PENDLETON — The city of Pendleton is moving on from its partnership with the developer behind Pendleton Heights.

At a July 21 meeting, the Pendleton City Council unanimously voted to buy unused land at Pendleton Heights and sell it to Chrisman Development for an 80-unit housing development.

The council will buy the property from Newberg developer Saj Jinvajee for $500,000 by tapping into the $7.5 million the Oregon Legislature set aside to help residents displaced by the Umatilla River floods in February. The city intends to sell the property to Chrisman for $533,000.

Councilor Chuck Wood praised Chrisman, spotlighting their work on the Indian Hills Apartments in Pendleton and other housing projects in the region and across the state.

“I think we’re finally going to see something happen up there with an incredible developer,” he said.

Pendleton Heights was used as an example that the city was serious about rejuvenating its housing market, but the project began to stall after Jivanjee finished building 32 townhouses in 2016. Jivanjee planned to build a 100-unit apartment complex to complete Pendleton Heights, but his relationship with the council grew contentious as he requested multiple changes to his incentive agreement.

The city will lose $6,000 by wiping away Jivanjee’s debt from an infrastructure cost-sharing agreement, but that didn’t prevent the council from signing off on the deal.

The council also used a different source of emergency aid to help out small businesses.

Pendleton received more than $500,000 from the federal government’s COVID-19 stimulus package, and members voted to split it between operational costs and a new emergency grant program for local businesses.

The city has done previous rounds of grants for businesses affected by COVID-19, but it was previously restricted to businesses in the urban renewal district. The city plans to make the new program open to all businesses in city limits.