Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland has settled with a group that challenged certain ways the city was pursuing redevelopment. April Baer reports.

The Friends of Urban Renewal is a small, in-the-know group that's been involved for years in making old neighborhoods new.

The group took a complaint to state regulators saying the city of Portland over-reached with urban renewal district money - those are special tax revenues diverted to make blighted blocks more appealing for redevelopment.

Under the terms of the settlement, Portland will dial back the redevelopment debt it's taking on in the River District.

The settlement means the city can move forward on several projects, including a long-delayed homeless resources center. But still hanging in limbo is the city's plan to fund  a new school building for the David Douglas District with urban renewal cash.

The Friends challenged that idea in a separate complaint.

City attorneys are reviewing the project's viability. Commissioners won't say yet whether they intend to continue fighting for it.