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The proposed street fee would be used to address dangerous intersections such as sections of Powell Boulevard in East Portland.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

UPDATE: Here's a primer of everything you need to know about the street fee ahead of Thursday's hearing. Also, we'll be live blogging at 2 p.m.

After weeks of pleas from Portland's chamber of commerce to "slow down" the rapidly moving plans to vote on a proposed street fee for safety and maintenance of city streets, the business community may have its wish, in part.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is expected to introduce an amendment to the proposed street fee ordinance on Thursday that would move ahead with the plan to enact an $11.56 per month fee on homeowners with discounted rates for apartments and low-income residents while simultaneously delaying action on how the city would charge businesses.

Less than 24 hours before the city's first public discussion on the controversial fee, the news Wednesday is an acknowledgement by the mayor's office that too many questions remain about how the city would charge businesses. The amendment would effectively split the fee in two, delaying the business part for a few weeks.

But it's full-speed ahead on the residential portion.

Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, said she's heartened that the mayor's office wants to engage with the chamber on the specific details.

"But we're not convinced it makes sense to separate the residential part," McDonough said, calling the proposal a package deal. McDonough said questions remain about "the whole thing." She said she relayed that information to Hales' office on Wednesday.

Commissioner Steve Novick, who oversees the transportation bureau, declined to comment for this story.

Sometime during the midst of a long City Council agenda packed that dragged on for hours, Hales' and Novick's staff decided the business fee had too many questions. McDonough said she was in touch with Hales' staff on Wednesday.

Willamette Week first reported the delay Wednesday.

Dana Haynes, Hales' spokesman said, the city is "taking our time to get things right" and taking a step back to figure out what to charge businesses under the controversial street fee. The proposed street fee is expected to bring in as much as $50 million per year in revenue for street safety projects and paving work.

The city is charging businesses based on the number of trips generated to their business, their square footage, and the category a business falls under in a trip generation manual produced by the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

While homeowners would pay up to $139 per year, some businesses were discovering they'd owe thousands a year. The fee also applied to other local governments, including school districts.

All the confusion led to more than 300 emails to Hales' office, which Haynes said is uncommon.

"We understand that it's going to be monumentally unpopular," Haynes said Wednesday, and a series of conversations on Wednesday led to the decision to delay the business portion to "make it palatable" for businesses.

The late change punctuates the feeling surrounding the fee that many questions are still unanswered.

Earlier in the afternoon, Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera said the city was considering reversing course on one particularly controversial aspect of the fee, making parking lots pay. The city ordinance exempted parking lots from paying the monthly fee.

But other details remained unfinished, too. The mayor and Novick proposed tacking on the street fee to the city's utility bill to make it easier for customers and the city. But Commissioner Nick Fish, who overseas the water and sewer bureaus, said that idea was a non starter.

Willamette Week reported that churches were worried they would pay thousands a year under the proposal too, but PBOT officials said Wednesday that the trip generation model excludes traffic on the weekend. That would save churches potentially thousands of dollars a year.

A previous street fee plan, pushed by then-commissioner Sam Adams, didn't move forward after the threat of a ballot measure from lobbyists representing local businesses killed the 15-year plan. The decision to delay the business side of the proposal appears to ward off a similar effort.

Haynes said that's not the case, and the city would have to convince residents that they're not being shoved aside in favor of business groups. "We're all going to get to the finish line at the same time," Haynes said, referring to the expected July 1, 2015 starting date of the street fee. Haynes said everybody must pay to improve the street network.

Asked why the city isn't delaying discussion on the residential side of the equation, Haynes said there just weren't the same number of questions.

Haynes said the city is likely weeks away from having more certainty about the business proposal.

The City Council's public hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday.

-- Andrew Theen