Scott Swanson
Two cabins are under construction at River Bend County Park, the start of what is expected to be a total of five at the park, Linn County Parks Director Brian Carroll said last week.
“The trusses are up and we’re hoping to start releasing cabins at the beginning of December,” he said. “More than likely the first reservations will be taken for spring break time period.”
He said the costs to stay in the cabins haven’t been determined yet, but “will be comparable to what the state parks charge,” which ranges from $35 to $76 a night, depending on the degree of luxury and season.
The cabins are similar to those in the Oregon state parks, 18 by 22 feet in size with decks that are partially covered, outdoor barbecues and fire rings. Inside they have one bedroom and a main room that includes a microwave and a refrigerator. Water spigots and bathroom facilities will be located outside. Heat will be provided by a propane stove that looks like a wood stove, with backup electric heat.
“We’re trying to build them for $8,000,” Carroll said, noting that $1,500 or $2,000 of that is for the cost of heating units. “We’ve been able to use material that we’ve stockpiled for a while. We bought a couple of units of OSB back when it was dirt cheap.”
Nearly all of the cost is from parks revenues – “there’s no General Fund money at all,” said Carroll, whose department completely cut its flow of General Fund revenues going into this fiscal year. It hasn’t been ideal.
“We certainly took a hit with the weather this past spring,” he said. “We’re weather-dependent and the cabins and reservations have helped in that regard. Still, we’ve experienced peaks and valleys because of the weather, though it’s not as severe since we implemented our reservation system.
“Now, if they have a reservation, people tend to come. Before, if there was a rainy weekend, we lost 50 percent of our visitation.”
He said the cabins are costing a little more to build than planned, due to the high cost of building materials.
“Morse Bros closed their concrete batch plant in Sweet Home and now we have to pay to bring it from Albany,” he said. “That’s killing us. The numbers we had when we got approval (from the Board of Commissioners) to build these cabins were pre-Katrina and before the tsunami in Japan. All those things impact the cost of building materials. The cost of wire and pipe are all up.”
Ultimately, Carroll said, the plan is to build five.
“I don’t know if we have the funding to do that,” he said. “We think they going to be popular enough that they will pay for themselves so quickly that we can build the others quickly.”
Jakob Hiett, left, and Daniel Danforth, right, give teammate Nick Hall some support after he won the Sky-Em district title Oct. 27 at Lane CC.