FEBRUARY 6, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
Chamber hosting conversations
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer Chamber of
Commerce is looking to have
community
conversations
throughout 2015.
Dan Clem, director of the
chamber’s Government Affairs
Committee, gave an update
on the plans during the Jan. 20
Economic Development and
Government Affairs Commit-
tee meeting, held at the cham-
ber offi ce in Keizer Station.
“We will have 12 commu-
nity conversations through-
out the year,” Clem said. “We
had our fi rst meeting Jan. 6 at
JC’s Pizzeria and had about
12 people. We hope to have
another with the health care
industry on Feb. 26 at noon.
We will talk about business
and supporting Keizer busi-
ness. Our intent is to carry
on community conversations
once a month. At the Jan. 6
meeting we connected with
a couple of businesses. We are
trying to strengthen that con-
nection.”
AJ Nash, a commercial
broker with Hancock Real
Estate, noted Nick Harville
with SEDCOR (Strategic
Economic Development Cor-
poration) has been collecting
information from tenants.
“What he’s doing gives you
the answers you’re looking
for,” Nash said. “The access
point is the property owner. If
you have a good handle on the
current tenant mix, Nick has
gotten access to communities
looking to go forward at the
same time. That could be an
incredible value for this orga-
nization. Rather than reinvent
the wheel, get an idea of ques-
tions other communities are
asking. There’s no better place
than the chamber to deploy
that.”
Clem noted chamber lead-
ers have offered to partner
with city leaders on surveys.
“We have copies of ques-
tionnaires,” Clem said. “I fi g-
ure we will have the commu-
nity conversations.”
Nate Brown, director of
Community Development for
the city, noted the importance
of communication.
“For that to gain traction,
you need to have dialogue,”
Brown said. “You need to have
that dialogue with as many
people as possible before bud-
get time.”
Harville noted he’s been
doing some of that.
“One good part of the
project is it’s about the com-
munity,” Harville said. “The
community leaders are the
people you need to reach.”
Mayor Cathy Clark opined
efforts need to be stepped up.
“Previous
conversations
have not yielded enough good
information to bring to bud-
get time,” Clark said. “I would
urge the board to weigh in
and to have a board conversa-
tion.”
Clark noted the new Eco-
nomic Development Com-
mission met on Jan. 6 as well,
which included a conversation
about what to talk about with
the owners of Schoolhouse
Square at the corner of Che-
mawa and River Roads.
“How can we encourage
them with specifi c ideas that
would be good for Keizer?”
Clark said. “We shared some
of our vision for a Keizer re-
naissance area. We want them
to know who they are, so
they’d be able to bring their
vision to us.”
Clark believes engaging
business owners will pay divi-
dends down the road.
“The reason River Road
sidewalks didn’t get done (in
the past) is the business own-
ers don’t live here,” she said. “It
wasn’t on their radar. If we can
engage them early and show
them we have ideas to ben-
efi t both parties, it will help
us move forward. The business
climate now is much better
than three to fi ve years ago.”
Access to Northridge
Park brought up at
Parks Board meeting
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
It’s a topic that comes up
from time to time at Keizer
Parks and Recreation Advi-
sory Board meetings: what to
do with Northridge Park.
The hidden park along
Claggett Creek and 10th
Street is nearly impossible to
access, even though techni-
cally it is a city park. Keizer
resident Cris Dudek asked
during last month’s Parks
Board meeting why the park
was blocked off.
“Northridge has three
accesses, but none are ap-
proved,” Public Works direc-
tor Bill Lawyer said. “A small
piece of property bisects the
park property. There is pub-
lic access, but it’s very poor.
At the Verda (Lane) one, the
banking is steep. Homeown-
ers there have built their own
access, but there’s nothing on
the property the city owns.”
That led Dudek to ask if
the public can enter.
“Yes,” Lawyer said. “The
last I know, there were no
gates along the property we
own. If you and your neigh-
bors would be interested in
punching a trail through, we
would be interested.”
Donna Bradley, a new
Parks Board member, asked
later if Northridge is the only
park like that in Keizer.
“It’s more of a natural area,”
Lawyer said, noting there are
several parks that fi t such a
description. “We don’t really
have parks, other than Palma
Ciea, that are undeveloped.”
SALEM
Lawyer noted neighbors
can come to the city if they
have interest in the develop-
ment of access to Northridge,
which was part of the annual
Parks Tour in 2013.
Richard Walsh wondered if
a Boys Scout troop could put
a trail in.
“Do we have enough right
of way for a trail and sign?”
Walsh asked.
Lawyer answered with a
somewhat confl icting yes.
“Is there room to put a
sign? Yes, but I’m very hesi-
tant to put up a sign until a
reasonable access is made,”
he said. “For Northridge, it’s
a very large undertaking. To
fi nd the property line is dif-
fi cult because of the over-
grown status of that proper-
ty. It’s a lot of brush. It’s not
impossible, but it’s a diffi cult
or expensive undertaking.
Once you get over the bank
is where it gets diffi cult.”
Walsh felt signs could help
the process.
“You will start to hear
from more people and have
more interest if you have signs
up,” he said.
Lawyer said doing ex-
tensive work is hard at the
Claggett Creek entrance due
to the hilly and narrow space.
“We can’t get equipment
into Northridge,” he said.
In other Parks Board busi-
ness:
• Two new members
joined in January, Bradley
and Dylan Juran. A third new
member, Scott Klug, was ap-
proved by Keizer City Coun-
cilors this week. Two of the
vacancies were created when
former Parks Board members
Roland Herrera and Brandon
Smith joined council, while
another was created when the
term of Robert Jones expired.
• David Louden was se-
lected to serve as the new
Parks Board chair, taking
over the position vacated by
Smith. Tanya Hamilton was
appointed as vice chair.
• There was supposed to
be a presentation from Lin-
coln City-based Dreamland
Skateparks about renovating
the Carlson Skate Park be-
hind the Keizer Civic Center.
However, the company own-
ers weren’t present so Parks
Board member Jason Bruster
gave a brief update.
“I have taken on mentor-
ship with the group,” Bruster
said. “We’ll be doing some
fundraisers this year (for the
project). I’m working with
Town and Country Lane to
do a fundraiser with them.”
Bruster said Dreamland
will be resubmitting a grant
application for the Parks
Board’s matching grant pro-
gram.
“We’re going to try and
come in at a different dollar
amount from what they’ve
asked for ($12,000 in No-
vember, nearly the entire
amount in the matching grant
program), to make it easier on
the grant program so that it
doesn’t deplete that program.”
The topic is expected to be
brought up again at the Feb.
10 Parks Board meeting.
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