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The city didn’t ask, but residents in inner North and Northeast Portland nevertheless made it clear that they don’t want Rose Quarter properties included in the city’s largest urban renewal area.

The Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, which represents 12 neighborhood associations in North and Northeast Portland, last week sent a letter to several city officials stating its belief that remaining money would be better spent on smaller neighborhood projects in surrounding areas.

“We believe we represent the community consensus in saying that we are inalterably opposed to the inclusion of the Rose Quarter District in the (Interstate Corridor URA) boundaries,” wrote Katie Ugolini, president of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods and member of the Concordia Neighborhood Association.

The idea of expanding the Interstate Corridor URA started last year, when it reached the midpoint of its 20-year lifespan. More than $90 million has been spent on projects, and an additional $64 million has been budgeted for future projects. However, the URA still has $120.8 million in tax increment financing available for other projects.

The city started the and convened a group of stakeholders to discuss possible areas in North and Northeast Portland that could benefit from inclusion in the URA. After several meetings, the group voted to recommend to the Portland Development Commission that five new areas – a total of 425 acres – be included in the URA.

The recommended areas – parts of the St. Johns neighborhood, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Alberta Street, Lombard Street and an area around the Oregon Convention Center – were five of the six areas the group was asked to consider. The group didn’t vote on the sixth area, the Rose Quarter, because the city was still determining how those properties would be redeveloped.

The group was supposed to reconvene last fall when a development plan for the Rose Quarter properties was supposed to be finalized. But several delays, and vocal opposition of some proposals, have left redevelopment uncertain.

“The (Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods) Board feels strongly that Rose Quarter projects, which are large and discontinuous with the North/Northeast community, will pull resources away from more community-based projects within the (Interstate Corridor URA) boundaries,” Ugolini wrote in the letter, which was sent to Mayor Sam Adams, the four city councilors and PDC Commissioner Charles Wilhoite.

“For the first 10 years of (the Interstate Corridor URA), the majority of the funding went to two large projects – the Interstate light-rail project and the New Columbia (affordable apartments) project. Now that there is additional funding available, it should be spent on neighborhood-level projects that benefit existing North and Northeast residents.”

The PDC board of commissioners was expected to vote on stakeholders’ recommended expansion areas this winter. But without a development plan set for the Rose Quarter, the commission won’t vote whether to include the other areas.