14
PROGRESS 2019: JOHN DAY
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
City
Continued from Page 1
That includes groceries, hard-
ware, banking, professional ser-
vices, health care, dining, enter-
tainment and employment.
Transportation to and from
John Day is a challenge, with
major cities located several hours
away on two-lane highways that
experience hazardous driving con-
ditions at times. The city is not
served by rail, and the regional air-
port does not offer scheduled pas-
senger flights.
Much of the city’s land includes
steep slopes and floodplain that
was severely modified by historic
mine dredging. Both the housing
stock and the workforce is aging,
and the city’s population declined
over the past decades. Attracting
younger workers is difficult, and
there is an over-reliance on gov-
ernment employment.
On the positive side, John Day
is a gateway to numerous rec-
reational opportunities and is
located at the intersection of two
scenic byways popular with auto-
mobile, motorcycle and bicycle
tourists. It is home to the unique
Kam Wah Chung State Heritage
Site and attracts spillover growth
from Deschutes County as well as
retirees.
Grant County has ranked near
the bottom for employment figures
among Oregon counties for a long
time. The Oregon Employment
Department reported that unem-
ployment in the county increased
slightly to 8.4% in March, com-
pared to 4.4% for the state and
3.8% for the U.S.
According to data in the May
2019 draft Economic Opportuni-
ties Analysis report by Johnson
Economics, the cities of John Day
and Canyon City have the great-
est share of the county’s employ-
ment, beyond their share of the
population.
About 63% of the county’s
workers are employed in John
Day, which has about 23% of the
county’s population. The Oregon
Employment Department reported
2,381 employees in John Day in
2018. The largest employer sec-
tors in John Day in 2018 were
health care with 585 workers,
agriculture and forestry with 493,
retail trade with 306 and govern-
ment with 118.
Johnson Economics forecasts
an annual average employment
growth rate in John Day of 0.8%
for the next 20 years. The fastest
growing sectors would be educa-
tion and health care, both at 1.2%.
Agriculture and forestry is forecast
to grow by 0.6% and retail trade
by 0.4% per year over the next 20
years.
Eagle file photo
A fire truck passes in front of the John Day Fire Hall. Construction of the $1.2 million plus facility began in 2015.
bars, an ADA-compatible swing
and a pour-in-place rubber play-
ground surface.
The seasonal 87-by-37-foot con-
crete splash pad will be built near
the kiddie park and include three
7-inch water rings, three bucket
dumps, one unit with seven ground
sprays, a wildfire hose, a question
mark, a hitching post and a 6-foot-
high mushroom-shaped fountain in
the center.
Trails and a pool
Eagle file photo
City Manager Nick Green stands in front of a holding pond for John Day’s wastewater treatment plant in 2017.
The pond’s proximity to the river raised concerns that contaminants might enter the river.
Housing stock
According to an ongoing study
by EcoNorthwest, the share of John
Day residents 60 years or older is
expected to increase from 36%
currently to 53% in 2040. Hous-
ing stock in John Day will need
to accommodate this aging pop-
ulation, with smaller and easier
to maintain dwellings along with
assisted living facilities or age-re-
stricted developments.
“We want our community to be
inviting and accessible to all our
residents,” Green said in a May
newsletter. “We want our older res-
idents to be able to age in place and
live comfortably in our commu-
nity. We need housing options that
accommodate these needs.”
Green hopes to attract more
millennials, people aged 18-38
years old who account for the larg-
est share of Oregon’s population.
“Our ability to attract and
retain people in this age group will
depend, in large part, on whether
the city has opportunities for hous-
ing (and employment) that both
appeals to and is affordable to mil-
lennials,” Green said.
That could mean building more
townhouses, duplexes and other
multi-family housing. Housing
supply and household incomes in
John Day currently are out of sync.
“There is a deficit in our hous-
ing for both low-income earners
and high-income earners, with a
general housing deficit for house-
holds earning over $50,000 annu-
ally,” Green said.
In an effort to spark invest-
ment in the aging housing stock,
John Day established an urban
renewal district that incentivizes
new home construction and major
remodeling. The goal is 100 new
homes built in the 20-year life of
the program.
To encourage new home con-
struction within the district, the
city will waive system develop-
ment charges for water and sewer
service and provide property own-
ers a 7% rebate on the increase in
the property’s assessed value.
The city will recoup the cost
of the incentives through tax-in-
crement financing. Taxes on prop-
Eagle file photo
According to Innovation Gateway project plans, the planer shed at
the former Oregon Pine mill site in John Day could be used for farmers
markets and other community or tourist-related events.
erties within the plan’s boundar-
ies will be frozen, and any future
increases will go toward pay-
ing back the city for the incen-
tives. The city expects to be repaid
within seven years of a project’s
completion.
Big projects
It was the need for a new waste-
water treatment plant that led to
many of the city’s big projects
that today attract so much atten-
tion. The city acquired the 53-acre
closed Oregon Pine mill site for
the land needed for a new plant
and then looked at ways to use the
rest of the property. The result was
the Innovation Gateway project.
Finding the financing to replace
the 70-year-old wastewater treat-
ment plant with one costing $10.3
million, however, may be diffi-
cult. Green said the city’s goal is
to finance 80% of the project with
grants and 20% with loans. But
Green has also noted that the best
way to finance a new treatment
plant is by increasing the tax base
through growth.
The city council approved the
designs for a high-tech treatment
plant last June. A hydroponic bio-
reactor from Sustainable Water of
Glen Allen, Virginia, could produce
Class A reclaimed water for reuse
around the city. The 13,000 feet of
purple pipe needed to distribute 80
million gallons of reclaimed water
could cost $1 million.
Reclaimed water could be used
to irrigate public parks and sports
fields and the city golf course, land-
scaping around the proposed Inno-
vation Gateway project, non-res-
idential toilet flushing, log deck
watering at Malheur Lumber Co.,
process water for a proposed torre-
faction plant and for growing pro-
duce in the city’s future greenhouse.
The 83-acre Innovation Gate-
way project includes the Ore-
gon Pine brownfield site and city
land on both sides of the John Day
River. Using grants, the city con-
tracted with the Walker Macy land-
scape architect firm in Portland to
come up with conceptual designs
for the project. A major component
is extending Seventh Street west
to Patterson Bridge Road, open-
ing up more riverfront to the pub-
lic and vacant land for residential
development.
Other conceptual plans were
presented to the city council on
May 28. The Phase 1 plans included
a refurbished planer shed used as
an open-air pavilion for farmers
markets and other functions, a 150-
to 170-room hotel, a water garden
around the former sawmill build-
ing, a riverfront beach and a lake.
A main attraction for the Inno-
vation Gateway will be a commer-
cial greenhouse that currently has
three nearly completed bays and
could be expanded by two more
bays. The city took out a state loan
to pay for the three bays, with pay-
ments coming from the sale of pro-
duce to local markets, schools and
restaurants.
The $337,590 three-bay green-
house from EuroMex is expected to
produce about 30 tons of produce
each year — enough to meet the
needs of the John Day area. Two
additional bays, if constructed,
could be used to produce other
commercial products, such as spe-
cialized hops for craft brewers.
EcoNorthwest, which was con-
tracted to help draft a comprehen-
sive economic development strat-
egy for the John Day area, reported
that export-oriented hydroponic
businesses are complex and have a
high failure rate. In addition to high
labor and energy costs, the nearest
export markets for John Day are
three hours away, project manager
Matt Craigie said.
The city is also promoting Main
Street revitalization efforts. A beau-
tification project was completed in
2014 that included new sidewalks
along Main Street and South Can-
yon Boulevard and replaced high-
way lighting with old-fashioned
light posts.
In March 2017, at the request
of some downtown merchants,
the city used a grant to purchase
the Weaver Building with plans
to rehabilitate the aging structure.
The 12,000-square-foot two-story
building included four commer-
cial business on the ground floor
and space for six residential units
upstairs.
The city used another grant to
pay $75,924 to Alpine Abatement
Associates of Bend for asbestos
and lead abatement. Much of the
interior is now stripped down to
studs, and on May 28 the city coun-
cil approved conditions for the sale
of the building.
The city will take sealed bids
from interested buyers on June 25
and entertain options for owner
financing. The Weaver Building
will be included in the John Day
Urban Renewal Area and qual-
ify for a 15% rebate on eligible
improvements.
The city also applied for two
Main Street Revitalization grants
from the state on behalf of two
downtown businesses. Greg and
Marla Armstrong were awarded
$200,000 to match the $446,000
they intend to invest in a major
remodel of the Len’s Drug store.
Plans call for increasing retail
space by about 4,500 square feet by
expanding west.
Sports complex
“Our investments in recreational
amenities and a restored riverfront
are magnet investments,” Green
said in the May newsletter. “They
are designed to attract and retain
residents who want what we have
to offer.”
The city has a first-class sports
complex on Seventh Street not
far from the county fairgrounds
that features baseball and softball
fields, tennis and basketball courts,
a walking track, a fishing pond and
a skatepark that is operated by the
John Day-Canyon city Parks and
Recreation District.
Rough-in work for a single-track
mountain bike park on the school
district land overlooking the sports
complex was completed last sum-
mer. Parking spaces and a pump
track were added this year. The
nonprofit Grant County Economic
Council led the fundraising for the
project, and the Eastern Oregon
Trail Alliance provided technical
guidance.
A new playground has been
installed this year, and splash pad
will be completed at the east end
of the complex this year. The kid-
die park features two playground
areas, one for ages 2-5 and one for
ages 5-12, with swings, tube slides,
a climbing wall, platforms, monkey
Connecting the sports complex
to a new city park on the John Day
River and the Innovation Gateway
project will be a series of intercon-
necting riverfront trails. An Ore-
gon Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment advisory committee ranked
the city’s trail design as the No. 1
non-motorized use proposal for the
2018 Recreational Trails Program
grant funding and recommended
awarding $191,300 for the trail
system.
In March, the city council got a
first look at river restoration plans
developed by Walker Macy that
call for altering a mile-long section
of the river from Canton Street to
Innovation Gateway. To replace the
straight and narrow channel left by
historic gold dredging operations,
a meandering river with side chan-
nels and wetlands would be con-
structed on city-owned land north
of the river. State and federal funds
would pay for the project, not city
money, Green said.
In 2018, the city acquired 10
acres of land along the John Day
River from Colleen and Celeste
Hill for additional park land. Prop-
erty on the north side of the river
includes the Davis Creek ravine,
which could be used for a future
botanical garden and a new trail to
the sports complex.
About four acres on the south
side of the river will be developed
for the new Hill Family City Park.
A footbridge across the John Day
River will connect the new park
to the riverfront trail system, and
a trail built along Canyon Creek
would connect the park to the Kam
Wah Chung State Heritage Site and
downtown.
Establishing a new city park is
part of a larger and complicated set
of decisions.
The state has long expressed
interest in acquiring the city park
land surrounding the Kam Wah
Chung site, including the Glea-
son Pool, for construction of a new
interpretive center.
With a potential surging interest
in the historic site by Chinese tour-
ists, the state’s investment in a new
interpretive center would be good
for the city’s economy. At the same
time, the 61-year-old public swim-
ming pool — the second oldest in
the state — has become a finan-
cial liability for the city. Repairing
and replacing the aging pipes and
equipment is becoming too expen-
sive for the city.
An advisory committee has
been studying ways to replace the
pool with assistance from profes-
sional consultants hired by the city.
Consensus was reached for a target
figure of $4.5 million for construc-
tion of a 6-lane 25-meter pool and
$100,000 per year for operations
and savings.
But those figures are beyond the
reach of John Day, which is look-
ing at major investments in the new
sewer treatment plant as well as the
Innovation Gateway and riverfront
projects. The city hopes to lever-
age the sale of its land around Kam
Wah Chung to cover part of the
construction costs for a new pool
and establish a new county service
district to raise the remainder of
the construction costs and to han-
dle the annual operational costs.