SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2017
District
from 1A
According to his report,
the elementary and middle
schools can be improved
with adaptations. The high
school has many more
issues.
Pivot recommends the
board seriously consider
completely replacing the
existing building.
Wilson and the team at
Pivot have developed details
to facilitate the implementa-
tion of the two possible
routes necessary to make
sure the schools are safe and
modern.
His presentation also
showed the mechanical and
technological considerations
that were identified as part
of the assessment process,
and that would need to be
incorporated into any
upgrades undertaken by the
district. These include the
use of propane, updating
Housing
from 1A
She said people who do this
are often people who lived in
the area before, and then didn’t
have a place. Anything could be
the cause — foreclosures, the
sale of their rental unit, a
change in income, eviction —
but it led to temporary housing
that could last for months.
“A lot of people are in that
situation. It wouldn’t take a lot
to get into that situation,” she
said.
She added that it was some-
times worse for people with
pets, since many rental proper-
ties will not allow dogs or cats,
making it that much harder for
a person to find a new rental.
People who require more than
two bedrooms often struggle as
well.
According
to
Farley
Campbell,
Florence
was
“booming” a decade and more
ago, from the population to city
services, until the economic
recession hit.
“What I find interesting, and
what I think the census will
show, is that we’re having this
housing crunch now, but we
have more housing now than
we had when our population
numbers were up back in 2006.
Where were people living then?
That’s kind of what I’m won-
dering. Maybe it’s a different
composition of households
now, I don’t know,” she said.
At the time, City of Florence
had a full staff in its Planning
Department, including four
planners, a planning technician
and inspectors.
“The planners were busy
every minute of the day,”
FarleyCampbell said. “Now,
it’s just Glen (Southerland) and
I. … We were so busy — crazy
busy — and nobody was
screaming about needing hous-
ing back then. So I don’t know
what the difference is. I’m curi-
ous. Maybe our numbers were
off, and our population esti-
mates were off.”
In 2008, Florence conducted
a Housing Needs Assessment
based on figures from the 2000
census, in which it concluded:
“Based on an up-to-date, accu-
rate accounting of Florence
incomes and the price of homes
and rental rates, the average
wage earner in town cannot
afford to purchase a home at the
median home price offered
today and there are not enough
dwellings having the amenities
and acceptable level of condi-
tion in the price range that he or
she can afford.”
The report went on to say
that by 2025 or 2030, there
would be a projected need for
housing units of all types, espe-
cially for owner-occupied sin-
gle-family detached units and
multi-family apartments for
renters.
FarleyCampbell agreed with
that, saying the shortage is
reaching a critical point.
“The stock is not going to be
around. Next year, if someone
hasn’t come in and got a subdi-
vision approved, there won’t be
house construction going on,
unless it’s just infill,” she said.
She said that one “fix” is for
inadequate kitchen facilities
and conducting overdue
structural reinforcement.
Wilson has made presenta-
tions at previous board meet-
ings, but this time his firm
has come up with specific
suggestions that will need to
be evaluated by the board
and eventually decided upon
and implemented.
The December board
meeting will be the next
important step in the
process.
“The board will be pre-
sented with recommenda-
tions for improvements to be
included in the bond, includ-
ing the requested bond
amount and scope,” Wilson
said. “The board will also be
presented with comments
from stakeholder discussions
to help substantiate the rec-
ommendations, and they will
be presented with construc-
tion cost estimates for the
proposed improvements.”
Bond financing is a type
accessory dwelling units, or
detached spaces that can be
installed on people’s property
and then used for renters.
It would tackle the problem
of some of the people currently
living in tents, and allow for
“mother-in-law cottages” and
other uses.
“Coming July 1, those will
be allowed in the state. I think
we’ll see a shift in permitting
for those,” she said.
Unfortunately, the 2008
study did not lead to city code
or policy changes, especially as
the Planning Department
remained short staffed.
“Our residential codes
are from the 1980s,” Farley
Campbell said. “Our commer-
cial code is more up to date, and
all of our developmental codes.
The city has done a tremendous
amount of work in the last 10-
15 years on updating its code, a
huge amount of work — but
right as the economic downturn
happened in 2006 and 2007, we
had to cut our staff that was
working on updating our hous-
ing code. Our housing code did-
n’t get updated, so we do have
sections that go against state
law.”
The codes that did get updat-
ed were funded through grants
and focused on commercial or
coastal aspects of the city.
These occurred mainly in 2010
and 2012.
“We haven’t done a long-
range planning effort for hous-
ing since 2003-04 for the
Buildable Lands Inventory and
2007 for our Housing and
Needs Analysis, which just
showed what we need,”
FarleyCampbell said.
Now, the city is bringing
attention back to housing in an
effort to boost the economy.
A new city committee,
the Housing & Economic
Opportunities Project (HEOP),
was formed in April to work on
housing and jobs equally. It is
set to have a final meeting in
December so consultants from
FCS Group can relay recom-
mendations.
The project’s tasks include
inventorying Florence’s build-
able lands, identifying needed
housing types and methods to
encourage developers to build
them, and determining cost
effective economic develop-
ment opportunities. The results
of these studies could result in
code and zone changes, public-
private partnerships and imple-
mentation of strategies to sup-
port housing and economic
growth.
“The code efforts should
take place this spring,”
FarleyCampbell said. “That’s
the plan. The consultants
should be finishing up their
work in December/January, and
then giving us our marching
orders, or the will of the council
will say what to work on first. I
know accessory dwelling units
is really high on our list to make
sure that we’re ready for the
roll-out July 1, or whenever
someone can come in and start
building them. We just want to
make sure we’re protecting our
neighborhoods for the most
efficient use, and protecting
people’s privacy.”
of long-term borrowing that
state and local governments
frequently use to raise
money, primarily for long-
lived infrastructure assets.
Municipalities often use
bonds to finance major capi-
tal outlay projects such as
educational facilities, pris-
ons, parks, water projects
and office buildings.
This is done mainly
because these facilities pro-
vide services over many
years and high costs can be
difficult to pay for all at
once.
Additionally, different
generations of taxpayers
benefit from the facilities,
which provides a rationale
for spreading the costs of
infrastructure over time, as
bond repayments allow state
and municipalities to do.
Siuslaw School District’s
next board meeting is Dec.
13 at 6:30 p.m. at the district
office, 2111 Oak St.
City code will need to be
updated to accommodate future
growth and allow for infill —
higher density of residents,
such as “plexes” or apartments
for multi-family dwellings.
Some of the required changes
will involve rezoning areas in
the city to allow for multi-fam-
ily or mixed-use commercial
and residential.
“With our current codes, we
still allow a lot of stuff, and I
can get to ‘yes’ with developers
if they want to do something.
They just may not like the path
they have to do, which right
now is a planned unit develop-
ment. That’s what the state law
says — you can’t make it this
hard to do certain things. It
needs to be allowed outright,
and that’s what we need to
change,” FarleyCampbell said.
At the HEOP work session
on Oct. 10, FCS consultant
Todd Chase spoke about pre-
liminary findings of the group’s
buildable lands inventory and
housing needs analysis.
“In discussions with some of
the property managers in
Florence and some of the multi-
family unit developers we
talked to, they mentioned
there’s very low vacancy rates
and even a waiting list on some
of the better units. That plays
into our pent-up demand fore-
cast,” he said.
He projected that by 2035,
1,218 housing units would be
needed to accommodate current
needs and a moderate popula-
tion growth.
“Your current population is
about 10,500 people within the
urban growth boundary (UGB).
At a moderate growth rate, it
will go up to 12,500 in 2035.
It’s not a significant change, but
it is a healthy and sustainable
change for the community,”
Chase said.
He said the current demand
for workforce housing is esti-
mated at 100 needed units.
“Really, you could accom-
modate about 1,480 rental
housing units over the next 20
years, and should plan to within
your UGB,” he said.
FarleyCampbell said Flo-
rence is poised for some of that
growth now — but there is a
catch.
“You can talk with the con-
tractors, but they can’t employ,”
she said. “There’s no one here
local to work. It’s a catch-22 as
people can’t afford to live here
now. … That’s where we’re at
with HEOP. Which cart comes
first? Do you build the housing,
or is it employment?”
Chase said the market will
require additional housing near
the town center and closer to
transit, especially as the people
who move to Florence for jobs
seek workforce housing. The
trend will be more for town-
houses and apartments —
affordable housing for young
families.
“We found that the city is
growing a little slower than it
used to grow, which is more
sustainable, probably. You’re
still issuing 20-30 permits a
year at the city. It’s still meas-
urable, but it’s definitely more
of an even pace than it used to
be,” Chase said. “And you
7 A
Library
features
Stella Ault
watercolors
Artist Stella Ault paints
whimsical
watercolors,
such as these chickens.
Her work will be on dis-
play at the Siuslaw Public
Library, 1460 Ninth St., in
December. Ault’s work is
also on permanent display
at the Purple Pelican
Antique Mall in the
Florence Antiques District
on Highway 101.
COURTESY PHOTO
Drowning
from 1A
LCSO later found the man
deceased, towards the back of
the overturned boat.
Bradford had apparently
become entangled in rope and
could do more.”
FarleyCampbell said the city
has seen some housing growth
in recent years as people work
on subdivision development
projects and finish current con-
struction. Many of these, how-
ever, will be for sale, rather
than rent, and range from
$280,000 at the low end to
$500,000.
“Those are going to get some
people out of the other subdivi-
sions into housing within their
means, and then make that
affordable housing more avail-
able for people in that catego-
ry,” she said.
As it stands, there is a mis-
match in Florence between
households of certain incomes
and rental housing for their
price range. Housing should
only cost 30 percent of a fami-
ly’s income.
Oregon
Housing
and
Community Services released a
report that showed that in 2015,
there were not enough housing
options for each income brack-
other
equipment
and
drowned.
The Lane County Medical
Examiner will make a final
ruling on Bradford’s cause of
death.
SVFR and WLAD Chief
Director Jim Langborg said,
“The members of SVFR and
WLAD send their heartfelt
sympathies to the family of
the deceased man. We also
want to remind everyone to
always wear a personal flota-
tion device when you are on a
boat or near water.”
et in Florence. This caused the
households with the highest
incomes to rent or buy units
easily within their means while
lower household incomes strug-
gled to find homes in their
income bracket, often renting
beyond their means.
“Lane County is among the
few areas in Oregon west of the
Cascades that is in this situa-
tion. We have 31 to 38 percent
of our renters that are paying
more than 50 percent of
their income for rent,”
FarleyCampbell said. “There
are a lot of outlying, rural areas
where there are low paying jobs
and high rent because of the
lack of housing.”
HEOP next meets Tuesday,
Dec. 5, from 2 to 4 p.m. at
Florence Events Center, 715
Quince St.
There, the FCS Group will
detail the policies the City of
Florence can implement in
order to achieve the goals the
community has set forth, espe-
cially in regard to code and pol-
icy changes.
“This is an opportunity with
some fresh staff and fresh per-
spectives in the community to
rethink and reposition Florence
for the types of growth you
want to accommodate,” Chase
said. “One of the things we are
considering as part of this proj-
ect, especially since the survey
occurred, is the need for tech-
niques and tools to encourage
more affordable housing.”
City Manager Erin Reynolds
said, “This is an important proj-
ect to us. Housing and the econ-
omy are two very important
topics to the City of Florence. It
touches on all of the Florence
City Council goals and many
items on the work plan as we
complete planning for the
future operation of our city.”
Editor’s Note: Our series
will continue next Wednesday,
Nov. 29, with a look at the chal-
lenges faced by real estate
agents and property managers,
and the potential options within
the Siuslaw region.
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