Linn County Commissioners Roger Nyquist, Sherrie Sprenger and Will Tucker agreed unanimously Tuesday, Feb. 8, to sell the former Willamette Industries mill site in Sweet Home to Sweet Home Real Estate Restorations for $800,000.
Two bids were received at the board’s Feb. 1 meeting. In addition to the Sweet Home Real Estate Restorations’ bid, a $450,000 bid was received from Sweet Home Mill Site, whose principal is Scott Lepman of Albany.
County Property Manager Rachel Adamec told the commissioners the Sweet Home Mill Site bid did not comply with bidding criteria. She said the materials it submitted to the county after the bidding deadline were not opened and could not be considered.
Sweet Home Real Estate Restorations owner Josh Victor said after the meeting that he intends to begin the process of developing a road system to provide access to the neighboring property Linn County has already given to the city of Sweet Home: the former Morse Bros (Knife River) rock quarry. The city plans to create a venue for the Oregon Jamboree and other community events at the 250-acre property. His plans include both housing and commercial development of the 154-acre property.
Board Chair Nyquist provided a short summary of the property’s history, noting that in 2010, Linn County received it in lieu of more than $500,000 in back taxes per state statutes. Nyquist said former County Assessor Mark Noakes gave owner Dan Desler of Western States Land Reliance Trust numerous “last chances” to make tax payments before the county was forced to foreclose.
Nyquist said the county realized an environmental assessment was needed at the site and that was accomplished with a $360,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Quality. The county has been working with environmental agencies since that time and has mitigated most of the areas of concern.
Commissioner Tucker has previously said he believes the remaining areas of concern could receive an environmental approval within a year if the mitigation process were to continue.
When asked about possibilities for the former mill site property, Victor rattled off a list: a restaurant, a lounge, a distillery, a brewery, a wine-tasting venue.
“Places where people want to hang out,” he said.
He suggested to the Sweet Home City Council at its Feb. 8 meeting that the city expand a local improvement district (LID), approved by the council in August, for the Willow and Yucca street neighborhood down to the future Jamboree location northeast. Such an LID would extend city water infrastructure and service, as well as provide for improvements to sidewalks and streets.
“We don’t have plans on where those roads are going to be, but I just want to throw it out there so you can start thinking about doing that before interest rates go super-high,” Victor told the council. “I think it would be a fast track to really start developing the town and that event [the Jamboree] and doing some really great things.”
A city LID, he said, “would really help as far as spurring the development of that area, not only for the Jamboree but for all of the rest of the areas, to make them so we can actually start doing stuff there.”
Victor revealed that the purchase is part of his company’s broader effort to bring more attractions to Sweet Home.
“I have a lot of commercial property in this town,” he said. “I think that we need more entertainment, so that we’re not going to Albany or Eugene to go and do stuff. I think we need it here. I have a whole bunch of Main Street buildings that I can’t keep rented. So what I would like to do is develop something in town that draws a crowd, so enough people are coming into town and spending money on entertainment that we can stay localized.”
If the site included an event center to host Jamboree concerts four to six times a year, he added, the town could attract larger businesses.
“They’ll say, ‘Well, this town “influxes” this many times a year; I’ll put in a business here,'” he said. “That would draw in more income, more jobs – everything. Honestly, the key is having some sort of event center. Otherwise, it really would not pay to develop a bunch of commercial property [on the old mill site] when we have a hard time filling up the commercial [properties] we already have.”
Victor asserted his commitment to Sweet Home.
“I live in town. I’m going to be in town my whole life,” he said. “I want our town to be a place where I don’t have to go somewhere else to do everything I want to do. I don’t want my kids to have to leave town to get jobs. I want that to be here.”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing your plan tying Clark Mill Road to the roads that are going to go into the Jamboree,” Councilor Dave Trask said, “As far as I know, it sounds like a good plan to me. So we just need to get going, and whatever happens we’ll try to do our best.”
Councilor Dylan Richards said he’d be “all for” six Jamborees a year.
In other business at their Feb. 8 meeting, the Linn County commissioners:
— Approved a 2.6% increase in a contract with Summit Food Services, which provide meals at the Linn County Jail.
— Were told by Alyssa Boles of Planning and Building, that the county has waived more than $102,000 in permitting fees for homeowners affected by wildfires in the Santiam Canyon. She added that building permits issued in January were down slightly from the same month a year ago and total land used permits jumped 10% during the same month.
— Approved a refund of $3,252.15 for Cordle Construction. Building was destroyed in wildfires.
— Approved an extension of an agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation for work at Seven Mile Lane to December 2025 and extended an agreement with Western Federal Lands Highway Division for work on the North River Drive Improvement Project (Sweet Home) to December 2024.
— Had considerable discussion about what to do with about three acres of the Willamette mill site that the city of Sweet Home had wanted for development of a homeless sleep center. The city became concerned because there had not been an environmental study on the site, changed plans and proposed creating a temporary sleep center behind city hall. That proposal was not well received by neighbors and was scrapped. Commissioner Tucker proposed giving the property to the Family Assistance and Resource Center Group, which assists homeless persons in east Linn County. The commissioners said they would encourage the city and FAC to bring a plan back to the board for consideration.
— Noted that the state may end its COVID-19 facemask mandate by late March and counties could have the option of maintaining a facemask requirement. Linn County has no intention of implementing such a mandate, Nyquist said.
— Announced they had participated in an executive session with the Marion County Board of Commissioners at noon on Monday. The agenda was discussion of possible litigation.
– This story was written by Linn County Communications Officer Alex Paul, with contributions from New Era reporter Benny Westcott.