Main Street Update Project Video

The downtown Main Street update has been part of the greater downtown revitalization plans since 2007. There are some surfacing issues with the asphalt on Main Street. There are missing ADA ramps and broken/damaged sidewalks. Pedestrian visibility and crossing is another issue.

Main Street is part of the Urban Renewal District. This is a taxing district with specific boundaries and projects which funds collected can be used to complete. Projects which urban renewal can fund are determined by ORS 457.

Urban renewal is funded by tax increment financing (TIF). When an urban renewal plan is adopted, the county assessor calculates the total assessed value of the area and establishes this value as the “frozen base” for the area.

Taxes from that frozen base continue going to all of the taxing jurisdictions. Growth above the base is called the “increment”. Taxes from the increment, called tax increment revenue, go to the urban renewal agency for projects within the urban renewal area.

This does not increase your taxes. The tax rate a property owner will pay inside the Urban Renewal District will not change simply because of TIF. TIF is only collected on properties inside the district boundaries. The allocation of where that tax funding goes is what changes inside an urban renewal district. This is only for a set period of years.

The Main Street Update is the last large project to be funded by our Urban Renewal District before it sunsets in 2027.

This depends on how long the design phase takes. Once the final design is approved, we will ask for bids for the construction. This process can take a month or two to get a construction company under contract. We expect construction to take 3 to 4 months to complete. We hope that the construction will start spring of 2024, however until we are under contract with a construction company this is just a rough guess.

The short answer is not really. We understand that when you compare Main Street to Broadway that there's concerns that updating Main Street will result in a very narrow road like Broadway. The lane widths are significantly wider than Broadway and the travel lane will not decrease to anywhere close to the width of Broadway. Travel lanes will be between 17 to 20 feet on Main Street and they are currently 13 feet on Broadway. While they may decrease slightly, they will not get anywhere close to as narrow as Broadway. The road may feel smaller though with street trees and streetlights, these create the illusion of a narrower street which causes people to slow down.

The City of Estacada is working closely with the Estacada Fire District to ensure that any updates to Main Street remain navigable by fire equipment. Fire District staff and the City's engineer had many discussions and will continue to work together to make sure that during construction, and once complete, the work allows for safe passage of emergency services.

The final road design will not be any less navigable than the current road. The road widths will be negligibly different. Construction plans for traffic routing have not yet been decided but it is in our plan to have clearly marked detour routes.

Clackamas County Tax Assessor uses a rate (percentage) system to calculate tax. Because of this, the TIF is calculated on all the property in the sponsoring district even though it is only based on the property inside the district boundaries. Since Estacada has an Urban Renewal District, everyone in city limits will see Urban Renewal on their tax bill. Since Clackamas County has urban renewal districts, everyone in Clackamas County will see urban renewal listed on their tax bill. This does not increase your taxes. When the Urban Renewal District ends the taxes will be redistributed to other agencies, like Estacada Fire, Clackamas County Vector Control, Libraries and Port of Portland, etc.

The construction contract was awarded to S & W Underground at the 11/13/23 Council Meeting.

One of the key issues we encountered was the improper drainage of stormwater, which resulted in pooling next to the curb in certain areas, including in front of Level 11 Salon and State Farm.

To address this issue effectively, we are adjusting the street elevations to ensure proper flow towards the catch basins. Leaving some of the existing sidewalks would lead to an inconsistent curb elevation, with variations of +/- an inch or two. This inconsistency not only affects aesthetics but also creates practical challenges, such as uneven stepping from the street to the curb.

Although it's regrettable to waste concrete, this presents us with an opportunity to rectify the situation and achieve a uniform and properly leveled outcome. Therefore, we have decided to repour all the sidewalks to ensure a consistent look and the practicality of evenly aligned curb heights.