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Excavators break ground on Cottage Village
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
The Cottage Village Coalition
‘tiny house’ project will help
serve those in danger of
becoming homeless
The ground at the corner of E. Madison
Ave. hadn’t yet gone soft from winter storms
when the heavy machinery rolled onto the
property last Monday. Excavators and dump
trucks took turns lumbering over the empty,
uneven ground that is set to hold something
very big in a very small package.
The site is the future home of Cottage Vil-
lage, a 13-house development comprised en-
tirely of tiny houses. Conceptually, the proj-
ect would serve those in danger of becoming
homeless and potential renters range any-
where from individuals receiving social se-
South Lane
spreading ‘Roots
of Empathy’
curity benefits to single, working mothers or
small families struggling to make ends meet.
The project was announced in 2016 ini-
tially as a 14-home community for homeless
individuals before neighbor input and addi-
tional changes were taken into account and
the land on E. Madison was purchased with
a grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust. Lo-
cal group Cottage Village Coalition (CVC)
partnered with SquareOne in Eugene to ap-
ply for funding and manage the project.
In October, the project earned another
$50,000 donation, behind a $100,000 grant
from the Edwards Mother Earth Foundation
and additional funding from a Presbyterian
Church group. It’s that church funding that
Bruce Kelsh — CVC Chair — says will be
used in the coming weeks to construct the
first tiny home.
“All this happened very quickly,” he wrote
in an email inquiring about the activity on
the property. “I didn’t think site preparation
COURTESY PHOTO
After more than a year since the project was introduced, excavators broke ground on the
tiny house village planned for E. Madison Ave.
could happen until January… between storm
fronts, E&J Excavating took advantage of the
break in the weather to prepare the site for
our first tiny house.”
CVC went before the city’s planning de-
partment earlier this year after the state
See VILLAGE 6A
Swinging Bridge design coming in January
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
For three months, a
baby has been visiting
Deb Henderson’s sec-
ond-grade classroom at
London School. He vis-
its with his older brother
who attends fourth grade
there and his mother,
once Henderson’s stu-
dent herself chats with
the staff but that’s not
why they’re there.
Little Paeson, now
four months old, is one
of South Lane School
District’s Roots of
See ROOTS 7A
Preparing for
the ‘Big One’
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
See QUAKE 9A
The bridge may be steel instead of
wood, and may not move quite as
much as the original 1960s bridge
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
T
he city of Cottage Grove held an open
meeting on Dec. 19 with more than a
dozen private engineers, contractors and
residents to discuss the repairs for the Swinging
Bridge, out of commission since 2016.
The aim of the meeting was to have discus-
sions with engineers and contractors who were
interested in submitting proposals to complete
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PAGE A5
the necessary repairs.
“The intent,” the city manager’s office wrote
in a project update last week, “will be to main-
tain the existing appearance as much as possible
while also maintain public safety.”
The bridge was deemed unsafe in 2016 after
several structural issues were discovered by city
engineers. The bridge drew passionate support
from residents who campaigned the city coun-
cil to repair the bridge in a way that maintained
its ability to move. The grassroots organization,
Friends of the Cottage Grove Swinging Bridge,
held fundraisers and yard sales to raise mon-
ey for the repairs which, at last count, totaled
$500,000 in actual repair costs and $500,000 in
en-gineering costs. However, the $500,000 engi-
PAGE A3
INDEX
When the “Big One”
hits, Interstate-5 may not
be functional. The 9.0
earthquake originating
at the Cascadia fault line
is set to decimate infra-
structure and cause at
least five solid minutes
of rolling waves rather
than traditional shaking.
Heavy furniture will fly;
buildings will fall and
bridges are sure to col-
lapse. And it’s no longer a
question of if, but when.
The Cascadia
PHOTO BY KENNETH ROBERTS
Several engineers and contractors toured the site of the Swinging Bridge last week. Designs for the repaired bridge are expected in January.
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Obituaries ...................................... A2
Opinion ......................................... A4
Sports ............................................ B1
neering costs could be absorbed by having the
city complete the work in-house.
The city also applied for various funds for the
bridge’s repairs (earning at least one) including
a $200,000 grant from the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department. However, the grant was
not awarded to the city. Public funds, however,
reached more than $3,000 through a round-up
program that allowed city residents to round-
up their water bill to the closest whole dollar
amount each month.
According to city council member Kenneth
Roberts, the bridge may be steel in-stead of
wood and may not move quite as much as the
original bridge built in the 1960s.
See BRIDGE 6A
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