PROGRESS 2019: INNOVATION GATEWAY/BROADBAND
Blue Mountain Eagle
16
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
John Day embarks on ambitious project
Former mill
site restoration
to feature
greenhouses,
pavilion and
riverfront trail
system
By Nick Green
For the Blue Mountain
Eagle
Eagle fi le photo
A Blue Mountain Telecommunication Services bucket truck
is used to run an optical fi ber cable along South Canyon
Boulevard from the John Day Fire Hall to the Grant County
Education Service District building on April 3.
Two years ago, the city
of John Day embarked on an
ambitious project — to pur-
chase and restore the Ore-
gon Pine mill site to create
a home for our new waste-
water treatment plant. But
it wasn’t just any old site.
It was the gateway to our
city. And it wasn’t just any
old treatment plant. It was
a reclaimed
water facil-
ity
that
w o u l d
allow us to
harvest and
reuse 100%
of our solid
Nick Green
and liquid
waste, turn-
ing an environmental liabil-
ity into an economic asset.
Oregon Pine was cho-
sen as the site for the new
treatment plant both for its
buildable area north of the
John Day River, which lies
outside the 100-year fl ood
plain, and for the poten-
tial of its large open space
adjacent to the highway. As
we got to know the prop-
erty, we realized it had tre-
mendous public benefi t
for riverfront recreation,
parks, trails and greenway.
The property could also be
used to expand commercial
and industrial opportuni-
ties in emerging industries
like controlled environment
agriculture.
After two years of plan-
ning, we are now ready
to present our work. The
John Day Innovation Gate-
way and Riverfront Rec-
reation Area is an 83-acre
site that integrates 20 new
initiatives, including a
hydroponic greenhouse, an
open-air pavilion and com-
munity gathering space,
and a system of parks, trails
and greenways that con-
nect our residents to the
river and our neighbors to
each other. It includes new
street improvements to
enhance our local street net-
work and leaves room for
future growth in mixed-use
development, smart agri-
culture and other advanced
industries.
The area plan was cre-
The
Contributed image
A conceptual map of the Innovation Gateway project in John Day made by landscape
architectural consultant Walker Macy includes, left to right, a 150-170 room hotel, a water
garden at the former sawmill building, a riverfront beach, a seasonal or permanent lake, a
pavillion built from the former planer shed and a fi ve-bay greenhouse complex.
ated by an integrated design
team led by Walker Macy,
a leading landscape archi-
tecture, urban design, plan-
ning and sustainability fi rm.
The economic strategy that
accompanies the plan was
developed by EcoNorth-
west, Oregon’s premier
economic
development
consulting fi rm. Our teams
have done an excellent job
of bringing what’s great
about John Day and Grant
County to the forefront of
our planning process —
honoring our heritage as a
natural resource community
— while also creating via-
ble opportunities for eco-
nomic expansion and diver-
sifi cation into new frontiers.
I’ve had the opportunity
to present these concepts at
state and national confer-
ences as they’ve developed.
This year, I’ll be present-
ing the John Day Innova-
tion Gateway concept plan
at the Oregon Association
of Clean Water Agencies
annual conference in Bend
and at the 2019 Oregon
Infrastructure Summit in
Salem. We have also been
featured in WIRED maga-
zine and Oregon Business
magazine articles for our
recreation and economic
development
initiatives.
People are talking about our
community in positive ways
because they believe in our
potential and the work we
are doing.
ogy allows the automation
of parameters such as tem-
perature, humidity, CO2
levels, irrigation and fer-
tilizer. While the green-
house is initially operating
with fresh, potable water
from the city water system,
the design includes a pur-
ple-pipe extension to the
future wastewater treatment
plant. Using reclaimed
water, treated to a class
A effl uent for irrigation
within the greenhouses, we
are hoping to launch a new
industry in John Day.
Hydroponics and con-
trolled environment agri-
culture have been used
for years by researchers,
educators and commer-
cial farmers. By combin-
ing these three most com-
mon users, we are doing
our part to remediate a
rural food desert and jump
start our recovering econ-
omy. Our goal is to attract
commercial-scale
grow-
ers who can use the city’s
reclaimed water supply,
land and growing climate to
expand their existing busi-
ness. The greenhouse can
also be used for research
and development of new
products and as an incuba-
tor or accelerator to help
local growers establish their
own hydroponics markets,
all while delivering fresh,
locally grown produce for
our residents.
Community pavilion
The greenhouse
at Oregon Pine
The Oregon Pine mill
site is in a prime location
to be a gateway to the city
and to provide a signifi cant
message about our identity
and energy. When redevel-
oped, this site will be home
to a myriad of community
events, markets and con-
nections to the river and
downtown. The commu-
nity pavilion project will
provide a signature space
for events and community
markets and become an
important marker for our
family-oriented identity.
This former mill build-
ing will come to life daily
with community arts,
gatherings and family
use. Its renovation will
mark a signifi cant step in
our emphasis on livabil-
ity and vitality and will
help establish a new cre-
ative community space
for residents.
The proposed use for
the main shed structure
visible from the highway
is an open park pavilion
that can be used for a vari-
ety of community events
including farmers mar-
kets, performances, food
The fi rst greenhouse
at Oregon Pine is now
fully operational. This
6,240-square-foot fully-au-
tomated facility is expand-
able to 10,400 square
feet (with two additional
bays). Advanced technol-
Blue Mountain
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festivals and large commu-
nity gatherings. The build-
ing will be structurally sta-
bilized with steel or timber
cross bracing to meet cur-
rent codes. A new slab fl oor
will be provided with an
artistic paving pattern and
openings on both the north
and south sides will be
expanded to provide gener-
ous connections to the adja-
cent outdoor spaces. The
trusses, columns and wood
framing will be lightly
sandblasted and sealed to
retain the current appear-
ance. Exterior materials
will be repaired or replaced
with similar industrial
materials including corru-
gated siding and metal roof-
ing, with skylights allowing
natural light into the center
of the building. Large open-
ings will be created to cap-
ture views of the river, site
and surrounding mountains
while also providing views
of the activities within.
Integrated park system
and riverfront trails
We have begun the site
preparation and construc-
tion of our new trail sys-
tem along the north side of
the river and are actively
planning the expansion of
this system to connect to
our existing parks at the
Kam Wah Chung heritage
site, Grant County Fair-
grounds and Seventh Street
Complex.
We are also invest-
ing in two new riverfront
parks at Davis Creek and
north of Canton Street. The
city of John Day, the John
Day-Canyon City Parks
and Recreation District and
local nonprofi ts have also
worked together to build a
new playground, splash pad
and bike park at the east end
of the Seventh Street Com-
plex. Our hope is that these
new amenities will bene-
fi t all our residents by cre-
ating more opportunities for
outdoor recreation close to
home.
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank our
community advisory com-
mittees, city staff and city
councilors who have spent
months reviewing plans,
providing critical feed-
back and sharing their val-
ues and priorities with our
consultants. Their efforts
have helped make this our
plan for our community.
We hope you’ll enjoy these
projects as much as we have
and take the time to share
your voice with the city in
our future planning efforts.
Nick Green is the John
Day city manager.
Grants could connect all
county cities to broadband
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Bringing broadband inter-
net connectivity to Grant
County has been a geo-
graphic, fi nancial and politi-
cal challenge, but some light
glimmers at the end of the
tunnel.
Grant County ranks No.
2 among Oregon counties on
the Digital Divide Index pro-
duced by Roberto Gallardo
at Purdue University, after
Wheeler County.
Major internet trunk lines
are routed along U.S. high-
ways 97 and 20 and Inter-
state 84, basically circling
around Grant County. On top
of that, the internet infrastruc-
ture serving Grant County is
a patchwork quilt of differ-
ent companies utilizing cop-
per phone lines, optical fi ber
cable and satellite.
The Digital Divide, which
measures lack of broad-
band access, “is the num-
ber one threat to commu-
nity economic development
in the 21st century,” a John
Day city resolution stated in
2018.
John Day led the effort
to improve broadband con-
nectivity in Grant County
as part of the city’s overall
strategy for success. In Feb-
ruary 2017, City Manager
Nick Green lobbied in Salem
for grant funding, visiting
Gov. Kate Brown, Rep. Cliff
Bentz and Sen. Ted Ferriolli.
Fiber-optic access would
boost internet capabilities and
help local residents and busi-
nesses as well as potentially
attract new ones, Green told
the offi cials. Increased con-
nectivity could also play a
critical role in public safety.
In July 2017, the city
learned that Ferrioli’s broad-
band funding request had
been approved, providing
John Day with $1.82 million
to improve internet access in
the county.
The city took steps to
establish a coalition between
the county and several cit-
ies to utilize the funding, the
Grant County Digital Net-
work Coalition, but it imme-
diately ran into opposition.
Canyon City Mayor
Steve Fischer and Prairie
City Mayor Jim Hamsher
said more information with
better fi nancial fi gures was
needed before their city coun-
cils could approve an agree-
ment to join the project and
assume uncertain fi nancial
obligations.
Hamsher, who is also a
county commissioner, noted
that Prairie City and Mt. Ver-
non had good internet access
through fi ber-to-home service
provided by Oregon Tele-
phone Corporation.
Several emotional hear-
ings were held by the county
court before Grant County
would join the broadband
coalition. Support came from
the economic development
offi ce, Grant School District
3 and numerous residents and
business people.
Opponents raised three
key issues — fear of trap-
ping the county in a fi nan-
cial agreement that could go
awry, the need to provide
broadband to Long Creek and
Monument not just the John
Day Valley and the need for
the coalition to work more
with current internet provid-
ers, Ortelco and CenturyLink.
In March 2018, the county
court agreed to join John Day
and Seneca in the broadband
coalition. Two months later,
after two years of private
negotiations, a public-private
partnership between the coa-
lition and Ortelco was offi -
cially unveiled.
“Ortelco is excited to be
able to continue to do what
we do best, which is to con-
tinue to offer service to out-
lying areas comparable to
our existing service areas,”
Ortelco General Manager
DeeDee Kluser said at the
time. “We look forward to
opportunities ahead.”
The coalition lined up
a team of experts to help
develop their goals, including
Fiber Channels, Commstruc-
ture Consulting, CTC Tech-
nology & Energy and the
Cohen Law Group.
With a phased approach
to how a fi ber cable could
be run from Burns south to
John Day, the coalition made
plans in May 2018 to apply
for a $3 million USDA Com-
munity Connect grant lever-
aged by the $1.8 million state
appropriation.
Plans called for running
fi ber throughout Seneca as a
way to boost the grant appli-
cation’s chances and to use a
server room in the John Day
Fire Hall as a hub for the new
broadband network.
In November 2018, the
coalition began to take steps
to build public support for the
broadband network. Many
county residents didn’t under-
stand the need for broadband
in the county or that the coa-
lition was a state-funded
agency that was not using
local taxpayer funds, coali-
tion offi cials said.
The coalition received bad
news in December 2018. A
total of 124 project applica-
tions were submitted for $33
million in grants and $58 mil-
lion in loans available from
the USDA Community Con-
nect program, and 19 projects
were awarded. But the Grant
County Digital Network Coa-
lition was not one of them.
As additional federal
grant and loan programs
for rural broadband became
available, the coalition
looked at the USDA ReCon-
nect program.
During a Dec. 18 town hall
meeting, however, Christo-
pher Mitchell, director of the
Community Broadband Net-
works Initiative at the Insti-
tute for Local Self-Reliance,
noted that most new funding
would go to the most orga-
nized agencies because fed-
eral offi cials typically don’t
like to see failure, he said.
The Grant County Digital
Network Coalition must be
willing to “grind it out,” he
said.
Local plans took a
leap forward in May this
year when the coalition
announced it would join
Ortelco in the company’s
application for a ReConnect
grant large enough to con-
nect Seneca to John Day and
Mt. Vernon to Long Creek,
Monument, Kimberly and
Spray.
The coalition would apply
again for a Community Con-
nect grant to connect Sen-
eca to Burns, while existing
Ortelco fi ber cable would
connect Dayville, Mt. Ver-
non, John Day, Canyon City
and Prairie City.
Success with the two grant
applications would result in a
“hat trick,” as coalition board
member Josh Walker charac-
terized it. All of the county’s
cities would be connected to
the broadband network, and
internet would be brought
into the county on fi ber cable
from three directions — east,
south and west.
By June, the grant appli-
cations had been submitted,
with a $1 million commit-
ment by John Day on behalf
of the coalition.
