5A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016
Housing: State’s low Brownfields: Program has been working since 1995
vacancy rates, growth
in population drive up
values in home prices
Continued from Page 1A
Continued from Page 1A
Monitoring contracts
In multiple instances,
auditors found the agency
failed to monitor contracts
for pricing and results.
For example, since 2003,
Oregon Housing and Com-
munity Services has contin-
uously renewed a contract
with Neighborhood Part-
nerships of Portland with-
out putting the contract out
to bid. The contract is for
managing individual devel-
opment accounts, a match-
ing savings system that
helps low-income fami-
lies build financial manage-
ment skills and save toward
homeownership.
Low vacancy rates and
a growing population have
driven up home values
across the state by 12.5 per-
cent since 2015, while rents
have climbed by nearly 7
percent per month, making
it increasingly challenging
for low-income families to
find housing.
Auditors found that the
agency has failed to com-
plete a required annual
statewide housing plan that
would identify and find
ways to meet needs, largely
because the agency has not
kept an accurate inven-
tory of affordable hous-
ing around the state. Out-
dated data systems have
contributed to barriers the
agency faces in complet-
ing an accurate and compre-
hensive inventory, the audit
noted.
“Partnerships with hous-
ing developers, funders,
advocates, and others in
the housing community,
are a crucial part of pre-
serving low-income afford-
able housing,” Atkins
said. “However, the audit
found that OHCS needs to
improve its relationships
with stakeholders through
better communications and
transparency.”
Boost planning
Auditors recommended
that the agency boost plan-
ning efforts for housing
preservation projects and
work with the Legislature
to increase the availabil-
ity of funding for housing
developers to promote more
housing units in the state.
“Our auditors found that
crucial
communications
between OHCS leadership
and the Housing Stability
Council are lacking, and
that the council needs clar-
ity about its role,” Atkins
said. “I urge the Legisla-
ture to work with the coun-
cil and agency leadership
to help define this essential
relationship.”
The agency also faces
organizational problems,
including poor commu-
nication with employees,
inconsistent staffing and
workloads, and inadequate
policies and procedures, the
audit found.
Gov. Kate Brown hired
Margaret Salazar, formerly
of the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Devel-
opment, in late September
to direct Oregon Housing
and Community Services
and steer improvements
at the agency. Less than
a month after starting her
new job in November, Sala-
zar responded to the audit’s
preliminary findings.
In her response, Sala-
zar said she is working to
address the shortcomings
found in the audit.
“While I am new in my
role as director of OHCS, I
have come to quickly under-
stand the need to address
these critical issues,” Sala-
zar wrote in her response.
The agency is in the pro-
cess of updating its com-
puter systems and plans
to have a new system for
tracking multifamily hous-
ing finance data installed
at the agency by the end of
2017.
“The age of the systems
and … workarounds make it
difficult for staff to extract
information,” the audit
states. “Only a few staff
have the long-term knowl-
edge and expertise to do
so.”
The agency also plans to
debut its first housing plan
in many years, Salazar said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
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6
with the Ports of Willapa Har-
bor, Ilwaco and Chinook and
those cities — is preparing
an application seeking fund-
ing by the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency brown-
field grant program for reuse
and revitalization of properties
throughout Pacific County.
Meetings held in Raymond
and Ilwaco provided basic
information on the program,
grant-application process and
a discussion about potential
priority reuse and revitaliza-
tion opportunities throughout
Pacific County.
“The point of the program
is to revitalize areas in the
community that aren’t per-
forming where they could per-
form,” said Marc Sauze, proj-
ect manager for Stantec, an
engineering, consulting and
design service company cho-
sen for the grant-application
process. “It can include sites
that aren’t being used because
they’re contaminated, but it
can also include sites that are
completely underutilized.”
What is a brownfield?
The EPA defines brown-
field land as “property where
the reuse may be compli-
cated by the presence of haz-
ardous materials. Brownfields
can be abandoned gas stations,
dry-cleaning establishments,
factories, mills, or foundries.”
Old gas stations, dry clean-
ers and former photo-process-
ing shops are among the most
egregious of environmental
hazard offenders, according
to the EPA. Former industrial
areas, particularly those with
abandoned factories and com-
mercial buildings, can house
contaminants. Since 1995, the
EPA Brownfield Program has
been working to address the
more than 450,000 contami-
nated areas across the U.S.
Priority areas
Potential brownfield sites
aren’t as apparent as a burning
barrel of toxic waste, but the
community and environmen-
tal impact can be equally pro-
found, particularly if the con-
taminated areas are near water,
like much of Pacific County
is. Some of the most apparent
problem areas are those where
high traffic navigates through
delicate habitat.
“For Pacific County, it’s
the Highway 101 corridor,
areas along the Willapa and
port front in Ilwaco,” Sauze
said. “A lot of (Pacific County)
impacted sites are along the
Luke Whittaker/EO Media Group
A former gas station sits abandoned in Long Beach, Wash. “The EPA’s No. 1 focus right
now is groundwater and surface water,” an expert said at a Pacific County forum last
week. “The reason is because about half of the contaminated sites in the U.S. are old gas
pump stations and then the other half are hazardous substance sites.”
water.” One impacted site can
cause ripple effects through
the environment more easily if
near water.
“If you have a contami-
nated or underutilized site sit-
ting next to the water, rain falls
and it goes straight into the
water, which goes into your
fish and then into larger mam-
mals,” Sauze said.
There are two types of
brownfield sites, according to
Sauze.
“There’s petroleum-con-
taminated sites, and then
there’s
hazardous-sub-
stance-contaminated sites,” he
said. However, not all brown-
field-eligible sites are waste-
lands. Some are spots where
contamination has simply
stunted development.
“Up in Raymond, they have
a VFW building that burnt to
the ground, and now it’s a big
open lot,” Sauze said “It’s not
necessarily a contaminated
site, but it’s a brownfield site
because it’s not developing —
it’s just sitting there in the mid-
dle of Raymond.”
Attendees were asked to
brainstorm potential reuse
and revitalization sites in
Pacific County. Among the
suggestions were buildings
falling into disrepair, lots
not living up to potential and
sites considered to be con-
taminated including the Port
of Ilwaco; Old Ark Restau-
rant in Nahcotta; Doupé
Building major-intersection
building in Ilwaco; former
gas stations, city dumps and
junkyards and the Chinook
General Store
Creating jobs
The reuse and revitatiliza-
tion of former brownfields in
Pacific County could help curb
unemployment, while boost-
ing property values and spar-
ing taxes.
“If you have a lot of these
open area sites, such as a burnt
or abandoned building, they
can become havens for crime
and illegal dumping,” Sauze
said. “It will save tax money
because some of these sites
will get developed and you
won’t have to keep carrying
them. One job will be created
for every $17,000 invested.”
Residential property values
can increase 5 to 12 percent
near brownfield sites when
cleanup is complete, according
to EPA figures.
Sauze called on community
members for letters of support
and volunteer pledges to bol-
ster the proposal due to the
*
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EPA soon.
Pacific County Commis-
sioner Frank Wolfe raised con-
cerns that some homeowners
and businesses could be hesi-
tant to invite initial inspections
or soil sampling fearing linger-
ing unknowns in total cleanup
costs.
“The idea is if I want to
develop that property, once I
make that decision, I feel like
I’m signing a blank check to
what it’s going to cost to clean
it up,” Wolfe said.
“On the other hand, this
program can help put a handle
on that. It gets you to that point
where you can make an intel-
ligent and informed decision.
It makes it a known-known
instead of an unknown-un-
known.” Sauze agreed, equat-
ing the scenario to a monster
in the closet where fear of the
unknown often overshadows
the reality of the situation.
Observing Our
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