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A former Wilsonville mayor, John Ludlow, is opposed to the city creating a one-property urban renewal area to entice a large employer. But more importantly, he said, the city’s decision did not go before voters.

Within 24 hours after Wilsonville City Council approved creation of a 26-acre URA to provide financial incentives to San Jose, Calif.-based , Ludlow and a handful of other concerned citizens formed a group to oppose it. The group, Stop Urban Renewal Giveaways, received city approval Tuesday morning to start gathering signatures for a referendum that would ask citizens whether to overturn the vote.

鈥淚 warned (city councilors) in January when SoloPower was first looking here that we were going to do this if they didn’t take an advisory vote with the citizens,鈥� said Ludlow, who owns a real estate firm in Wilsonville. 鈥淚t’s how we’ve always done it in Wilsonville. But they didn’t listen.鈥�

SoloPower earlier this year began searching for a building where it could manufacture several of its products. The company tentatively selected a 400,000-square-foot Wilsonville warehouse formerly occupied by Nike, and planned to invest $340 million in a project.

SoloPower chose the warehouse, according to CEO Tim Harris, in part because Wilsonville qualifies as a rural district and other Portland suburbs don’t. As a result, the federal government can serve as backup for certain state loans. The company is due to receive $40 million in state energy loans for the project.

The company held a press event about the planned project, but its officials did not sign a lease. As rumors swirled that SoloPower was fielding calls from other cities, Wilsonville city officials looked into the possibility of creating a URA around the property.

A build-out would increase the property taxes significantly 鈥� an estimated 1,270 percent 鈥� Wilsonville decided it could let SoloPower make lease payments and tenant improvements with the tax money collected from a URA. The company would receive about $11 million if it were to fulfill all of its initial plans.

The URA plan was passed by both the Wilsonville planning commission and City Council in about a month. But while the city went through the usual steps of creating a URA 鈥� and even requested approval from affected taxing districts 鈥� it did not seek an advisory vote from citizens. That step is crucial, according to Ludlow.

鈥淗istorically, (citizens) always voted on urban renewal,鈥� Ludlow said. 鈥淚’ve been fighting for voters for 40 years and I’m not stopping with this one.鈥�

Customarily, the city of Wilsonville includes an advisory measure on a ballot whenever a URA is created. Voting results are then usually inserted into the urban renewal plan under the public participation section. In 2003, for instance, voters approved an advisory measure when the Wilsonville Westside URA was created.

Harris said he believes voters would approve the URA, but he added that uncertainty is bad for business.

鈥淲e are still fielding calls from other towns, but we are confident this deal will work out,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淎ll I can say is that we are monitoring the situation and we will make appropriate decisions to eliminate that uncertainty that is currently there.鈥�

Ludlow, however, believes that SoloPower is coming to Wilsonville regardless of public input.

鈥淵ou can quote me on that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey will be moved in before this vote is even resolved.鈥�

Harris said a lease has not been signed yet, but he is hopeful that one will be by the end of the month so that SoloPower can meet its construction timeline and receive the first $2 million installment being offered by the city.

Meanwhile, Stop Urban Renewal Giveaways has until May 18 to gather signatures from 10 percent of Wilsonville voters 鈥� approximately 875 people 鈥� to get the referendum on the ballot.

鈥淚t’s going to be a grassroots campaign, collecting signatures at local stores and by going door to door,鈥� Ludlow said. 鈥淎nd I guarantee we (will) gather enough.鈥�

If the group’s effort were to succeed, the referendum would go before voters on a regular ballot in September.

鈥淚f the city (officials) wouldn’t have (dragged) their feet on this they could have had an advisory vote on the ballot in July,鈥� Ludlow said. 鈥淚 begged them to do it, but they didn’t listen.鈥�

City officials did not return multiple inquiries by press time.