Empire Town Hall Meeting, July 26

City of CB release – The Coos Bay Urban Renewal Agency (Agency) will be hosting a Town Hall meeting next Tuesday evening, July 31st to discuss amending the Empire Urban Renewal Plan (Plan).  The City of Coos Bay adopted the Empire URA Plan in 1988. This Plan allows for the expenditure of funds within the Empire Urban Renewal Area (Area).  The City (also the Urban Renewal Agency) has completed numerous projects in the Area. These projects include assistance in the renovation of the Dolphin Theater, the Newmark Widening Project, South Empire Improvements, Hollering Place Wayside, Boat Building Center Improvements, Storefront Improvements (Empire Mercantile, Subway, and several others) a bathroom complex at the Empire Boat Ramp and other projects. The Agency and City Council have been evaluating the Empire Urban Renewal Plan (Plan) over the last year. In 2018 they adopted a minor amendment to update the projects in the Plan. The projects identified for the future are the Hollering Place Development, a Façade Program, Street Improvements, Library Assistance, and Signage. As part of the minor amendment process, the financial projections were updated, and the City determined they would like to proceed with a substantial amendment to the Plan to increase the maximum indebtedness of the Empire URA District. This increase would allow financial capacity to undertake a number of capital street projects within the Empire URA District. The Town Hall meeting will be held at the Dolphin Theatre located at 580 Newmark Avenue, and the meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm.