Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Interest in the Santiam River Club is mounting, even as work begins on the actual construction of the first facility in the private residential club, CEO Phil Ordway told Sweet Home Economic Development Group’s Breakfast Club Thursday.
Some 38 people turned out for the monthly event, which featured a presentation on the progress of the development planned for the 311 acres between the South Santiam River and the railroad tracks and Wiley Creek on the east and Clark Mill Road on the west.
Ordway, the Santiam River Club’s principal partner, outlined how developers expect their project will help the community by providing jobs and tax revenue, as well as the expected demand it will place on the city, particularly in the area of public safety.
He said that the developers’ goal is to create a private community nestled in a natural environment that has been restored and enhanced to attract wildlife.
“The homes in the Santiam River Club will look like they belong there,” he said.
Prices for the 66 home sites currently being offered range from $205,000 to $275,000, which, Ordway said, is 30 to 40 percent below comparable land in Bend. A total of 400 to 450 home sites are planned for the area, many with lake, pond or stream views. They will be grouped in “nature enclaves” that will foster community and exposure to the outdoors.
He said the developers have already had contact with “more than 125 serious prospects, some from out of state but others from the Bend area.
“We have $1.2 million of property in escrow so far,” he said.
Plans for the development include
– an outfitter’s cabin on the river, where members can use a community driftboat to go fishing by themselves or with a guide. The cabin is the first building slated to be constructed in the development, and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, Ordway said;
– a lodge with banquet facilities for five-star dining, a library and a below-ground wine cellar that will include individual wine lockers for members;
– an adventure camp for members’ children ages 5-12, which will focus on outdoor activities – “no MTV, no video games,” Ordway said – including a variety of water sports and overnight trips to the mountains and ski trips to area resorts;
– a spa that will offer a variety of massages, facial and skin treatments, saunas and steam rooms.
Ordway said rules for residents will include prohibitions on domestic cats being allowed outside, on dogs barking and on loud music.
Though the club will be private, local schoolchildren will be able to take educational tours of the restored natural areas, he said.
“We see this as an ongoing educational facility,” he said. “Yes, it won’t be possible to just drive a car in, but we’d love for you to live here.”
Ordway said only one other development in the United States, Spring Island in South Carolina, is comparable in its effort to create an environmentally friendly, nature-based community.
Ordway said by 2010 the club is expected to provide 270 permanent jobs and 185 “indirect” jobs in the community, with average annual salaries of $37,365. He noted that many of the contractors who will work on the community are from the Sweet Home and Lebanon area, starting with Terry Watkins Excavation, which is doing preliminary work on the project.
“There are no Portland contractors,” he said.
He cited an economic study completed when his project was still linked with property now being developed by Western States Land Reliance Trust, located to the west of Clark Mill Road. Ordway said that study indicates that his development, at buildout, will generate approximately $950,000 in taxes annually to local government and schools.
He said Sweet Home’s city government is “the best-run government in the 14 or 15 cities I’ve developed with.”
Ordway said Sweet Home needs to promote itself as “a wonderful town” and not rely on the Oregon Jamboree to change its image.
“The Jamboree is just a single event,” he said. “One of the things that might be done is a more aggressive promotion of Sweet Home leading up to the Jamboree.”