City must show plan for streets.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

In a letter to the city released Monday, the General Services Administration said it wants a strong signal that city officials are willing and able to pay for new streets in the courthouse district by 2005 - before the landmark $70 million building opens - in order for the GSA to put the project back on track.

City Council members, after a little hand-wringing Monday night, gave them that signal.

In a 6-to-2 vote, the council - in its role as the city's Urban Renewal Agency - took a step toward authorizing use of urban renewal funds as a back-up plan to pay for about $7.6 million worth of new streets in and around the courthouse district if expected federal funding does not materialize.

Opponents of the move, Councilors Bonny Bettman and Betty Taylor, said they hesitate to saddle local taxpayers with the potential cost of building streets that ought to be paid for by the state and federal governments or through means other than renewal district bonding.

But it won't come to that if Congress delivers funding in a transportation bill that is all but certain with the solid backing of the area's congressional delegation - including Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Mayor Jim Torrey said.

"He is the most powerful congressional leader in Oregon on transportation. If he can't get it done, it can't get done in Oregon," Torrey said Monday.

Nevertheless, council members voted Monday to draft language into the riverfront urban renewal plan as a back-up strategy to meet the GSA's request. The council will next consider the issue on Nov. 19. Final action could come in January.

The federal courthouse project has been on hold since Sept. 19, when the GSA balked at buying the city-owned property until questions are settled about street construction, parking and private development at the former Agripac site.

The project is expected to spark a redevelopment effort that ultimately will tie the new courthouse district to the current downtown and to the Willamette River with a vibrant mix of office, retail and possibly residential development.

But streets and pedestrian access must come first, GSA's Director of Portfolio Development Dan Brown said in a letter to City Manager Dennis Taylor.

"In light of the constraints on the federal budget, we cannot assume federal funding to be a guarantee," Brown wrote. "We believe the city should have a fall-back plan to fund the infrastructure improvements."

Taylor said he developed the urban renewal funding proposal with cooperation from GSA officials to ensure the council's action Monday night would satisfy the agency.

Taylor said the urban renewal option gives the GSA the extra assurance that the district will have streets and pedestrian access before federal employees move into the new courthouse.

"It's just Plan B," he told councilors.

Torrey urged approval of the move, even though councilors do not yet know how much money the renewal district has, the exact costs for street construction, or whether other funding sources might be available if Congress delays or denies funding.

Councilor Gary Pape, who moved approval of the measure, indicated the council will need to see the revenue and cost figures before taking final action. Other councilors echoed his concerns. He asked how certain the city is of getting federal funds for the streets in the courthouse district.

Taylor replied, "We're as sure as you can be, following practices that have been successful for this community for decades."

Bettman questioned why the city could not invoke its memorandum of agreement to force GSA to purchase the city-owned land for the courthouse because the city has met all of its legal obligations to prepare the site for GSA.

"In my mind, we had a deal. Now they're backing off," Bettman said. "This, to me, is a very big legal issue."

City attorney Glenn Klein replied that the memorandum probably could be enforced to require GSA purchase of the land, but there is no legal requirement for GSA go ahead with construction. Torrey said city officials will continue to respond to GSA concerns so the project can get back on track.