Last summer, Talent City Council considered an Urban Renewal Plan to help recover from the Almeda Fire. During the consideration process, the City received a lot of important feedback on that plan. Specifically, the community expressed concern about the financial impact to the other taxing districts, the broadness of scope, and allowing stronger community input on determining if the plan should move forward. For the past six months, the City has been redrafting the urban renewal plan to address those shared concerns and are now sharing that redraft with the public for feedback.
What is the process for considering an Urban Renewal Plan?
At the December 29th special meeting, the City Council voted to move the redrafted plan to the formal public review process for feedback from other taxing districts, our community partners, and the community at large. During the public review process, taxing districts have 45-days to submit comments, the City will make a presentation to the Talent Planning Commission and the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, and will host a public hearing. The City will also be hosting various town hall meetings for the general public to learn more about urban renewal and the plan itself. See “How can I learn more?” below for specific dates.
After receiving feedback, the City Council can make changes to the urban renewal plan. If/when they feel like the plan is in its final form, the Council will refer it to the ballot via a resolution. If the public votes in favor of the Plan, the City Council will pass the formal ordinance required to officially implement the urban renewal plan and district.
How is this Plan different from the last version?
The core goals of this Plan are still the same as the last version: recover affordable housing, revitalize our commercial areas, upgrade city infrastructure to better support the higher-density housing, and increase our resiliency to and decrease our risk of natural disaster.
· A smaller maximum indebtedness ($15.1 million vs $62.5 million), which decreases the financial impact on other taxing districts.
· A scope that focuses solely on Almeda Fire recovery and names 16 specific projects that urban renewal will undertake.
· Referral to the May 2023 ballot.
How can I learn more?
You can learn more about this specific Plan reading the accompanying documents
A paper copy of both the above Proposed Urban Renewal Plan and Accompanying Report are available for public inspection at at City Hall during regular business hours.
We encourage all residents and interesting parties to attend our upcoming Town Hall meetings.
· In-Person Town Hall Meeting: Thursday, January 19th at 6pm at the Community Center
· Online Town Hall Meeting: Thursday, January 26th at 6pm on Zoom
· In-Person Town Hall Meeting: Thursday, February 9th at 7pm at the Community Center
· Public Hearing: Wednesday, February 15th at 6:45pm at Town Hall
