PENDLETON — The Pendleton Development Commission has shown a renewed appetite for public projects, but its appetite only goes so far.

At a Dec. 1 meeting, the council seemed cool to the idea with proceeding on plans to design a Byers Riverfront Plaza just west of Main Street on Southwest Byers Avenue. This was the second time staff pitched the commission on the idea of paying $85,400 to a firm for a design report after the commission asked for more information at a previous meeting.

The idea of a riverfront plaza at Byers originated in 2007, when the city was working with the Oregon Department of Transportation on making improvements to Court Avenue ahead of the Round-Up’s 100th anniversary in 2010. Some of those ideas — downtown wayfinding signs and a riverfront park between Southwest Fourth and Fifth streets — came to fruition, while the Byers project went on the back burner.

“(The Plaza was) intended as the keystone project among the entry ways planned to connect with the Umatilla River,” a city report states. “The Plaza was intended to provide a connection to the river, a gathering place for public events, a magnet to attract customers to the north end of Main Street and as a spur to encourage further downtown development and revitalization by private building and business owners.”

Charles Denight, the associate director of the development commission, said the city hired Portland landscape design firm Greenworks to create concept art of the plaza, with ideas ranging from a plaza that would take pedestrians all the way to the water’s edge to an overlook of the river. Denight said the city would need to do more work beyond concept art if it was going to create more feasible plans.

But few on the council seemed enthusiastic about tackling the Byers project right away.

Councilor McKennon McDonald said she’s seen nothing but negative comments on social media about the proposal, with some commenters wondering why they would prioritize it over street repair and other pressing issues.

“This project is coming on the heels of the big flood,” she said. “It’s coming on the heels of the pandemic.”

A contingent of councilors seemed like they were more interested in the city acquiring the nearby Christian Science building at the corner of Main Street and Byers. Denight said the owners of the vacant building have offered to sell it to the city, but the commission would need to consider the condition of the building and the cost to maintain it.

Mayor John Turner said the commission should return to the Byers project in two to three years after the city has engaged in more street repair.

Public Works Director Bob Patterson reported to the commission on the city’s latest efforts to do just that.

As a way to further boost street repair funding, the commission allocated $10.9 million in urban renewal funds to reconstruct streets across downtown Pendleton and some of the surrounding area.

Patterson reported that the commission could spend $6.4 million to redo 10 streets in poor condition, but for a total of a total of $10.3 million they could do much more.

In the more expansive version of the plan, the city could not only redo Southeast First and Southwest First streets, but also add landscaping, replace lighting and make other improvements.

The council decided it needed more time to decide the level of improvements it wanted to make to each First Street, but gave the green light to the other eight streets.

In an interview after the meeting, Patterson said city staff have since identified six other streets that would be eligible for the funding. He’s going to present on all the streets, save First and First, at the council’s next meeting on Dec. 15.