Public land parcels evaluated for potential housing

HOOD RIVER — The Sept. 8 Hood River City Council meeting spanned five hours and as many topics, including a review of publicly owned parcels suitable for housing and/or to generate revenue for housing investments.

One of the city council’s “critical” priorities for 2025-2026 is to pursue another affordable or mixed income housing project like Mariposa Village. Dubbed Mariposa Village 2.0, Urban Renewal Administrator Will Norris said the agency is taking the lead on the project, as it aligns with the adopted housing goals in the Heights and Westside district plans, Norris said.

“Hood River continues to be one of, if not the most, unaffordable city in Oregon for housing costs relative to incomes,” Norris said. “A consequence of Hood River’s rapidly rising land values is that publicly owned properties acquired many decades ago and once thought to be of marginal value may have new viable uses.”

Each of the properties has undergone a phase 1 environmental site assessment (ESA), funded by a Mid-Columbia Economic Development District (MCEDD) grant, and staff has completed necessary historical research.

One exception left off of the list: The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) yard on Cascade Avenue. Repurposing the property has been previously investigated, but ODOT is limited to their ability to contribute land for housing due to rules associated with federal highway fuels tax revenue that was used to acquire the land, Norris said.

Further, a 2019 relocation estimate came in at $6.8 million then — translating to $8.5 million now — and this past year, ODOT declined to participate in MCEDD-funded phase 1 ESA.

Morrison Park is also on the exemption list. A voter-initiated charter amendment passed in November 2019 in response to the city’s first attempt at placing what would later become Mariposa Village on the property; this bars the city from repurposing the land without a public vote. Given the opposition, the city pivoted and purchased property on Rand Road for what has become Mariposa Village.

Columbia Gorge Community College’s Nix property was also on the exemption list, as the college has been periodically evaluating development opportunities on the site themselves.

On the property list include a 0.9 acre, very sloped parcel between State and Sherman streets, zoned general commercial; the 1.59 acre parking lot at Fifth and Columbia, zoned industrial; 2.39 acres just outside the city limits on Westcliff Drive, zoned open space / public facilities; 1.93 acres without road access, also on Cascade, zoned half high and half low density residential, owned by Hood River County; and 17.5 acres on May Drive, zoned low density residential, owned by Hood River County School District for future expansion.

The largest parcel, 18.2 acres located on Old Columbia River Drive and adjacent to the Mark O. Hatfield West trailhead on the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail, is zoned public recreation and open space. It was also “for many, many, many decades a municipal dump,” Norris said. The site would require additional environmental assessment and potentially significant remediation before public access would be allowed; therefore, Norris said there is no economically viable use for the property.

The discussion is ongoing and will be brought forward again at future meetings.