDC and the public, he said.

The process has been thorough so far, according to Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance and a member of the evaluation committee. Everyone involved has been very realistic in understanding that URAs, especially now, have limits but can still be beneficial, she said.

“This isn’t going to be like the River District URA,” she said. The River District URA saw a 195 percent increase in assessed value. The average increase citywide is 35 percent for URAs.

Due to the limitations of the URA, Englander said the PDC will focus more on smaller projects rather than a single, large one. Some potential projects include: the development of a 20-acre site owned by Con-Way Enterprise Services in Northwest Portland, connectivity improvements around Interstate 405, and, by Mayor Adams’ request, the further development of the Burnside-Couch couplet in downtown.

“All five neighborhoods have said that (Interstate) 405 is a blight-inducing freeway, so we hope to start our work there,” Englander said.

The URA covers several neighborhoods and pockets of the central city, but Englander said the PDC intentionally left out some properties to protect the overall tax base. These include several county-owned properties, the unbuilt Park Avenue West tower and Twelve | West.

“With the recent talk and opinion about how URAs can hurt other taxing districts, we really want to work with each and every one of these districts so that we can synchronize projects in a way that benefits everyone,” Englander said.

Englander hopes the boundaries will be approved by the committee over the next month. Then the public will be able to comment on the boundaries throughout August and September. The committee is slated to make its final recommendation in September.

“If all the stars line up it’s conceivable that we could have this approved and ready for implementation by the end of the year,” Englander said.