The Heights Streetscape Plan - City of Hood River

The Heights is a Hood River destination, filled with unique homes and diverse local businesses. It is also an important gateway to Mount Hood and the historic family farms and outdoor recreation in the Hood River Valley. As the Heights grows, we need to create a safe streetscape for the pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists traveling to and through the area every day.

The Height’s central transportation spine is OR 281, linking downtown Hood River with the Hood River Valley. The corridor serves many public amenities, such as Providence Hospital, May Street Elementary School, Hood River Middle School, Jackson Park, and Indian Creek Trail.

The Heights Streetscape Plan can help make the corridor safer, more vibrant, and better connected for the future.

Project Location

The Heights Streetscape Plan focuses on the commercial core of OR 281 between May Street and Belmont Avenue, which has a mix of office, restaurant, and other retail uses, with single and multi-family housing located next to the commercial core. Both the local business district and surrounding neighborhoods are culturally and socially diverse, with a strong Latino community presence.

Getting Involved

There will be many opportunities to get involved in The Heights Streetscape Plan. Check the project calendar in the right sidebar to see when the next meeting is scheduled. If you want email updates, sign up for updates via Hood River Connect and select ‘Urban Renewal Heights District’ under “Current Issues”. You may also leave us a comment via the form below.

Heights Streetscape Project - We’d Like to Hear from You!

Your valuable input and participation throughout the process is critical to identify and prioritize improvements to make the Heights District a safe, vibrant, and economically successful district for the community.

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What is Urban Renewal, and what is the Heights Urban Renewal District?

Boundary of Hood River Heights Urban Renewal District

As stated in the Heights Urban Renewal Plan, “the purpose of urban renewal is to improve specific areas of a city that are poorly developed or underdeveloped. These areas can have old or deteriorated buildings, public spaces that need improvements, streets and utilities in poor condition, a complete lack of streets and utilities altogether, or other obstacles to development. The Area has infrastructure needs, lacks adequate streetscape and parking, and does not have a program for assistance to business owners.”

The Heights Urban Renewal District was established in 2011 and covers approximately 96 acres centered around State Highway 281. Using tax increment financing, it has a total indebtedness of $8.5 million. In 2011, the Urban Renewal Agency adopted the Hood River Heights Business District Urban Renewal Plan, with input from the Heights Business District Association and the Hood River City Council. The Plan encompasses goals, objectives, and projects relating to economy, district identity, recreation, traffic and transportation, public utilities, public involvement, and housing for the Heights Urban Renewal District.

The boundary of the Heights Urban Renewal District as shown in the Urban Renewal Plan is shown in the figure on the right.

Past Projects in the Heights

Planning to date has included: