John Day Urban Renewal Agency

Dated: April 3, 2024

Be advised that effective immediately the John Day Urban Renewal Agency (“Agency”) will not be accepting, reviewing, and/or awarding any applications for housing incentives until further notice.  During this program suspension, all pending applications will remain in “pending” status and Agency will not issue further payments on any approved applications.  Suspension of Agency’s incentive program is necessary due to funding unavailability or insufficiency.

Please feel free to contact Agency’s executive director, Melissa Bethel, via telephone at 541-575-0028 or email at bethelm@grantcounty-or.gov if you have any question.  Thank you for your assistance and cooperation.

The John Day Urban Renewal Agency (URA) was established in 2018 to promote new residential development and to provide a financial mechanism for addressing the lack of investment in the John Day community. The URA includes two different rebate programs– a 7% incentive for new home construction and a 12% incentive for major renovations. The SDC or costs to connect to water and sewer infrastructure may also be reimbursed for qualifying new construction projects.

The program works by calculating the increase in tax assessed value for eligible projects and providing the property owners with a cash rebate at the end of the year. In doing this, the city is able to recover 100% of its financial investments through tax increment financing (TIF) revenues– the new taxes generated through the increase in property values created by URA development. 

Current Board Members:

   Dave Holland

   Sherrie Rininger

   Chris Labhart

   Ronald Phillips  

   Edwin Newby

   Eric Bush

For more information regarding the Housing Incentives Plan, Click Here.

If you have questions about the program or want to find out whether your property is eligible, please call the city of John Day at (541) 575-0028 or email cityofjohnday@grantcounty-or.gov.