Project Overview

South Beach Refinement Plan

Newport’s South Beach has come a long way since 1983, when the City of Newport established an urban renewal district in the area to address the area’s lack of transportation connections, urban infrastructure, and public amenities. However, key issues remain. The Newport Urban Renewal Agency has initiated on a refinement plan process to determine where remaining investments should be prioritized before the Urban Renewal District closes to new projects at the end of 2025.

What has been completed so far?

As a first step, the project team completed an Opportunities and Constraints Report, which summarizes stakeholder interviews to date and organizes key issues within South Beach alongside ideas for how to address the area’s constraints. The document also provides a decision-making framework that helps to prioritize limited remaining urban renewal funding from 2022 to 2025.

Opportunities and Barriers Report

As a second step, the project team has been working on a project list detailing the potential projects considered to date along with a decision-making framework that helps to prioritize limited remaining urban renewal funding from 2022 to 2025. This document includes detailed project sheets that describes the various components and implementation considerations for each project.

Project Concept Memo - 9.21.21

The team has also put together redevelopment concepts for the 2.33 acre Agency owned property at 35th and US 101 considering community feedback and technical and market analysis.

SE 35th - US 101 Redevelopment Concepts - 9.21.21

To learn more about this project, please view this 15 minute presentation.

 

What investments can Urban Renewal dollars fund?

Urban renewal funding can be used for physical investments that meet the objectives of the South Beach Urban Renewal Plan:

• Preserve forest, water, wildlife, and other natural resources
• Identify sites for public uses such as the OSU Marine Science Center
• Complete a Port facilitated marine recreation area
• Encourage marine oriented activities on the northern Shorelands
• Assure the development of complementary uses adjacent to the Airport
• Plan new sewer, water, and transportation capacity
• Allocate a major part of South Beach to heavy commercial and light industrial uses

(Source: South Beach Urban Renewal Plan Amendment 5)

South Beach/US 101 Refinement Plan Schedule

The refinement plan process started in March 2021 and will be completed in November 2021.