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Marion County grant a step for downtown Stayton
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
For decades, downtown Stayton has
been a hodgepodge of buildings, many
in a state of disrepair and devoid of co­
hesion.
The  hope  of  those  in  Revitalize
Downtown  Stayton  is  a  recent  $8,500
grant from Marion County will be an im­
portant step in making the area become
vital.
Revitalize  Downtown  Stayton  will
use  Marion  County’s  grant  money  to
hire an architect to design the façade of
an important block of downtown Stay­
ton and other preparations to apply for a
larger  grant  to  Main  Street  Oregon  in
March.
“It is a little bit of money, but it really
makes  a  community,”  Marion  County
Commissioner Kevin Cameron said.
Revitalize  Downtown  Stayton  is  fo­
cusing on the 300 block of 3rd Ave., of
downtown Stayton.
The  block  includes  the  recently  re­
modeled  police  department  and  city
hall, Star Cinema and buildings owned
by  five  people  who  are  already  in  the
process of remodeling.
The non­profit group will use the de­
sign  in  an  application  for  a  $200,000
grant application to Oregon Main Street.
“That block is so significant in terms
of  historic  buildings  and  having  the
theater  and  government  and  those
kinds  of  things,  and  we  also  have  five
other building owners on that block that
are already investing in upgrading their
buildings,” said Steve Poisson president
of Revitalize Downtown Stayton.
If  Revitalize  Downtown  Stayton
earns  the  Oregon  Main  Street  grant,
each building owner will be eligible for a
$40,000 share, but will have to fund a
30 percent match of $12,000.
Poisson said part of the challenge is
one side of the block was built in 1900
and the other side in 1930.
That brings a challenge of styles.
The  grant  money  will  pay  architect
Christina  Knowles,  of  Varitone  Archi­
tecture  &  Interior  Design in  Albany,  to
come up with the design for the facade.
“She’s done a lot of this kind of work
in Albany, so we actually got references
from  other  main  street  organizations,”
Poisson said. 
The lack of a unified vision for what
downtown Stayton should look like has
been a point of contention in efforts to
improve the area.
Poisson  said  Varitone’s  renderings
will be completed by Feb. 12. The follow­
ing day the downtown building owners
will  meet  with  Revitalize  Downtown
Stayton to review the design and decide
on changes.
The  final  design  will  be  completed
Feb. 15 so the group can submit its grant
What the Dietrich Building in downtown Stayton looks like since it was remodeled. SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
The Dietrich Building in downtown Stayton before its recent remodel. ISAAC
KORT-MEADE | SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
request  to  Oregon  Main  Street  by  the
March 8 deadline.
Similar grants of Marion County eco­
nomic development money have facili­
tated projects in Mill City and Mt. Angel.
Marion  County  allocates  about
$60,000 in  video  lottery  dollars  each
year to support similar community pro­
ject grants.
“This grant is seen as a launch grant
for  this  community,”  said  Tamra
Goettsch, Community Services Depart­
ment Director for Marion County.
“They’re seeing this as a way to help
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develop the vision through an architect
to not only be able to show its communi­
ty  members  what  they  see  and  bring
unity  around  that  vision,  but  also  be
able  to  share  that  with  other  grant
sources.”
Efforts  to  aid  downtown  Stayton
have long been a struggle.
The  location  on  3rd  Street  is  two
blocks  off  the  main  highway  –  which
turns  into  1st  Street  –  and  is  isolated
from the majority of traffic coming into
town.
That  isolation  has  made  redevelop­
ment a constant challenge.
“This is … something that’s been on­
going for a long time, trying to develop
downtown  Stayton,”  Marion  County
Commissioner Sam Brentano said.
“I  remember  being  on  the  chamber
like 30 years ago, it was an issue. It was
kind of bypassed by the main road dec­
ades ago, but it is a lovely spot and it has
a lot of potential.”
Revitalize  Downtown  Stayton’s  plan
is  that  by  starting  with  the  façade  im­
provements in the 300 block, it will be
the catalyst for change with the rest of
downtown Stayton.
“You can get a head start so you can
get the next block and next block going,”
Poisson  said.  “It  has  a  great  success
rate.  It  has  changed  towns  in  Oregon
they’ve done it in.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or
Twitter.com/bpoehler
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