community
december21
2017
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Vernonia, Ten Years After the Flood: Part 2 – The Recovery continued from front page
Grade School, except for the basement
which housed the cafeteria. The Middle
School building was cleaned and became
the cafeteria for the entire district, along
with classrooms for students. Modular
classrooms were added for students and
used for the next several years. Mean-
while the High School sat empty await-
ing a decision by the District on how to
move forward.
In April 2008 Oregon Governor
Ted Kulongoski named Vernonia an Or-
egon Solutions Project, a collaborative
process which helps tackle and expedite
large community issues by providing
access to key decision makers at the
state level.
The recovery process con-
tinued through the summer and into
the fall of 2008. Demolition of the
east wing of the high school began
and the gymnasium and locker rooms
were repaired to allow school sport-
ing contests to be held. While numer-
ous homes were lifted or demolished,
many residents were still waiting
for funding to repair or buyout their
homes. December 2008, one year af-
ter the flood, still found WOEC, the
Health Center, the schools, Vernonia
Cares, and the Senior Center in their
same locations and vulnerable to an-
other flood. A large storm began on
December 13 and dumped 24 inches
of snow on Vernonia during the next
nine days, knocking out power, can-
celing school, and forcing the City
to open shelters and declare a State of
Emergency for the second year in a row.
It was a stark reminder than the commu-
nity remained at the mercy of the weath-
er.
The Long Recovery Process
In March of 2009 the Vernonia
School Board approved a site for the new
school campus and in November Verno-
nia voters approved a $13 million school
bond to initiate the construction. In 2010
the District began a capital campaign to
raise the rest of the $24 million that was
estimated to complete the project. Com-
pleting the financing became a major
project over the next several years. The
design of the school campus saw many
changes and alterations before ground
was finally broke on December 2, 2010,
a fitting date almost exactly three years
after the flood. In January of 2011 it was
announced that FEMA would buyout the
old school site for $11.2 million, provid-
ing a major portion of the further fund-
ing needed for the project.
In December of 2009 the Board
The demolition of Washington Grade School took place in February 2013.
Members of Christian Aid Ministries
spent several months assisting
Vernonians with home repairs.
of Directors at WOEC agreed to move
forward with construction of a new
headquarters facility and approved a $3
per month increase to rates in October
2010 in order to pay for the construction.
The new headquarters was dedicated in
August of 2011 and became the first ma-
jor piece of infrastructure to be moved
out of the flood zone.
While some of these larger proj-
ects were starting to take shape, it wasn’t
until July of 2010, 31 months after the
flood, that Ernie and Robin Smith and
their children became the first family
to complete a FEMA buyout and move
into a new home after the flood. While
many homes had been repaired or raised
using insurance and FEMA funding dur-
ing those first two years, the Smiths had
spent the previous two and a half years
living with friends, in a travel trailer, in
a FEMA manufactured home, in a cou-
ple of rentals, and in an RV at Anderson
Park, waiting for the complicated FEMA
buyout process to be organized and im-
plemented.
In October of 2011 the Sentry
Market (now R&S Market) completed
construction of a concrete brick flood
wall around the outside of the store,
which had 22 inches of water inside dur-
ing the flood. FEMA paid for 75% of
the $200,000 cost of the wall which was
designed to seal the interior of the store
from water and protect the community’s
only grocery store and a vital resource.
Vernonia finally celebrated the
opening of the new schools campus in
August 2012. The project utilized a
complex combination of federal and
state aid dollars, grants from state, fed-
eral, and private sources, local fundrais-
ers, and federal loans, to cobble together
the funding, but the final cost still ended
up millions of dollars over the original
projected budget of $37 million. School
District residents approved a second
$6.8 million bond in May 2017 which
paid off about $5 million in debt and
added funds to complete the campus
with a football field and track, and add
four classrooms. The District is slowly
moving their sports facilities to the new
campus; Alumni Field now hosts soft-
ball games, and their new baseball field
should be ready for use this spring.
In 2014 the Vernonia Health
Center celebrated the opening of their
new facility, the Carolyn Keasey Me-
morial Building in what is called the
Rose Avenue Project, across the street
from the new WOEC headquarters. The
Health Center utilized grants from pri-
vate foundations, a FEMA buyout of
$170,000, and $190,000 in donations
raised by Providence Health following
the flood, to build their facility debt free
with no public funding.
Following their moves, the old
school campus buildings, the old WOEC
headquarters, and the old Health Center
building were all demolished. As part of
their FEMA buyout, the School District
constructed new sports fields and creat-
ed the new Spencer Park, replacing city
fields that were lost at the new campus
site. Other sites that received FEMA
funds for buyouts, including homes and
businesses, remain vacant or little used,
as they fall under strict FEMA guide-
lines for future use that allow little or no
construction.
continued on page 18
Mariolino’s
Pizza & Grill
Serving
breakfast, lunch & dinner
Ice cream - cones, shakes & sundaes
Daily Specials
Family owned and operated for over 40 years.
721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
(503) 429-5018
Prime Rib Dinner
Every Friday & Saturday
Reservations Recommended
Vernonia Golf Club • 15961 Timber Rd • (503) 429-6811
