Sean C. Morgan
The Linn County Board of Commissioners agreed in principle last week to give more than 200 acres of land to the Sweet Home Economic Development Group last week.
Members of the SHEDG Board of Directors appeared before the commissioners on Tuesday, Jan. 27, requesting that the board give property once operated as a gravel pit by Knife River (formerly Morse Bros.) to SHEDG. The property is generally located between the north edge of town and the south bank of the South Santiam river between 22nd Avenue and Clark Mill Road. It includes nearly 220 acres.
Commissioners said that county staff will need to work out details and formalities with SHEDG. Commissioner John Lindsey said he supports the idea but he won’t vote to transfer the property until the Sweet Home City Council passes a resolution in support. Commissioner Will Tucker added that he would like to see a resolution from School District 55 as well.
Tucker said he also wanted to ensure that the county sort out property issues caused by shifting of the river channel, where parts of the property now include land on the north bank of the South Santiam River.
Along with about 200 acres of former Willamette Industries-Weyerhaeuser property, the land was last owned by Western States Land Reliance Trust. The county foreclosed on the property, part of a total of some 430 acres including 16 tax lots of Knife River property, on Dec. 30, 2010 for six years of unpaid taxes amounting to about $500,000.
WSLRT had proposed a commercial-residential development of the property and successfully had it rezoned from industrial to planned recreation.
Since the foreclosure, the county has been working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the previous owners, Knife River and Weyerhaeuser, in an effort to clean up the properties. The DEQ has issued a “No Further Action” letter for the Knife River property.
Prior to the foreclosure, SHEDG had begun discussing plans to build a permanent amphitheater on WSLRT property with Managing Trustee Dan Desler. The idea continued forward after the foreclosure, with plans to develop the Knife River portion into a park, with a permanent venue for the Jamboree and more events.
Commissioner Roger Nyquist suggested in August that SHEDG ask the commissioners for the property. In the months since then, a SHEDG property committee has researched in depth information about the property and conferred with an environmental attorney; and on Jan. 27, the SHEDG Board of Directors voted to make the request.
“Should you decide to deed the property to SHEDG, we know our work is not done but really has just begun,” SHEDG Director Rachel Kittson-MaQatish told the commissioners. “We also hope that you do not consider your work being done on the Knife River portion. You have things we need. We ask for your continued support and partnership. In the future, we will likely request assistance from the Road Department for the use of equipment and labor to help with infrastructure. We may ask you to consider potential lot line adjustments or easements on the Weyerhaeuser portion of the property as they clear from EPA-DEQ requirements to increase access to the Knife River property. But what we need mostly is your mentorship and expertise.
“SHEDG is strategically positioned to increase the awareness and opportunities of the property as well as forge partnerships and create a shared vision. The goal of SHEDG in regard to the property is to engage the community in creating that vision and put the property to best use for the Sweet Home community and Linn County.”
Nyquist said the move “makes a lot of sense.”
“We didn’t get this property enthusiastically. It was forced upon us by the foreclosure process,” he said. “There’s also no shortage of strong opinions at the local level about the best use of that property. It’s best decided at the local level.”
Lindsey said he thinks one lot might be better transferred to the city’s Public Works Department, but with the rest of it, he supports deeding it to SHEDG.
“I have no intention of the county ever possessing these things,” he said.
Primarily, he wants to see the city’s support for the deal, he said. The city’s share of the unpaid taxes on the property is the largest.
“I was under the impression they were all for this,” Lindsey said. “It’s just I want it in writing.”
In addition, the property includes neighbors’ backyards, Lindsey said, those places where the river has shifted, leaving Knife River property with river frontage along the north bank, between properties along the north bank and the river.
“I’m all about this,” Lindsey said. “The problem is a bunch of technicalities that need to be worked out.”
Tucker said he’s “all for” the concept. “I’m so happy to see us finally openly having discussions. I am for it.”
Nyquist didn’t anticipate deeding over the property at that meeting, he said. “I do think today would be a day to make a commitment and ask staff to work as quickly as possible to make this happen.”
He noted the county’s involvement in other economic development projects in the Albany and Lebanon areas and the challenges Sweet Home has faced economically since the spotted owl-based restrictions on timber harvests in the area. The county doesn’t have millions of dollars to use in Sweet Home, but it does have this asset, he said. “I would hope it could happen within the next 90 days. For me, it’s the highest priority.”
Tucker agreed it was a high priority, and he would like to see it worked out by summer. He and Lindsey both said they would agree to let SHEDG use it for camping during this year’s Oregon Jamboree, July 31-Aug. 2.
County Attorney Gene Karandy said he has only just started looking at the proposal in the past few days, and he needs to talk to SHEDG. The state allows exceptions to auctioning the property, but the “i’s” need to be dotted and “t’s” crossed.
“Where we are today is a culmination of your efforts, the county’s efforts, the vision of past presidents of SHEDG – Ron Moore, Kevin Strong and the leadership of our current president, John Wittwer,” Kittson-MaQatish told the commissioners. “It is because of the efforts of the property committee and their efforts to dedicate their time and energy to researching this opportunity. It is because of the hard work and concerted efforts of our executive director, Erin Regrutto.”
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group formed as a grassroots some 25 years ago in response to the decline of the timber industry in an effort to diversify and improve Sweet Home’s economy. SHEDG developed the Oregon Jamboree, a three-day country music and camping festival, as a fund-raising tool for its economic development projects.