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When the 89-year-old Evergreen Elementary School closed last June, it left the city of Redmond in a predicament. City officials didn’t want to tear down a historic landmark in downtown, but the potential cost to rehabilitate the building made private redevelopment unlikely.

After nearly a year of exploring options, officials found a solution: make the building their home.

Redmond City Council last week passed an amendment to the city’s downtown urban renewal plan that extends the lifespan and boundaries of the URA so that 18 projects, worth $93.5 million, can be completed. One of those projects calls for upgrading the former school building and relocating city operations into it. The present city hall, a former Safeway built in the 1940s, would then become available for private downtown redevelopment.

鈥淲e knew that any private development we would attract to either site would probably involve demolishing the building and starting over,鈥� said Heather Richards, community development director for the city of Redmond. 鈥淲e don’t want to see Evergreen Elementary torn down.鈥�

The ex-school building has about 30,000 square feet on a three-acre lot, which is approximately twice the size of the existing city hall’s lot. The building will not only accommodate future growth for city hall, but also could house the police department and some county services. Those possible moves would potentially free up three sites for private development.

鈥淭he Evergreen Elementary site is three blocks from our main street, and the three public sites that would become private development sites are just one block off the main street,鈥� Richards said.

John Williams, economic development project manager for the city, said availability of the sites could help it accomplish some other goals laid out in the plan amendment, most notably to attract development of a family-oriented entertainment or recreation center in downtown. A performing arts center and a small or midsize hotel also were identified as needs by the plan, he said.

The amendment plan wasn’t approved only by the city. Because of state legislation passed in 2009, any city seeking a major urban renewal amendment 鈥� in which indebtedness, lifespan or boundaries would be increased 鈥� must receive support from at least 75 percent of the taxing districts that would be affected.

鈥淐entral Oregon is currently in a state of compression, and all of the taxing districts are struggling with decreased tax receipts as a result,鈥� Richards said. 鈥淭o be sure, we had some extensive discussions about potential future impacts to taxing districts.

鈥淭his was a unique situation though, in that it was an amendment to an existing plan that is currently paying off debt until 2025. So there was not an opportunity to provide immediate tax receipt relief to the overlapping taxing districts. I think that most of the board members of the overlapping taxing districts realized that it would take a major effort such as this plan amendment to reverse these downward trends.鈥�

Urban renewal amendment proposals such as Redmond’s rarely have gained approval since the state legislation went into effect. But the city of Redmond received 96 percent support from its taxing districts, which receive a total of $15.21 per $1,000 in assessed value from property tax dollars.

The Deschutes County Public Library System was the only organization that did not either write a letter or support or pass a resolution of support. The library organization decided not to take action because the city chose not to hold an additional public meeting after it received sufficient support.

The city plans to spend about $1.5 million in urban renewal money, and $8.4 million total, on the project to renovate the school. But as Richards pointed out, the city is hopeful that the private development opportunity at the existing city hall site will more than make up the difference.

鈥淭he agency elected to move forward with the Evergreen Elementary project as one of the urban renewal projects after a financial analysis showed that 鈥� the property tax revenue (from) the private development of the current city hall site during the planning horizon of the plan amendment would pay for the urban renewal contribution to the relocation project,鈥� she said.