Ordinance No. 20564 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapter 4: Reasons for Selection of the Plan Area The Plan Area was adopted in 1968 with approximately 70 acres. This area was selected after a comprehensive community process under the guidance of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 2016, the Agency Board proposed an expansion to the Plan Area by five acres to include a portion of the City Hall block and the East Park Block area. (See Exhibit D for a map of the Plan Area with the expansion area highlighted.) The four goals of the Plan are to (1) improve the function, condition, and appearance of the Plan Area, (2) reduce blight and blighting influences, (3) strengthen the economic conditions of the Plan Area, and (4) enhance downtown's role as the regional economic, governmental, and cultural center and a central location for public and private development and investment. According to ORS 457.010, "blighted areas" means areas that, by reason of deterioration, faulty planning, inadequate or improper facilities, deleterious land use or the existence of unsafe structures, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to the safety, health or welfare of the community. A blighted area is characterized by the existence of one or more of the following conditions: (a) The existence of buildings and structures, used or intended to be used for living, com- mercial, industrial or other purposes, or any combination of those uses, that are unfit or unsafe to occupy for those purposes because of any one or a combination of the following conditions: (A) Defective design and quality of physical construction; (B) Faulty interior arrangement and exterior spacing; (C) Overcrowding and a high density of population; (D) Inadequate provision for ventilation, light, sanitation, open spaces and recreation facilities; or (E) Obsolescence, deterioration, dilapidation, mixed character or shifting of uses; (b) An economic dislocation, deterioration or disuse of property resulting from faulty planning; (c) The division or subdivision and sale of property or lots of irregular form and shape and inadequate size or dimensions for property usefulness and development; (d) The laying out of property or lots in disregard of contours, drainage and other physical characteristics of the terrain and surrounding conditions; (e) The existence of inadequate streets and other rights of way, open spaces and utilities; (f) The existence of property or lots or other areas that are subject to inundation by water; (g) A prevalence of depreciated values, impaired investments and social and economic maladjustments to such an extent that the capacity to pay taxes is reduced and tax receipts are inadequate for the cost of public services rendered; (h) A growing or total lack of proper utilization of areas, resulting in a stagnant and unpro- ductive condition of land potentially useful and valuable for contributing to the public health, safety and welfare; or Report on the 2016 Amendment 8