14
vernonia’s
voice community
june
2007
Senior Center Facility Taking Shape
During its May 17 meeting, The Vernonia Plan-
ning Commission approved a conditional use applica-
tion that included a site for the proposed Vernonia Senior
Center adjacent to Vernonia Lake. Other conditional
uses approved at that meeting were the Bicycle Skills
Park, the Skateboard Park, a Mill Site Interpretive Cen-
ter, an event center and a location for a future RV park.
Except for the Skills Park, the Planning Commission still
must approve the detailed project plan for each of these
uses.
According to Jim Tierney, project manager for
the Senior Center project, the Vernonia Senior Center
comes to the Lake after nearly 10 years of looking for
a suitable site. The seniors in partnership with the city
have examined sites on both sides of Rose Avenue near
the south entrance to town. They considered the old
Joy Theater Building and two other buildings on Adams
Street. They even looked for sites where they could pur-
chase and demolish several adjacent houses to create a
big enough site. In the end, they concluded the lake site
to be the best choice.
The choice of the Lake site itself was a source
of further delay for the project. As happened with the
development of the Rainier Senior Center, the city and
adjacent landowners needed to plan development of a
much larger undeveloped area before the senior center
could proceed. For the last year and a half the city, the
seniors, the city parks committee and the remaining pri-
vate land owner have worked to craft a plan agreeable
to all. The award of the conditional use by the Vernonia
Planning Commission is the formal end of that planning
period.
The land use approval on the 17th will allow the
Seniors and Community Action Team (CAT), Tierney’s
employer, to finish preliminary design, negotiate final
land sales and raise money for the project.
The current building plan includes more than
7,000 square feet that will house the Senior Center and
Vernonia Cares. The Senior Center portion of the build-
ing will include a large dining room with a view of the
Lake, a commercial kitchen, space for the thrift shop, of-
Pioneer Museum
fices and a clinic room for minor medical care. Vernonia
Cares will also occupy space at the center, with a large
cooler, food storage and food processing spaces, offices
and a distribution space. Christian Eberle, a Portland
architect, has been retained to do the preliminary design.
Final design must be done by an architect retained by the
city after all funding has been secured.
The primary funding source planned for the
project is an $800,000 Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) to the city from the State of Oregon. Tier-
ney explained that this is the same source that provided
the primary funding for the Vernonia Head Start Center
and the Vernonia Community Learning Center. CDBG
grants are only available to cities and counties. Other
funding for the estimated $1.2 million dollar project will
come from donations, including foundations. Accord-
ing to Tierney, CAT has successfully assisted cities and
counties to complete over thirty CDBG projects worth
more than $15 million.
On May 20, Mark Greathouse, a descendant of the
Malmsten family, gave a well-researched talk on
the history of the Malmsten family at the Vernonia
pioneer Museum. Mr. Greathouse’s family history
covered the Malmstens’ journey from Sweden through
the Midwest to Vernonia in its early years. Mark do-
nated copies of several family documents and pictures
to add to the other items he had already graciously
donated to the museum from his family.
The museum captured this presentation on DVD, as
they do with all museum talks, to preserve these oral
histories. If you missed a talk that was of particular
interest, you can stop by the museum and watch the
video.
The Museum Talk scheduled for June 24 has been
canceled due to illness of the speaker. The museum
will resume their monthly talks in the Fall.
The Vernonia Country Kitchen & Pizza
(On Bridge Street across from the High School)
Open 7 days a week.
7am to 8pm
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Pizza Parlour - We deliver!
Call 503-429-6523
Home of the famous "Skidder Hamburger", "Tower Burger",
"Logger Burger" and "Chili Burger"!
Also known for our Milkshakes and Pastries!
The Vernonia
Pioneer Mu-
seum summer
schedule is now
in effect. The
museum will be
open Fridays,
Saturdays and
Sundays from
1 – 4 pm June
through mid-
September. As
always, they
are looking
for additional
volunteers,
especially dur-
ing the extended
summer season.
Give them a call
at 503-429-3713
if you can help.
503-429-PETS 503-706-8400
sew simple
creatures
Custom sewing & alterations
Fabric & notions
Hand-made clothing & items
Dry cleaning service
Stock feed, Diamond Pet foods,
full line grooming, and so much more!
Come in and see our new set up!
Welcome Kathy Wolfe--our newest seamstress.
Whats happening at 736 Bridge Street?
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