JANUARY 26, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
DEAL,
continued from Page A1
more than a dozen years ago in
an effort to acquire the rights-
of-way and bundle the property
that became Keizer Station
for sale to developers. In the
intervening years, much of it
has been sold to developers, but
the city has retained ownership
of the cinema site, a piece of
land across the street, west of
the Keizer Transit Center, and a
third site on the triangle-shaped
land bordered by Chemawa
Road Northeast, Lockhaven
and McLeod.
“The (Salem Radiology)
sale was time sensitive,” Eppley
said. “Buying the property for
Keizer Rapids was kind of a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I was opposed to it at the time,
but it's been a great park,” said
Eppley. “The council saw an
opportunity to bring in a big
pot of money and something to
do with it.”
Past city councils have
opposed leasing property
in favor of selling it for
reasons connected to other
priorities, like Keizer Rapids
Park, and some that are more
philosophical.
“The primary question
has been whether the city
should be in the business of
entrepreneurship? That's a good
question, I said 'yes,' but other
councils have said, 'no,'” Eppley
said.
The current city council was
the fi rst to offer its approval,
which means the city expects to
collect about $12,000 a month
in rent for the foreseeable future
with a 2 percent increase every
year. The current lease contract
is for 50 years with options to
extend it up to 99 years.
Keizer will owe a broker 20
percent of the rent for the fi rst
20 years, but it still amounts
to nearly $120,000 annually.
It's not a huge sum, but it will
take the sting out of the money
the city is asked to pay into the
Public Employees Retirement
System (PERS), which comes
out of the general fund. The
only streams of revenue for the
general fund are property taxes,
franchise fees and monies the
city receives from the state.
“It insulates us from negative
impacts a little bit. When PERS
comes up with a 22 percent
increase, we have no way to
absorb it right now,” Eppley
said. “It alleviates the strain
on a part of the budget that is
typically infl exible.”
The crunch the city feels
at such times doesn't typically
mean layoffs, but it might
mean positions go unfi lled for
a lengthy period of time before
new hires are brought it. That
exact scenario was one of the
culprits that left Keizer Police
Department understaffed for
the past several years.
“This helps us insulate us
from swings in other places. I
am going to try to perpetuate
this with other property the
city owns,” Eppley said.
He said the parcel across
the street from the cinema
could easily accommodate a
10,000-square-foot retail space.
While the steady revenue
stream is a boon for the city,
it is not without some risk. If
the cinema owner defaults on
the lease agreement before the
building is fully constructed,
he must return the property to
its natural state. A default after
construction is complete means
Keizer would own the theater.
No one foresees a problem
in meeting the obligations
of the lease, but Keizer also
has had issues in the past.
When developer Chuck Sides
defaulted on a $26 million in
city-backed bonds in 2011,
Keizer had to extend its Urban
Renewal District to settle the
debt, a situation that meant
pleading with affected taxing
agencies for approval. While the
debt was settled more quickly
than expected, the fi asco
effectively killed all programs
associated with improving
River Road North.
Eppley isn't sure what Keizer
would do with the reins of a
movie theater, but he's hopeful
it never comes to that.
“It's not a traditional way
of doing business for a city, but
we are not a traditional city,”
Eppley said.
into a show, just leave enough
time to get your popcorn,”
Blissett said.
Contrary to what has
been mentioned in previous
discussions at the Keizer City
Council level, the theater will
not have a full menu available,
Blissett said, but traditional
concessions will be available.
“It would be possible to
come back and retrofi t the
current design for alcohol
sales, but right now it's what
you would generally expect,”
Blissett said.
CINEMA,
continued from Page A1
while the smaller screens will
have seating on six-inch risers.
There might be fewer seats,
but there also won't be any
jockeying for the best ones or
for a place in line when big
movies hit the screen. Assigned
seating will be selected at the
time tickets are purchased.
“There's no more showing
up two hours ahead to get
Help needed planting trees
Volunteers are invited to help plant trees
and shrubs along a new fl oodplain forest in
Willamette Mission State Park on Feb. 10.
The event is a part of a larger habitat resto-
ration project led by Willamette Riverkeeper,
in partnership with Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department (OPRD).
The restoration “work party,” now in its
second year, is part of the Willamette Mission
Floodplain Reforestation Project. Its goal is to
restore vital fi sh and wildlife habitat on 600
acres across the state park. The project broke
ground in 2014 and has continued under the
guidance of Willamette Riverkeeper, a non-
profi t organization that works to protect and
restore the Willamette River.
This winter, Willamette Riverkeeper mem-
bers and volunteers intend to plant more than
107,000 native plants in Willamette Mission
State Park.
“One of our project goals is to teach local
community members, park user groups and
youth about environmental stewardship,” said
Marci Krass, Restoration Manager for Willa-
mette Riverkeeper. “We hope that by offering
these service opportunities, people will invest
in Willamette Mission State Park’s transforma-
tion and feel a connection to the forest they
are helping to restore.”
The restoration work party will be held
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 10. Volunteers
will meet in the gravel lot for the Wheatland
ferry, at the north entrance to Willamette
Mission State Park. Parking is free. Registra-
tion and more info is online: https://goo.
gl/8HsRcw.
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