Sean C. Morgan
Linn County failed to attract any bids for 154 acres of mill property in Sweet Home last week.
The county put the property up for auction for a minimum bid of $2.7 million.
The property, which included three lots, is located at 2210 Tamarack St. It stretches from 18th Avenue to the east of 24th Avenue and from about the railroad tracks north to the former Morse Bros.-Knife River quarry property. It was the site of the Willamette Industries Sweet Home mill, later owned by Weyerhaeuser until it was purchased by Western States Land Reliance Trust, which had planned commercial and residential development.
It was part of 380 acres owned by development firm WSLRT. The county foreclosed on the property on Dec. 30, 2010 after WSLRT accrued and failed to pay about $505,000 in taxes over six years.
The northern section, the quarry property, was deeded to the City of Sweet Home in 2017 for development as a park space, which has included discussions of a permanent site for the Oregon Jamboree.
“First, we’re glad to have gotten through this step in the process,” said Commissioner Roger Nyquist. “Our ultimate goal is and has been to get this property back on the tax rolls and used by the private sector for Sweet Home.”
Typically, foreclosed properties move on to a sealed bid process.
The bid must be at least 15 percent of the minimum bid at open auction, which is $405,000, said county Property Manager Russ Williams.
The county is not locked into taking sealed bids. With no bidders at the general auction, Nyquist said, the county has some flexibility.
“We now are free to partition it,” Nyquist said. Based on its zoning, it won’t have to go to a sealed bid process. If someone made an offer on it that would create 100 jobs, the county commissioners have the ability to consider and accept the offer.
“I would project that it is not likely to go to a sealed bid process,” Nyquist said. He expects the commissioners will hear proposals they can consider.
“We’re looking to leverage that property to get the maximum possible economic impact for the city of Sweet Home,” Nyquist said.
The property was the subject of an asbestos abatement project after WSLRT, managed by Dan Desler, partially demolished buildings on the property. It also has been the site of ongoing environmental assessments and cleanup.
“Weyerhaeuser won’t finish their cleanup till summer of 2020,” Williams said. Some of the work must be done during low water levels. The next window for the work will be next summer.
“We have to be so grateful for them taking the lead on doing the studies and some cleanup.”
The county is looking for a “no further action” notice from the Department of Environmental Quality, Williams said, noting that a couple of other studies of the ecology and groundwater are under way.
The property has a $1 million lien against it for the asbestos cleanup conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“If we sell it and the county reimburses its costs, then all that remaining cash goes to the taxing districts,” Williams said.
Taxing districts, including among them the City of Sweet Home, the Sweet Home School District, the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District and Linn County, have not collected taxes on the property for about 15 years.
For more information about bidding on the property, email the Linn County Property Management Department at [email protected] or call (541) 967-3807.