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A May 2013 rendering of a proposed Hyatt Regency hotel at the Oregon Convention Center.

(Metro)

A Multnomah Circuit Court judge has rejected an effort to have voters weigh in on proposed public backing for a Portland convention center hotel.

Petitioners seeking to block the project -- a coalition of competing hoteliers including Provenance Hotels and the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower -- didn't have the authority to challenge how the county distributes a tax it already collects, Judge Eric Bloch ruled Monday.

The Multnomah County elections office had rejected the petition opponents wanted to circulate, saying the petitioners were challenging an administrative act of the county board. While creating the hotel tax more than a decade was a legislative act that could have been challenged, directing it to the hotel project is not, the county said.

Opponents argued that the county doesn't have the authority to reject a referendum before the petitioning process and that putting the money toward a hotel project was a legislative act that gave the county new authority.

“It has seemed obvious to us from the outset that the county’s arrogant effort to assist Metro in blocking a public vote on their deeply flawed hotel deal is a slap in the face to the voters," said Paige Richardson, a spokeswoman for the coalition, in a statement. "We are considering all our options to ensure voters have a say in this massive corporate subsidy."

While the case was pending, the project opponents collected roughly 20,000 signatures in support of the vote, far more than the just over 11,000 that would have been needed to put the referendum on the ballot.

The hotel project has been advanced by Metro, the regional government that operates the Oregon Convention Center. It says a hotel -- with 500 rooms held in reserve for convention center events -- could help bring more out-of-town events to Portland, and with them millions in tourism dollars and more business for all hotels in the area.

"We have been diligent in reviewing and approving a sound proposal, one that risks nothing for local taxpayers but provides an upside for years to come," said Metro President Tom Hughes in a statement. "It's time to move forward on this important project."

To build the hotel, Metro has proposed issuing $60 million in revenue bonds tied to the hotel taxes, as well as $18 million in loans and grants from state lottery funds, Metro and the Portland Development Commission.

Multnomah County got involved as the agency that collects and distributes the taxes, as well as a party to the intergovernmental agreement that governs the use of hotel taxes. A county spokesman declined to comment on the ruling.

The competing hoteliers say the subsidies Metro has negotiated are too generous, and they worry the hotel won't live up to Metro's expectations.

The $198 million hotel would be built by a team led by Mortenson Construction of Minneapolis. Chicago-based Hyatt would buy the hotel upon completion and operate it under its Hyatt Regency brand.

-- Elliot Njus