By Mary Owen
Stayton citizens said they’d forego the chance to establish an Urban Renewal District that city officials projected would provide a dedicated source of funding to revitalize city’s downtown core.
Approved late last year by the Stayton City Council, the URD got voter attention when Jack Fiske collected enough signatures to place the issue on the May ballot. Marion County Elections’ unofficial results showed Measure 24-293 calling for a URD failing by 62 votes – 818 “yes” to 880 “no.” Results will not become official until certified by the county elections office.
“While we lost the election, I believe the URD vote was so close that it indicates a strong support for forming the district,” said Mayor Gerry Aboud.
Aboud plans to recommend to the city council that tax money the city would have garnered if the URD had passed be set aside for street and sidewalk repairs in the downtown area.
According to Dan Fleishman, director of planning and development, council members can choose to revise the plan, hold more community meetings to find out why citizens voted against it or achieve the URD’s proposed goals via other means.
“At the upcoming council meeting in June, city staff will present a report on options and councilors will decide on how they want to proceed,” he said.
Stayton Fire Chief Jack Carriger and the fire district board opposed passage of the plan, which he said projected a $937,203 loss in foregone revenue to the fire district over 20 years.
“Unfortunately, the election escalated to a point where it was the fire district against the city,” Aboud said. “It will be hard to repair the damage that was done to the community as a whole because of that.
My hope is that those that opposed the plan step forward with some ideas on how we can all work together to build a better community.”
Aboud has long believed that Stayton is a community “made up of many fragments that do not work together.”
“Having said that,” he added, “it is a community that gets a lot done through volunteers and their commitment to their individual organizations. A spirited, working together attitude would bring so much positive energy and improvements to the community. I see this need especially as related to the school district and the need to provide an educated work force to the employers and future employers of the community.”
