News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
A3
City pursues housing program to create growth
City pursuing
housing program
to turn decline
into growth
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Nine months into the city
of John Day’s strategy for
growth, only one key piece has
not been addressed: housing.
To combat population
decline — and the resulting
negative impacts on schools,
businesses and taxing districts
— City Manager Nick Green
proposed a new approach in
January to make strategic in-
vestments to spur growth.
To attract digital commut-
ers, active retirees and young,
working families, the city fo-
cused on rebranding and im-
proving recreational amenities
and broadband service as well
as housing and community de-
velopment.
Green, in his first year on
the job, was awarded $437,000
in outside grant funding for
projects including Main Street
revitalization, transportation
planning, a sidewalk extension
and a bike park. He persuaded
the state legislature to award
$2.2 million for a new fiber op-
Eagle file photo
A for sale sign in John Day. City Manager Nick Green
is pursuing a housing incentive program he hopes will
attract new residents.
tic line and funding to keep the
dispatch center open — both
providing benefits throughout
the county.
“Our message is resonating
with people,” he said. “They
get it, they understand it and
they think it’s worth investing
in.”
Green is now taking his
progressive approach to the
housing problem.
And he believes he may
have a solution.
The foundation
Only three site-built homes
and two manufactured homes
have been constructed in John
Day city limits in the last de-
cade, Green said.
Blue Mountain Hospital
District CEO Derek Daly said
well qualified employees have
turned down job offers here
because they were unable to
find suitable housing.
From January 2016 to April
2017, 29 homes within city
limits were sold — 4.7 percent
of the city’s residential hous-
ing market of 615 single-fam-
ily homes — averaging 1,676
square feet at 58 years old with
a sale price of $141,407, Green
said.
A similar-sized new home
would sell for an estimat-
ed $254,000, he said, which
equates to about $1,800 in
additional property tax reve-
nue per home for local taxing
districts.
While the benefit to the
city of new homes on the tax
rolls is clear, convincing a po-
tential homeowner to spend
$112,000 more to build a new
home rather than purchasing
a 58-year-old home is not al-
ways as easy.
Green said the actual cost
to construct the home may
even exceed the estimated sell-
ing price, making it difficult
for a homebuilder to sell a spec
home in the city. Further, he
said, the potential homeowner
is expected to pay additional
system development charges
to connect to water and sewer
services as well as other build-
ing fees.
To overcome this gap to
make it easier for builders to
build and buyers to buy new
homes, Green proposes pro-
viding incentives.
Instead of charging $7,500
per home in system develop-
ment charges, he said the city
could front the cost to encour-
age people to add property to
the tax rolls.
As an even greater incen-
tive, Green said the city could
offer a 7 percent rebate of the
purchase price to homebuyers.
And he believes it can be
done with no cost to the city or
taxpayers.
Building support
To cover the cost of the
$18,000 rebate for a $254,000
home, Green said the city
could rely on the additional
property tax revenue generat-
ed by the more valuable home,
reimbursed to the city through
a housing district.
With $1,800 in addition-
al tax revenue each year, the
$18,000 rebate could be paid
off in 10 years. After the re-
bate is repaid, the additional
tax revenue would benefit all
of the properties’ taxing dis-
tricts.
Currently, Oregon law al-
lows cities to develop urban
renewal districts to address
blight. Green said most of
John Day meets that descrip-
tion.
Once the district has been
designated, property taxes are
frozen at current property val-
ue levels for all other taxing
districts, such as the hospital
and school, so those districts
would continue to receive
the same amount in property
taxes each year. As property
values in the district increase
over time, the resulting in-
crease in property tax revenue
would be distributed back to
the district alone. Through the
program, cities can reinvest to
reduce blight.
Green said that utilizing
the program as a housing dis-
trict, the city could maintain
the additional tax revenue un-
til it covered the full cost of
the rebate, and then the addi-
tional amount would be split
among the taxing districts,
each benefiting from the in-
centive as soon as it was re-
paid.
One problem with the re-
newal district program, Green
said, is that renewal district
areas are currently limited to
25 percent of a city’s acreage
or assessed value. Unlike cit-
ies dealing with downtown
blight, Green intends to rein-
vigorate the housing market
throughout the city.
He said the state legislature
may consider an exemption,
waiver or flexibility with the
definition on the 25 percent
limit. He said he is working
with Rep. Cliff Bentz and
is hopeful legislative action
may be taken in 2018. Gov.
Kate Brown is also accepting
proposals for development
programs, he said, and this
idea may be a great fit for
its ability to be applied any-
where.
With an improved housing
market, along with improved
broadband services and rec-
reational amenities, Green
believes the city will be able
to attract new residents, turn-
ing the tide of population and
economic decline into a new
era of growth.
“This is going to reinvent
Eastern Oregon if we are suc-
cessful,” Green said.
New chamber president has hard-working vision
Blue Mountain Eagle
Bruce Ward is no stranger
to community projects in John
Day — he was involved in
the project several years ago
to upgrade the intersection
of highways 26 and 395 that
now hosts the Corner Cup.
“I love doing community
projects and want to see my
community prosper,” he said.
Ward is the president-elect
of the Grant County Cham-
ber of Commerce and will be
installed as president during
a ceremony at the John Day
Golf Club on Nov. 8.
He will succeed Jerry
Franklin. Franklin served as
president in 2007, when the
chamber acquired and remod-
eled its current office on Main
Street, and again for the past
two years.
Ward’s wife, Kimberly, is
the John Day-Canyon City
Parks and Recreation direc-
tor. They have three grown
children in Portland and four
grandchildren. Ward enjoys
riding motorcycles and snow-
mobiles, two areas that fit into
the chamber’s plans for tour-
ist promotion.
The owner of Sunrise
Construction, Ward was born
here and spent 40 years in
construction in Salem be-
fore moving back about nine
years ago. In addition to yard-
scapes and driveway grading,
he focuses on constructing
steel-frame commercial and
residential buildings. He is
currently working on a steel-
frame home in Canyon City.
“My interest in community
projects grew out of the Grant
County Economic Council
started by Les Zaitz,” he said.
“I was interested in their ac-
tivities and came to head up
two projects.”
The
first
project
in-
volved
con-
verting a closed
gas station on
the corner of
Bruce
Canyon Boule-
Ward
vard and Main
Street.
The
council raised $9,000 from
the community for the non-
profit project, Ward said.
“The council provided the
Western-style false front for
the place,” he said.
The second project in-
volved clearing land north
of the Timbers Bistro into
a space for RVs, trucks and
large vehicles to pull over
in town. The council raised
$10,000 for the project and
the Ford Foundation provided
$5,000.
“It was an extensive make-
over that took six months of
working with the Oregon De-
partment of Transportation
for a new highway approach,”
he said. “There were a lot of
volunteers involved and do-
nated materials.”
Ward recalled removing
trashed furniture from the
site one very hot summer day
when a pickup pulled up and
an arm emerged through the
driver’s side window holding
an ice cream cone. It was Jer-
ry Franklin.
“I knew who he was, but
we hadn’t been formally in-
troduced,” Ward said.
Ward also started working
on the former Oregon Pine
mill site after the DR Johnson
Lumber Co. gave him permis-
sion to clean it up and keep
the weeds mowed. ODOT
participated by cleaning up
some of the rights-of-way
along the highway.
“I believed the mill proper-
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ty could be the center point of
the community,” he said.
Ward thought about the
former mill site over the past
three years and mentioned his
ideas to John Day City Man-
ager Nick Green. The city ac-
quired the 53-acre site in Sep-
tember and is now developing
extensive plans for the site as
the Innovation Gateway proj-
ect.
“This is the most exciting
thing that has happened in this
town in a long time,” Ward
said.
Ward took on the job of
moving the city’s welcome
sign from downtoen John Day
to the former mill site.
Future plans call for plac-
ing symbols of the ranching,
mining and timber industries
near the sign, including an
aluminum, life-sized steer,
ore cars and logging equip-
ment.
Ward, who joined the
chamber more than a year ago,
considers himself a “project
guy” who handed off projects
to Franklin as chamber pres-
ident. He wants to see a ma-
jor cleanup and restoration of
John Day so residents can be
proud of their city and the city
can attract visitors.
“Bruce is a mover and
shaker when it comes to
cleaning up town,” Franklin
said.
While the chamber rep-
resents all of Grant County
and its cities, and Ward is
“technically a resident of Mt.
Vernon,” he is unabashed
about his focus on cleaning
up John Day.
“John Day is the most
recognizable name for the
area,” he said. “Many people
have heard of John Day but
not Grant County. By promot-
ing John Day, you’re promot-
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Ward notes that oftentimes
residents get enthusiastic
about volunteering to help the
community but slowly lose
interest.
“I’ll have no trouble keep-
ing up my interest,” he said. “I
want John Day to live up to its
potential.”
Promoting tourism for
Grant County — from snow-
mobiling, motorcycling and
bicycling to special events —
is a major goal of the cham-
ber. And Ward’s next project
is a heavy one — mounting
the new interactive touch-
screen kiosk on the front of
the chamber office, a joint
tourism information project
with the Forest Service.
“This will take a couple
people to lift,” he said, look-
ing down on the electronic
device.
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