Grant winners will be announced at PDC meeting
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, July 18th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Pendleton Development Commission will announce the names of the Path to Success winners at its meeting at 6 p.m. this evening (Tuesday). The Jump Start Committee is recommending four grants be awarded, instead of the three that were included in the budget.
“While this is one more than the three covered in the budget, the committee believes that these four businesses will all provide a very positive impact on downtown Pendleton’s retail and dining environment,” the committee wrote in a staff report. “At a time when we have too many empty storefronts, we’d like to take advantage of the opportunity when we have good business people and concepts prepared to occupy those storefronts.”
The award for each winner is $20,000 to help them start their new businesses.
The PDC will also hear an update on work being done on the renovation of the Odd Fellows building on Main Street and Hotel Pendleton, formerly the Marigold, on Southeast Court Avenue.
Following the PDC meeting, the group will reconvene as the Pendleton City Council at 7 p.m. There are three public hearings on the agenda that could also result in council action.
One would change zoning west of the Pendleton Convention Center from high-density residential to central-mixed use. That change is being requested for two pieces of land. One would house Blue Mountain Community College’s FARM II. The other is for a piece of property to support its owner in constructing commercial shops that are available for lease.
Another public hearing is for the proposal that the city establish the CPACE program. CPACE stands for Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy. It allows for a stream of funding by private lenders to encourage the private development of properties. CPACE has been approved by the Oregon Legislature.
The third public hearing is described as housekeeping. It adds some information to the city’s lodging room tax ordinance that was deleted when the city turned collection of the tax over to the state. Now that the city is taking collection back, the language needs to be added.
Both meetings are in city council chambers at Pendleton City Hall. They are also on Zoom. The meeting ID I 840 1035 0978. The pass code is 445217.
