An estimated $5 million of grants could be available for the region’s cities and counties as Metro begins a fourth cycle of its community planning and development grant program.
The grants help local jurisdictions prepare plans for development that meet local and regional goals. Funded by a small excise tax on most for-profit construction projects with budgets greater than $100,000, the program has awarded nearly $14.5 million to 61 projects from local governments across the region since 2007.
Learn more about Metro’s construction excise tax program
The program typically splits grants between helping local governments develop plans for accommodating growth and creating jobs in existing centers and corridors, and visions for new housing and jobs in as-yet undeveloped areas that have been added to the urban growth boundary or urban reserves.
The 2015 cycle will allocate 70 to 75 percent of grant funds for projects inside the existing urban growth boundary, and 25 to 30 percent for new urban areas and urban reserves.
Local governments must contribute a 10 percent match, a new requirement for this cycle. Also new to this cycle are evaluation criteria that will weigh applications based on their potential to meet regional goals for equity and reducing climate emissions.
Additionally, applications will be judged on the commitment of the local government to pursue plans completed as the result of a grant.
The grant cycle officially began with the Metro Council’s adoption of final eligibility and evaluation criteria on March 19. A pre-application meeting on Wednesday attracted attendees from 14 cities and counties.
The growing Clackamas County city of Happy Valley has received two grants in past cycles to help prepare its Rock Creek employment area to attract new employers, said community development director Michael Walter. The grants helped the city better understand barriers and opportunities to attract new employers to the area, which was added to the urban growth boundary in 2002 and could eventually host thousands of jobs.
In particular, Walter said, the city has been better able to understand how to pay for new streets, sewers and other essential infrastructure.
Walter said that with a limited general fund budget, his community simply would find it difficult to afford long-term concept planning for the Rock Creek area. “All of the efforts we've done would have been on the back burner” without the Metro grants, Walter said.
Dan Riordan, a senior planner in Forest Grove, said his city used a recent grant to develop an urban renewal plan for its downtown and commercial corridors. The plan will help the city achieve its long-term goals to increase activity, attract new business and accommodate some housing growth in its downtown.
“Although it has been less than one year since adoption of the urban renewal plan there has been interest from the development community in partnering with the City’s urban renewal agency to help achieve the City’s long term vision for the Town Center,” Riordan said via email.
Before the Metro Council adopted the final rules for the grant program’s fourth cycle on March 19, Councilor Shirley Craddick remarked on the unique nature of the program – using funds from new development throughout the region to enable planning for new growth elsewhere.
"I think we're so fortunate in the region that we have regional support for this program," Craddick said. "It gives so many communities opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise."
Metro Councilor Sam Chase lauded the addition of new criteria that will evaluate applications based on their contributions to regional equity. "It's clear and defined really well. I'm impressed with that," Chase said.
Letters of intent from interested local governments are due by April 16.
Learn more about the community planning and development grant program