Sean C. Morgan
A hazardous building material survey of the structures remaining on the former Sweet Home Mill property has turned up no surprises, according to Rick Partipilo, director of Linn County’s Environmental Health Department, in draft minutes from a meeting last month.
The Sweet Home Mill Community Engagement Steering Committee changed its timeline in the wake of the Oct. 31 fire that destroyed a building on the former mill site so it could complete the survey. The committee met on March 17.
Laura LaRoque, Sweet Home planning services manager, said the survey looked at the existing buildings. It found asbestos in some of the roofing material and lead-based paint on the exterior of the buildings, primarily the green paint.
The survey also showed that some ballasts in the florescent lighting, mainly in the former office and the pallet mill have the potential of containing PCB material.
While fires are a potential risk to the community, the risk from the fire in October was lower, LaRoque said, with the concentrated plume of smoke rising to the northeast from the site.
According to draft minutes from the meeting, the Oregon Health Authority has offered to take a look at the risk factors after completion of the survey, and Linn County will take the agency up on its offer.
To the best of Linn County’s knowledge, Partipilo told the committee, according to the draft minutes of the meeting, the risk was minimal in a large part due to the weather conditions during the fire.
To remove the remaining pair of large buildings and ash pile would cost about $500,000, LaRoque said, but Linn County won’t be able to pursue that in the current U.S. Environment Protection Agency grant cycle. The EPA has a $250,000 grant opportunity next cycle, so county officials will have to reach out to other funding sources.
That process will take about two years, LaRoque said, so it will be a minimum of three years before the buildings are removed.
While the fire changed the steering committee’s timeline, LaRoque said, participants are now getting back on schedule and moving forward with environmental testing, which was scheduled to start a few months ago.
Testing will probably start in June or July, she said.
The Steering Committee’s next meeting will cover that plan in further detail and organization of community outreach about the project.
The committee would like to set up another big public meeting, probably on the site, to talk about the site investigation plan, she said.
The property in question is the site of the former Willamette Industries Sweet Home Mill. Weyerhaeuser acquired Willamette Industries before Western States Land Reliance Trust bought the property.
WSLRT was a nonprofit corporation with plans to develop the property for residential and commercial use. At WSLRT’s request, the city rezoned the property as planned recreation commercial. It is located north of Main Street between 18th and 24th Avenue.
The county foreclosed on the property on Dec. 30, 2010 for nonpayment of about $505,000 in property taxes. The foreclosure included a total of 20 properties and about 380 acres.
The foreclosure included the former Knife River property to the north and west of the former Sweet Home Mill property.
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group is in the process of acquiring that portion of the WSLRT property from Linn County for possible development as a permanent home for the Oregon Jamboree and park.
Knife River worked with Linn County to resolve environment issues from the former rock quarry.