NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
A3
A year full of projects in John Day
Green: ‘We are
going to start
to see steel in
the ground’
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The John Day City Coun-
cil on Dec. 10 updated the
public on the progress of
23 various projects that
are in different stages of
development.
“We are going to start to
see steel in the ground,” said
City Manager Nick Green.
“We are going to see con-
struction beginning in 2020
and then proceed for the
next two to three years on all
of these projects.”
Street, Sidewalk,
Bridge and Trail
Improvements
• 395 sidewalk exten-
sion: Due to a 2017 house
bill, the small city allotment
grant won’t allow funds for
state highways, so the match
of $75,000 will be cov-
ered by the city out of street
funds. The Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation has
the funds they need to com-
plete the project and signed
the appropriate agreements
to go into final designs and
construction in 2020.
• Fourth Street repairs:
Small city allotment funds
will be redirected to cover
this project with ODOT cov-
ering $50,000 of the cost
and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency cov-
ering the balance, as long
as the project stays within
the estimated cost, which
is about $550,000. Green
will see if it’s possible to get
some Economic Develop-
ment Administration funds
so when streets are being
repaired, fiber optic cable
can also be installed up to the
airport and to homes along
Fourth Street, which will
be done in partnership with
Ortelco.
• Charolais Heights
intersection
improve-
ments: This project has been
funded and budgeted and
will be complete by summer
2020.
• Oregon Pine bridge
improvements: There is an
engineer bridge plan, and
bids are out for the project.
The city budgeted $90,000
for the project.
• 2020 BUILD grant that
would help fund projects for
the Seventh Street Extension,
Charolais Heights and Third
Street Extension bridge: The
city did not receive this grant.
The city will receive a letter
in January outlining the posi-
tive and negative parts of the
application and will reapply
in July.
Innovation Gateway &
Riverfront Recreation
Projects
• Hotel site develop-
ment: The design build
team for the Pridays, who
plan to build a hotel, will be
on the build site this week.
The city is contracted to
do a transportation impact
assessment for the new hotel
and the future conference
center. The assessment will
look into traffic counts and
driveway approaches onto
the property.
• Treatment plant: There
are four bids to take on the
wastewater treatment plant
project from Kubota, H2O
Innovations, Alfa Laval
and Cloacina. The city is
expected to award a bid by
the end of the month.
• Aquatics center: The
feasibility study regarding
the pool will come back in
February 2020. This study
will help determine a county
service district the county
court could put before voters
of completing the property
purchase by June 2020, but
no later than November.
Downtown/Main Street
Improvements
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
In one room, the greenhouse produces red and green ro-
maine lettuce, red and green butterhead lettuce, basil and
cilantro.
in June or November. There
are currently four different
options of proposed service
districts for the facility.
• Integrated Park Sys-
tem: The city is waiting for
the State Historic Preser-
vation Office to deliver its
observations on the area.
Green has told the SHPO
through a variety of formats
that the area for the trail park
has gone through signifi-
cant ground projects in the
last 100 years and feels that,
if there were any items of
archeological significance,
they have already been
found. The city is waiting to
hear back from the SHPO by
the end of December. Davis
Creek has been completed.
• Greenhouse:
1188
Brewing Co., Timbers Bis-
tro and Chester’s Thriftway
currently receive produce
from the greenhouse with
a possibility of two more
restaurants being supplied
in the spring or summer.
The city is looking into add-
ing two more bays for the
greenhouse through the U.S.
Economic
Development
Administration grant. A por-
tion of the grant is for disas-
ter recovery, and the other
funds are for resilience.
• Community pavilion:
The USDA rural develop-
ment and a nonprofit part-
ner are interested in financ-
ing the pavilion. Green will
continue with the pavilion
project sometime between
now and June.
• Conference center
concept development: The
city is going to create a plan-
ning and development plan
for the project.
• Iron Triangle prop-
erty acquisition: This is a
14-acre parcel that includes
two small office buildings
and a main shop, according
to Green. The city is plan-
ning to purchase the area
to obtain the right of way
between Patterson Bridge
Road and Valley View Drive
to create the new Govern-
ment Entry Road and com-
plete the Seventh Street
Extension as part of the
Innovation Gateway project.
The city plans to have
the office buildings demol-
ished, complete the streets
and then replat the 14-acres
into smaller lots that can be
used for light industrial pur-
poses, according to Green.
The plan is to start the Phase
1 environmental assessment
early in 2020 with the goal
• Downtown parking
improvements: The city
approved Green to sign the
purchase and sale agreement
of the Brazil/Morrison lot
and do anything else needed
to obtain the property. The
city is also planning to cre-
ate additional parking next
to city hall.
• Len’s Drug renova-
tion: The city is expect-
ing an application in the
near future regarding the
improvements.
Housing
• Weaver Building:
Tyler Sheedy purchased the
Weaver building on Nov.
27. While the development
agreement is not finished,
the plan is to complete the
renovation within the next
five years.
• Phase 2 of Ironwood
Estates: Iron Triangle plans
to use the funds from the Iron
Triangle property acquisi-
tion to help fund Phase 2 of
Ironwood Estates.
• Strawberry View
Estates: The property has
been acquired by Mahogany
Ridge Properties, which will
be talking with the council
to do an initial consult on
land development require-
ments. Rust Cumber and
Josh Walker purchased the
property two months ago
and want to work with the
city and revisit creating a
master plan for the area.
• Riverside Home Park
code enforcement and
tenant improvements: The
city did an inspection of
the park and is working to
address the findings. The
city is looking at creating a
developing agreement with
the park owners to bring the
nonconforming units into
compliance with the code.
The Planning Commission
hearing for Riverside will be
held Jan. 14.
Intergovernmental
Projects
• Broadband expan-
sion: The city seeks to pro-
vide fiber optic cable up the
path to the fairgrounds and
the residences there. Other
areas the city plans to cover
are: the path leading up to
the airport, down to the new
wastewater treatment site,
the new hotel, up to Phase
2 of Ironwood Estates and
Valley View Drive. The
goal is to have fiber to every
premise in John Day within
the next three years.
• Oregon RAIN: There
are six candidates that the
hiring committee will review
for the rural venture capital-
ist position. The hiring com-
mittee will meet Jan. 8 to
make a decision. The goal is
to have somebody ready by
the beginning of 2020.
• County fairgrounds
project: The fairgrounds
strategic planning effort will
continue through March.
Allison Field, the Grant
County Economic Devel-
opment director, Mindy
Winegar, the fairgrounds
manager, Donna Palmer,
fairgrounds board chair, and
Daisy Goebel, a city plan-
ning associate, are working
with the city’s consultants,
EcoNorthwest and Walker
Macy, on that effort, Green
said. The Trowbridge Pavil-
ion will undergo a 10-week
project set to begin and end
between March 9 and May
11. This will fix the pavil-
ion’s concrete floor.
• Kam Wah Chung State
Heritage Site: The city is
expecting a revised offer
from the state regarding the
sale of the land where Glea-
son Pool is located.
CONSERVATION TECHNICIAN
Grant Soil & Water Conservation District, based in John Day,
OR is seeking to fill a Conservation Technician Position. This
position provides labor, technical and programmatic services
to support the successful implementation of District Programs.
Qualified candidates require field and technical skills, have the
ability to work independently and as part of a team as well as
possess strong oral and written communication abilities. Salary:
$45-$55K DOE, Plus Benefits. For a complete
job description and application, please visit
www.grantswcd.net or contact Kyle Sullivan
541-575-0135 ext. 111, sullivank@ortelco.net.
Application Deadline is January 17, 2020.
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THE JUNIPER ARTS COUNCIL / GRANT
COUNTY CULTURAL COALITION IS SEEKING
GRANT PROPOSALS FOR OREGON
CULTURAL TRUST GRANT AWARDS
The coalition has $6,300 from the Oregon Cultural
Trust to distribute in Grant County to organizations
for projects relating to culture and / or heritage.
Applications are available from Karin Barntish,
131 W. Main Street, John Day, Oregon, or call
Kris Beal at (541)932-4892 for more information
or an application.
Grant applications will be accepted until
February 5, 2020 5 P.M.
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