S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 136, N O . 43
W EDNESDAY , O CTOBER 11, 2017
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
City of Silverton set
to buy back property
Freres Lumber Company in Lyons is building a mill just east of
town to manufacture the new mass-plywood panels,
including those headed to the Peavy Hall project.
DAVID PATTON/MID-VALLEY MEDIA
The city of Silverton will buy back the 80-acre former Pettit property south of the Oregon Garden. APPEAL TRIBUNE FILE
Site scheduled to be sold at original sale price of $300,000
CHRISTENA BROOKS
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
The City of Silverton is buying
back the 2.28-acre property adja-
cent to the Oregon Garden that it
sold to a developer three years ago.
The city’s contract with the buy-
er, the owner of Oregon Garden
Resort, allows it to repurchase the
property at the original sale price
of $300,000 because it’s not being
developed into a lakeside pub and
inn as envisioned.
When he bought the property in
2014, Dirk Winter, of Moonstone
Hotel Properties, agreed to start
building a “high-end pub and inn”
by January of 2018 or offer the
property back to the city, accord-
ing to the purchase and sale agree-
ment. Construction hasn’t oc-
curred, so the City Council voted
unanimously on Oct. 2 to buy the
property back.
Winter told City Manager Chris-
ty Wurster he’ll sell, explaining
that it’s no longer financially via-
ble for him to build the 18-unit lake-
side enclave and pub on the proper-
ty. He’s wrangled with the city
over its requirements to upgrade
an onsite sewage lift station and
add a second water line to serve the
resort.
“I just can’t do this when it
doesn’t make financial sense and
when the unknowns are so un-
known,” Winter said.
“The city didn’t think the sewer
had capacity to take on our project
– my engineers suggest there’s all
sorts of capacity – and they also
wanted us to add a second water
source to our looped system that
would require easements that we
don’t have.”
At the Oct. 2 meeting, applause
broke out in the audience after the
council voted to repurchase the
property.
“I think that’s the right step to
take,” said former councilor Scott
Walker, who opposed the Pettit
Property sale in 2014 because he
felt the sale price was too low. At
the time, he and sitting Councilor
Jason Freilinger said it could put
on the open market and the money
used to offset rising utility rates
for Silverton residents.
“Now I suggest an ad hoc com-
mittee to decide whether the sell or
develop the property,” Walker
said.
Other residents said they want
the City of Silverton to take a crack
at coming up with its own develop-
ment ideas for the property. At the
least, they want to ensure public
access to Pettit Lake, the 20-acre
pond that the old house overlooks.
“Dr. Pettit sold the property to
the city at a phenomenal price,”
said resident Ann Haviland. “It
was for the purpose of our commu-
nity, our families, our children.”
Back in 2002, the city bought
more than 80 acres – and the lake-
side house – for $1.1 million from
the family of longtime physician
Dr. Virgil Pettit.
In 2014, following the Great Re-
cession, the council voted to break
off 2.28 acres, and the Pettit family
home, selling both to Winter in
hopes of seeing development oc-
cur and money flow into Oregon
Garden and the city. A $50,000
tram pathway connecting the pub
to the 80-acre Garden was also en-
visioned.
Politically, the sale was conten-
tious, with some councilors sup-
porting it and others expressing
concern that room taxes paid by
Oregon Garden visitors would not
make up the difference between
the sale price and the amount they
believed the property could be sold
Mass timber
manufacturing
could be a
game changer
JUSTIN MUCH
STAYTON MAIL
The new forest science
complex going up at Ore-
gon State University will
have a unique twist in its
design; it will showcase
technology largely devel-
oped by the school's re-
searchers.
The former Peavy Hall
was razed to pave way for
the new forestry center-
,which will be largely con-
structed using cross-lami-
nated timber and mass-
plywood panels, innova-
tive products researched
and developed at the
school.
Enthusiasm for the
construction echoes north
of Corvallis into the San-
tiam Canyon.
Freres Lumber Com-
pany in Lyons is building a
mill just east of town to
manufacture the new
mass-plywood panels, in-
cluding those headed to
the Peavy project.
Kyle Freres, vice
president of operations,
said they aim to have the
purpose of our community, our families, our children.”
ANN HAVILAND, RESIDENT, REGARDING THE SALE OF THE 2.28-ACRE PROPERTY ADJACENT TO THE OREGON GARDEN RESORT
Silverton City
Manager Wurster
joins LOC board
JUSTIN MUCH
ASAP, Grange, Silver Falls Library updates
CANYONCONVERSATIONS
JUSTIN MUCH
Swalboski.
Silverton Grange #748
secretary Jan McCorkle
stopped in to highlight the
upcoming Pie & Gift Auc-
tion. This is a first-year
event that grange advo-
cates hope becomes an an-
nual festivity, and it will
include a pie-baking con-
test with cash prizes.
After School
Activities Program
Hillary and Nicole are
both familiar with the re-
gion having each graduat-
ed from Mt. Angel’s Ken-
nedy High School; Hillary
in 2008; Nicole in 2016.
The new program di-
rector, Hillary, attended
the University of Oregon,
graduating in Family and
Human Services in 2012.
She signed on with Teach
For America, a nonprofit
of nearly 25 years that de-
scribes its mission as one
“to enlist, develop, and
mobilize as many as possi-
ble of our nation's most
promising future leaders
to grow and strengthen
the movement for educa-
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
NEWS UPDATES
PHOTOS
» Breaking news
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» Photo galleries
See TIMBER, Page 2A
See PROPERTY, Page 2A
“Dr. Pettit sold the property to the city at a phenomenal price, It was for the
The new
Silverton
After
School Ac-
tivities
Program
program director de-
scribes the position as a
"dream job."
It's not surprising as
that position combines a
bit of education with some
outreach and working
with volunteers — all skill
sets within which Hillary
Boost is primed and
ready to grow.
Hillary and new pro-
gram coordinator, Nicole
Kivett, stopped into Sil-
ver Creek Coffee House
on Oct. 4, to share their en-
thusiasm for the coming
school year’s activities at
the After School Activ-
ities Program.
Also joining in the
day’s chat was Kathy
Beutler with the Silver
Falls Library Board,
which is hosting a meet-
and-greet later this month
to introduce library direc-
tor candidates. The new
director will replace retir-
ing Director Marlys
new plant operating by
Christmas. It should ini-
tially create about 12 addi-
tional family-wage jobs.
In time, he expects that
staff will grow to 24.
Mass-plywood panels
are high-tech boards cre-
ated at sizes march larger
than conventional ply-
wood. The finished prod-
uct can measure up to 12-
feet wide by 48-feet long
with a thickness of up to
24 inches.
"It’s a veneer-based
panel … engineered to
provide the strength to
substitute for concrete or
steel in many applica-
tions,” Freres said.
Working with Kauf-
man Homes, Freres con-
structed a vivid showcase
of its product, a mass-ply-
wood panel pavilion that
was used earlier this year
in a Portland Art Museum
exhibit honoring pioneer-
ing Oregon architect John
Yeon.
That pavilion is now at
the Lyons plant, a conver-
Silverton After School Activities Program (ASAP) new
Program Director Hillary Boost, right, and Nicole Kivett, the
ASAP program coordinator, visit Silver Creek Coffee House
for a Creekside Chat on Oct. 4.
JUSTIN MUCH/APPEAL TRIBUNE
tional equity and excel-
lence.”
While with Teach For
America, Hillary spent
four years in South Dako-
ta teaching high school
mathematics; three years
on the Rosebud Reserva-
tion and another year on
the Standing Rock Reser-
vation.
A Butte Creek Elemen-
tary alum, Hillary is hap-
py to be back in her home
region and its relatively
mild climate (yes, she
even missed the rain), and
eager to apply herself to
the new position. Out-
reach and working
with volunteers are
natural extensions to
her educational back-
ground. But you might
say teaching is in her
blood: her mother, Sta-
cy Booth, and father,
Ron Booth, are both
educators in the Wil-
lamette Valley.
“My parents actual-
ly encouraged me not
to go into teaching,”
Hillary said, explain-
See UPDATES, Page 2A
INSIDE
Commentary ........................3B
Life in the Valley.................4A
Obituaries.............................3A
Sports......................................1B
©2017
Printed on recycled paper
APPEAL TRIBUNE
Silverton City Man-
ager Christy Wurster was
among the new League of
Oregon Cities Board of
Directors announced last
week.
League
spokesman
Kevin Toon said the
League of Oregon Cities
selected its board Sept. 30
during its 92nd Annual
Conference held in Port-
land. New officers and di-
rectors were elected by
the general membership.
Toon noted that the
League of Oregon Cities
was founded in 1925, as a
voluntary association rep-
resenting all 241 of Ore-
gon’s incorporated cities.
Joining Wurster on the
board are David Allen,
Councilor, Newport; Paul
Chalmers, Councilor, Pen-
dleton;
Cathy
Clark, May-
or, Keizer;
Ron Fog-
gin,
City
Manager,
Christy
Dallas;
Wurster
Amanda
Fritz,
Commissioner,
Portland; Ken Gibson,
Mayor, King City; Steve
Kaser, Councilor, Rose-
burg; Scott Lazenby, City
Manager, Lake Oswego;
Tessa Winebarger, Coun-
cilor, Ontario.
The League of Oregon
Cities also announced its
officers: President Timm
Slater, Councilor, North
Bend; Vice President
Greg Evans, Councilor,
Eugene; Treasurer Jake
Boone, Councilor, Cottage
Grove; Past President
Denny Doyle, Mayor, Bea-
verton.