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A long-standing divide among Oregon City commissioners on how to spend urban renewal money came to the forefront last week when a $200 million project and 1,500 new jobs were threatened.

Approximately 400 concerned citizens packed into the Pioneer Community Center in Oregon City on Wednesday to show overwhelming support for the Rivers mall project, and ample disdain for a charter amendment that could have killed it. A week after three of the five city commissioners expressed support for an amendment that would require a citizens’ vote of approval for all major urban renewal decisions, the commissioners chose to table a vote on the proposal – and possibly let it die.

The Rivers mall is being proposed by Fred Bruning; his company CenterCal Properties developed similar projects such as Bridgeport Village in Tigard and Cascade Station near Portland International Airport. The $200 million project would transform a former landfill into a 650,000-square-foot outdoor mall, anchored by national outdoor retailer Cabela’s, on a site south of the intersection of Interstate 205 and Oregon Route 213.

The project, which could create nearly 1,500 permanent jobs, has drawn little opposition; however, proposed public investment has elicited concerns. In the current draft of the disposition and development agreement, which hasn’t been officially signed by the commission but is nearly finished, the city would give the developer $17.6 million of urban renewal money. Those funds would go toward environmental cleanup and construction of transportation access to the site.

The $17.6 million would be held in an account and be given to Bruning only when the project is completed and at least 80 percent of the facilities are leased.

Then three Oregon City commissioners, including Jim Nicita, started a push in January for the charter amendment. When Nicita first took office in 2009, he wanted to give voters the power to approve or deny city-issued bonds like the one Oregon City would authorize for the Rivers project.

If the commission had approved the charter amendment, voters in May would have been able to voice opinions on voter-approved bonds.

Bruning said last month that CenterCal Properties and Cabela’s would walk away from the project if the commission were to approve the charter amendment because it would likely cause delays and cost overruns. Also, voter-approved bonds represent a lot of risk for these types of projects, he said, and could deter large tenants from signing on before the development is completed.

Nicita compared the citizen opposition to the charter amendment at Wednesday’s meeting to the opposition Egypt President Hosni Mubarak is facing right now. He said he realized that significant time likely would be needed to carefully craft a charter amendment that wouldn’t lead Bruning to back out of the project.

Citizen support for the Rivers project is based primarily on job creation, potential property tax collection and the overwhelming desire to secure a Cabela’s store.

Cabela’s has a store in Lacey, Wash., and is set to open its first Oregon store in Eugene in the spring. The retailer has targeted the Portland-metro area for a while, and looked at sites in Wilsonville, Troutdale and Portland. But with Bruning ready to move forward with the Rivers, Cabela’s chose Oregon City.

Most of the meeting attendees wore stickers that read “1,500 jobs” and “No Charter Changes.”

Oregon Employment Department workforce analyst Lynn Wallis noted that nearly 3,000 Oregon City residents are presently searching for employment.

April McGinnis, a resident, approached the council at the meeting in the company of six Oregon City High School students and simply asked, “Who is going to employ these boys?”

Probably the most telling sign of the overall ethos of those in attendance was when Mayor Doug Neeley asked for a show of hands from project opponents. No one raised a hand.

Nicita and the other two commissioners who originally supported the charter amendment, Kathy Roth and Rocky Smith Jr., acknowledged that public opposition led them to change their minds. Even though the charter amendment won’t be on the May ballot, all three commissioners want more discussion about how to provide citizens with more power in the decision-making process.

Neeley said he would invite Bruning and other members of the project team to the next council meeting to nail down the final specifics of the development agreement. Project construction is anticipated to start in the fall.