Last night, December 7th, Commissioner Adams presented his newest ideas for street improvement funding to a Southwest Transportation Roundtable hosted by the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association.
Three major innovations included: a method of collecting system development charges (SDC) from developers; “halo” local improvement districts (LID); and development of a set of street improvement priority lists.
These innovations will help respond to the potential budget reductions facing the Portland Office of Transportation (PDOT), which has a budget of about $188 million. 65% of the budget is work contracted by the State, PDC, the Port of Portland and others. The remaining 35% is discretionary money largely funded by Gas Tax Revenues (GTR). Sam must cut approximately 17% from the GTR portion of PDOT’s budget, which has lagged due to relatively slow population growth compared to other parts of the state. Sam suggested that the City could save money by bidding out projects to private contractors that would normally be completed by PDOT.
Part of Sam’s plan calls for the City to collect SDCs from developers and to pool them in neighborhood kitties for future street improvements when nearby property owners request that the City not require the developer to make street improvements to a specific property. Currently, any savings from the lack of street improvements is kept by the developer.
The second innovation is the expansion of “halo” LIDs. A halo LID is best used on streets which benefit a larger area than just the adjacent property owners. Typically, this occurs on a main street, such as an arterial between neighborhoods. In this scenario, the cost of the street improvements is assumed by not only the direct beneficiaries, but also those neighbors in the general vicinity, who will have better access and increased property values. The costs for property owners would be proportional to their proximity to the street improvements. Halo LIDs have had a successful trial run in Happy Valley.
The last innovation Sam suggested that neighbors prioritize which streets should be improved within their neighborhood. Streets with priority status would include major arterials or safe routes to schools. Those streets deemed by neighbors to remain unimproved would be removed from the City’s backlog list and reviewed again at some point in the future.