City Council Adopts New Program to Attract Business Investment, Extends COVID-19 State of Emergency
October 20, 2020 — At the October 19, 2020, meeting of the Wilsonville City Council, the City Council adopted administrative rules for Wilsonville Investment Now (WIN), an Economic Development program that seeks to incentivize family-wage businesses to operate in Wilsonville by providing property-tax rebates for qualifying development projects outside of the City’s existing urban renewal areas.
The first program of its kind in Oregon, WIN aims to attract high-value investments from a wide range of businesses. The program’s flexible evaluation criteria provides multiple tiers of benefit, including rewards for Wilsonville-owned business and those prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The Council’s action allows staff to promote the program, and to bring back site-specific applications for City Council consideration upon receipt.
The Council extended the City’s local state of emergency until Dec. 31, 2020, allowing staff to continue to coordinate an effective COVID-19 response by redirecting funding for emergency use as needed, implementing mutual-aid agreements with other public agencies and otherwise adjusting operations in the interest of public welfare.
Additionally, three City contracts were approved on consent:
- A $185,000 agreement with Murraysmith for engineering services to complete the Corral Creek and Rivergreen Lift Stations Rehabilitation project, in order to maintain critical wastewater system infrastructure.
- A $130,000 agreement with Schneider Equipment, Inc. for construction of the Elligsen Well Upgrade and Maintenance Project to convert and upgrade the former drinking water supply well system, in order to sustain a reliable, emergency backup source of potable water.
- A $380,000 agreement with OTAK, Inc. to provide engineering support for construction of the 5th Street/Kinsman Road Extension project, which extends both streets, adds a new intersection, a new Ice Age Tonquin Trail segment, two bridge crossings over Coffee Lake Creek, a new railroad track crossing and completes an extension of sanitary and water mains.
The City Manager announced that the City is hosting a virtual listening session on Dec. 8, 6-8 pm, to hear community perspectives on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The session is to inform future work to ensure Wilsonville’s equitable treatment of all residents, including the establishment of a task force to explore the formation and scope of a City committee dedicated to oversight of future DEI initiatives.
At the work session prior to the meeting, the Council reviewed the draft Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy, a plan to guide the City’s aspiration to support the development of more vibrant and sustainable arts and cultural programming and events. After public-comment review of the draft plan ends today, Council and public feedback are to be considered and incorporated into the final version scheduled for Council adoption on Nov. 16.
The meeting was followed by a short meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency Board, which adopted two items on consent.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 pm; a pre-meeting work session is scheduled at 5 pm.
Community members can watch all City Council meetings on cable (Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 30, Ziply/Frontier Ch. 32) or on the City’s YouTube channel: ci.wilsonville.or.us/WilsonvilleTV.
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