Kelly Kenoyer
After signs saying “No Rio Theatre Parking” appeared in the downtown parking lot between the theater and 13th Avenue two weekends ago, citizens of Sweet Home suddenly became aware of a bubbling neighborly dispute between business owners downtown.
The dispute is over the parking lot bordered by Long and Main streets, which is owned by Andy Snegirev of Woodburn. Snegirev bought the parking lot a year and a half ago from longtime owner Steve Hanscam, along with several downtown buildings that house current tenants Sugar Vibes and Tell & Sell, and now intends to charge neighboring business owners for use of the parking lot.
The previous owners had treated the parking lot as community parking – anyone visiting downtown could park there for free.
Snegirev has told neighboring business owners he wants to charge businesses around the lot for its use.
“I need at least $500 a month for everyone to use it, or I’m going to put up some barriers,” he said last week. He also wants the business owner to create their own contract for that shared burden, and said local business owners should carry the liability insurance, not him.
That proposition has gone over like a lead balloon for some business owners, who say they can’t afford to pay more than $100 a month because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thomas Baham, owner of the Rio Theatre, said Snegirev asked for $250 a month while the Rio was closed because of the pandemic.
“We’re three months behind on the mortgage,” Baham said. “We take care of each other here, and he doesn’t play nice.
“It’s been free for 50 years, and he said he’s here for money.”
Baham added that Snegirev wouldn’t put the contract in writing, a complaint echoed by other business owners downtown.
Dave Bauer, owner of Steelhead Fitness, said he badly wants to make a deal with Snegirev so his customers can park in peace.
“He was asking for $100 a month, but he wasn’t willing to do a contract,” he said. “I’m not willing to enter into a business agreement without that.”
Snegirev indicated he was not interested in working with individual businesses to come to a deal, though.
For him, it’s all or nothing, because “someone else will say ‘let my guys park there’” to the person who has permission. “It’s either going to be everybody gets together and talks as a community, but I want everybody’s participation or I’m not going to do it,” he insisted.
Tensions have escalated even further since Snegirev put up the initial signs and cones two weeks ago to prevent Rio customers from parking.
He said last week that someone had removed them. Snegirev blamed Baham.
Baham laughed at the accusation, and said he has his own property messed with by passersby all the time.
Still, Snegirev called the police to trespass Baham off the property.
Baham said his customers have permission to park in the Evangelical Church parking lot across Long Street, so he’s not going to back down.
“He’s trying to make a business of this parking lot, but this isn’t Portland,” Baham said. “You don’t p–s off all the people of Sweet Home.”
Bauer said he is worried about the impact of the loss of parking to his business.
“It’s been free for 14 years (that Steelhead has been operating), and it’s one of the reasons we chose the location,” he said. “The way the Hanscom family left that parking lot, it was kind of designated as community parking.”
Still, he thinks Snegirev has a right to ask for some payment.
“I think it’s only fair that we pay something, but I need some kind of proof of what I’m paying for, and I want it to be long-term. I don’t want it to change month to month.”
To Bauer, the closing of the lot would be a loss for more than just the businesses in the area, as a lot of people use that lot for parking – visitors to Sweet Home Funeral Chapel frequently use the lot during funerals, for example. The lot can also serve as overflow parking for big events at the high school, such as the Oregon Jamboree, Sportsman’s Holiday and the Christmas Parade.
City Economic Development Director Blair Larsen said of the dispute, “It’s really poor timing, in my opinion, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a contract.” With businesses already struggling due to COVID, adding a new monthly expense is the last thing they need, he said.
Snegirev did ask the city to step in to resolve the dispute by leasing the lot from him, but Larsen said it’s not the role of government to resolve these kinds of disputes with a business contract.
“The only thing we really have the power to do is facilitate,” he said.
Asked about whether the city could purchase the parking lot to create public parking, Larsen said he doesn’t think it’s likely, at least not yet. The city is developing a downtown streetscape and parking plan, so any discussion of parking downtown would take place at public meetings as a part of that process further down the line.
“If people really want the city involved, they should be reaching out on that,” he added, noting there are risks involved with purchasing a large parking lot for the city.
“We don’t know what would be asked for that land. Depending on who you ask, it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire that land,” he said, noting that he is dubious that the city could make that money back by taxing or charging businesses in the area for the parking.
As for Snegirev’s proposition that the city lease from him and then lease to local businesses, Larsen said that wasn’t going to happen.
“It seems kind of silly for the city to lease property and then go back and lease it again to various property owners,” he said. “It would have to be really favorable lease terms for me to recommend that to council.”
When it comes to enforcement, Larsen said the lot needs clear signage about who is allowed to park there before parked cars could be towed. But that is an unlikely result; concrete barriers appear to be Snegirev’s plan instead.
“At this point, I am tired, I am done,” he said. “I’m working on my permanent concrete barriers, and I’m going to lock it all up.”