By: Nick Bjork//August 24, 2011//
Nick Bjork//August 24, 2011//
A ballot measure proposed by a group of citizens that would make substantial changes to how urban renewal is used in Clackamas County has officially made the ballot.
County officials on Tuesday said signatures have been verified for a ballot measure that would require countywide voter-approval to form new urban renewal areas or make major amendments to existing ones. The measure, which if passed would only affect those URAs created by the county and not those created by cities within the county, will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
The measure is notably championed by former Oregon City mayor John Williams.
In order to get the measure on the ballot, the group had to get 9,378 valid signatures of registered voters. After the signatures were turned in Aug. 10, the group appeared to be about 180 signatures short of the goal. But after a review, county officials said the group reached the legal threshold for required signatures.
Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall said the county takes the rights of citizens to place measures on the ballot very seriously and conducted a scrupulous review of the petitions.
In addition to this ballot measure, Clackamas County officials are also looking into the idea of putting a competing ballot measure on the ballot that, if passed, would trump the citizens’ measure. While nothing has been crafted yet, county attorneys recently told the county commissioners that they would like to craft a measure that would only require voter approval by those voters within the boundaries of a proposed URA or an existing URA if it’s being amended.