Kelly Kenoyer
After years of watching stagnation continue in downtown Sweet Home, City Council is ready to make some serious moves to address vacant buildings and revitalize the area.
That’s the outcome of a special meeting on Oct. 20, in which councilors discussed numerous options to revitalize the town, including changes to the Commercial Exterior Improvement Program, a city ordinance requiring maintenance of buildings, a business registration, and possible business incentives.
Council members Greg Mahler, Dave Trask, Lisa Gourley, James Goble, Susan Coleman, and Diane Gerson attended the meeting, which also included a very short, legally mandated public hearing about Community Development Block Grants, which opened and closed without any comment from the community.
The CEIP will soon see some changes, shifting the focus of funding to the downtown corridor, from 1st to 18th along Long and Main, and raising the cap on grants from $5,000 to $10,000.
Twenty-eight projects have been completed with CEIP funds since 2017, said Community and Economic Development Director Blair Larsen, but the benefits had been diluted due to being small projects spread across the entire city. The combined changes will focus efforts in downtown, but still “prevent the funds from bleeding out too quick,” Larsen said.
Trask and Gourley both expressed concerns about limiting the program to the downtown area, with Gourley calling it an “equity issue” for businesses outside of that area.
“Businesses, wherever they’re at in that corridor, they should have an equal opportunity to revitalize their business to bring in business to our community,” she said. Gourley also mentioned wanting to see projects like firepits and outdoor seating areas, similar to what she’s observed in Salem.
Larsen responded that funds are limited, but increasing potential grants would reward “big projects and big thinking.”
Mahler noted that some business owners have gone back repeatedly for grant money, and Larsen suggested an overall cap rather than a one-time limit, which would allow businesses to work through projects in phases.
But businesses alone aren’t the face of downtown, Gerson pointed out.
“The downtown area is dirty. The curbs need to be cleaned, the sidewalks need to be cleaned, the buildings need to be washed,” she said. “To me, if we used some of that money to pay our employees to clean up the downtown superficially, it might help. And it might say to business owners that the city really does care.”
Trask agreed. “That would be a pretty clear message that we are serious about that,” he said, joking “I understand that Diane will run the power washer.”
Larsen said the CEIP funds probably can’t go to that end, but said he would talk to Public Works Director Greg Springman about working on it. Goble noted that the city has done power washing in every previous year ahead of Jamboree, but didn’t this year because the festival was canceled.
The City Council directed staff to revise the draft ordinance about CEIP to increase the cap, and it will be discussed further at a future council meeting.
From there, discussion went to the problem of vacant commercial buildings in Sweet Home, especially downtown.
“Some cities have an ordinance to tackle vacant buildings,” Larsen said, though he noted such an ordinance might be controversial.
“Some like the idea and some see it as overreach.”
The proposed ordinance would be aimed at security and making sure buildings don’t deteriorate further. It would involve penalties for properties that violate the ordinance.
“It would place at least some burden on the property owner, and it doesn’t necessarily lead to productive use of the property,” Larsen said.
Another option, he said, would be a voluntary registry, but said the problem buildings would be the least likely to participate in such a venture, as many of the owners are out of town and unresponsive to most mailed contact. He then asked the council to direct staff on which avenue to pursue.
Goble stated that an ordinance is only worthwhile if it can be enforced, but said something needs to be done.
“If a window got broken in one of those buildings downtown, it would be broken for 12 months. We’ve had one broken for seven months now and another business went through and taped it up,” he said.
Gourley said she’d like the ordinance to focus both on chronically empty buildings and those which roll over frequently.
“We need to have ordinances to deal with that, and those need to bite,” she said. “They are not doing justice to their community.”
Mahler pointed out the high level of occupancy in Lebanon, and asked Larsen whether they have policies in place that help set that up. After poking around on his computer for a few moments,Larsen responded that the issue may be more related to population than any particular policy.
Coleman agreed with her fellow councilors that something needs to be done, and that the ordinance should “bite.”
“I’ve been in Sweet Home for 11 years and I think some of those storefronts have been empty that entire time,” she said.
Mahler determined there to be consensus for staff to draft an ordinance for derelict buildings in the downtown corridor, which the council will vote on at a future date. It will likely cover the same area that has CEIP funding available, meaning it will be a combination of carrots and sticks to get downtown looking nicer.
“We could add an adjustment to the CEIP funding that is specifically for vacant buildings,” Larsen said.“It might make it a bit of a softer stick.”
Based on the discussion, Larsen decided to revise the draft ordinance on vacant buildings to limit it to commercial properties, and will present it at a future council meeting.
The council also briefly discussed hiring a downtown coordinator to help get businesses informed about their options and working together. Larsen said his role involves some of those activities, but he can’t devote even half his hours to such activities with his other workloads.
Gourley suggested it may be worthwhile to hire a part-time “community cheerleader.”
“I do believe we have people like that in our community, and it could be temporary,” she said, addressing concerns Trask voiced about insurance and PERS costs for a new city employee.
Larsen also suggested that the Chamber of Commerce may be a more appropriate organization to spearhead such a project.
Larsen also asked the council whether it would consider a business license requirement for Sweet Home, largely to get and update contact information for business owners in town. He said the practice is very common in other cities.
“We often have people who are surprised that we don’t have one,” he said.
His registry proposition is “pretty bare-bones,” in that it only includes a business description, contact information, and information on any hazardous materials or chemicals used on site, which would benefit the fire department and other emergency responders.
“I don’t want it to apply to any kids, babysitting, or even out-of-town contractors,” Larsen said, noting horror stories of code enforcement on lemonade stands in other towns.
Gerson said such a registry is “definitely needed,” and said she’d like it to be voluntary and free. Mahler, who owns Hoy’s Hardware, disagreed, however, and said it would be challenging to get people to do it if it was voluntary.
“As far as the fee, if anything, it shouldn’t be that much at all,” he said. “If I own a business and don’t have $15 to give the city, I shouldn’t be in business,” he added with a chuckle.
Larsen said the license should probably require an annual renewal to make sure the contact information is up to date, though he said it wouldn’t be necessary to charge every year.
Council came to a consensus on the business registration as well, giving staff the opportunity to create a draft ordinance which the council could vote on at a later date.
After a brief informational presentation by Larsen about why most cities don’t offer business incentives, the council decided against giving money directly to businesses to bring them into town. Instead, the council discussed promoting Sweet Home in a better way.
“In my opinion, we have a beautiful city. We just have to get that word out,” Mahler said. “We don’t need to give everything away.”
Gourley said the best way to attract businesses is by making the city attractive, rather than through incentives.
“They will come if we have so much good land available,” she said, “not based on those kinds of incentives.”
She also suggested creating a virtual tour of each of the city’s parks for the website, which Larsen said had already come up from staff. He suggested having a contest in Sweet Home of who could do the best promotional video. That idea was received with much enthusiasm from the council, and Coleman said a local business may donate a prize for the winner.
Gourley said it would be worthwhile to hire someone to take drone footage of parks, as well as some of the larger properties for sale in the area.
“People would be amazed how much property is available in Sweet Home,” Mahler said.
The council did decide to consider a business permit fee rebate for the downtown area, which Larsen will flesh out before bringing to council.