Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council approved the purchase of the former Wimer Trucking site from Weyerhaeuser for $250,000 to use as a Public Works maintenance yard.
The property is located at 1320 24th Ave., on the west side of the street and just south of the former Willamette Industries Sweet Home Mill site, now owned by Western States Land Reliance Trust.
It includes approximately 4.48 acres of industrial property with a Linn County Assessor’s real market value of $537,140. Tax on the property for 2007-08 was $9,015.74.
“I think they’ve made us a deal that’s worth looking at,” City Manager Craig Martin said.
Funds for the purchase are available in the city’s building reserve fund, Public Works Director Mike Adams said.
The property is nearly ready for use, Adams said. The city will incur some cost doing general cleanup and dealing with vandalism, including replacement of stolen wiring.
The purchase agreement allows the city to review Weyerhaeuser’s environmental cleanup documents, along with other paperwork, to ensure that the city will not be required to complete any cleanup on the property, Adams said, and Weyerhaeuser is anticipating a “no further action necessary” certificate from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
If something comes up later, Adams told the council, then Weyerhaeuser would be obligated to take care of it.
“The agreement will allow the city to walk away from the agreement at no cost should the city decide, for any reason, that it is in the city’s best interest to do so,” Adams said. The review and investigation period is 65 days.
If the deal goes through, Public Works would move its mechanic shop from the wastewater treatment plant site and its maintenance yard from Ninth Avenue to the new site.
After the new water treatment plant is built and the old one on Ninth Avenue is abandoned, Mayor Craig Fentiman said, the city might consider selling the Ninth Avenue maintenance yard, located at the north end of the street above the South Santiam River. For now the property will continue to be used for water treatment.
The purchase opens up approximately 1.5 acres at the wastewater treatment plant, which is located south of the South Santiam River off Pleasant Valley Road.
That space will be available for the inevitable expansion that will be required in the city’s ongoing project to reduce inflow and infiltration, Adams said.
Inflow and infiltration is primarily storm water that works its way into the sewer system through deteriorating pipes and cross connections from storm drains. The resulting flow can overload the wastewater treatment plant during heavy rain.
After 52 years in business, Wimer Logging closed in 2002 following Weyerhaeuser’s Willamette Industries takeover. Wimer employed 18 truck drivers and eight other staff members at its Sweet Home location after opening here in 1986, hauling logs as a subsidiary of Willamette Industries. The company had employed a total of 81 people.
Wimer truck drivers were given the opportunity to purchase their trucks and drive independently for Weyerhaeuser.