A18
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Innovation
Continued from Page A1
from flooding.
A proposed parking lot in
front of the hotel will provide
80 parking spaces and several
RV spots for hotel guests and
visitors.
The parking lot will also
include climate adaptive
annual grasses, shrubs and
trees, which will help screen
the parking lot from Highway
26 and the John Day River,
according to the report.
The proposed event center
in the adapted sawmill shed
building offers 2,300 square
feet of space that could be
used for conferences, wed-
dings, community functions
or potential commercial food
or beverage operations. The
report states the “existing steel
framing on the main floor
down to the foundation can be
repurposed for use as the base
of the new proposed event
center building.”
The blueprint of the saw-
mill presents a deck on both
ends of the mill for guests to
view the surrounding area, an
event hall, distillery, cafe, and
kitchen. The event center will
be sited within newly devel-
oped water gardens, according
to the report.
“Wrapping the water gar-
dens on the north, east and
south, the restored wetlands
store seasonal flood waters
and support wildlife with
native shrubs, grasses and
trees,” the report states. “A
network of boardwalks, over-
looks and pathways provide
places to view and enjoy the
restored wetlands from multi-
ple perspectives.”
An event hall, restau-
rant and hotel will all be con-
nected. A customer would
enter through a shared lobby,
which would be the central-
ized point of welcome and
visibility for staff operations,
Contributed photo
The hotel, event center and lobby will all be connected together in plans for the next phase of the Innovation Gateway.
according to the report.
At the city council meeting
on April 14, it was announced
that a 6,000-square foot saw-
mill for an event space would
make it the third largest in
Eastern Oregon, which Green
said is oversized for the mar-
ket in John Day. After dis-
cussions with EcoNorthwest,
the recommended size for
the event center was to be no
larger than 2,500 square feet.
“As we discussed options
for the best use of that site —
www.MyEagleNews.com
given the Inn at Whiskey Flats
is the working name for the
hotel — they said the best eco-
nomics you can offer is an eat-
ery that can also function as a
distillery,” Green said.
Green added that this could
add options for catering with
a kitchen that could be sublet.
“We started talking with
Shannon and Jeremy (Adair
from 1188 Brewing Com-
pany) to ask if they would be
interested in expanding their
business and would they con-
sider co-locating maybe with
a different trajectory?” Green
said.
Shannon Adair said they
plan to keep their restaurant
on Main Street but accepted
the opportunity to expand in a
new location.
“We’ve always needed
more space for the brewing,
and we always wanted to go
into distilling and try to make
what we do now a destina-
tion that brings people to John
Day,” Adair said.
The food planned to be pro-
vided would be focused on
breakfast instead of lunch
or dinner items along with a
possible tasting room. Shan-
non added that 1188 could
possibly add around 16 new
jobs with the new addition.
Green said the hotel could
could add 16 new jobs.
The sorter shed is also
planned to be repurposed
as a community pavilion,
which could be used for a
variety of functions such as
community events, farmers
markets, performances and
large gatherings, according
to the report.
“The 12,000 square feet
existing sawmill shed build-
ing that once served a crit-
ical production role within
the Oregon Pine sawmill can
now serve as the key struc-
ture of a new event center
and hotel — creating a vis-
ible, architectural tie to John
Day’s history shaped by the
mill,” the report states.
Athletes
nity College next year, said
she does not plan to do track
at TVCC, so this would have
been her last year.
Last year, the Prairie Track
and Field team made it to
the district championship.
Although Emmel did not make
it to state, two of her team-
mates did, and it was a great
experience.
Emmel said, more than
sports and other activities,
what she misses the most about
the cancelation is seeing every-
one each day.
“I hoped that we would
at least go back to school,”
Emmel said.
Grant Union softball player
Sequoya Swearingen said she
is missing the bonding and
camaraderie that came with
being on the softball team.
“No matter how much we
bickered and argued off the
field, we were always family
on the field,” she said.
Swearingen said another
aspect of missing out on her
senior year is not getting to
have a senior night.
“You hear about it your
whole life growing up,” Swear-
ingen said, “and now we don’t
get to experience it.”
not cover.
On the call, Adair said the
PPP, which she received, does
not cover a lot of the expenses
that she is on the hook for,
such as expired food in her
walk-in cooler, insurance and
advertisers she committed to.
She said the PPP is benefi-
cial to keep the building open
so that the business can con-
tinue on with projects while
the restaurant is closed and
pay utilities.
“We can pay our bills, and
then we have this big chunk
of money that we may or may
not be able to use in an eight-
week period,” Adair said.
“We don’t have work for the
same number of staff we laid
off (required by the PPP), and
many are making more on
unemployment. I can bring
back the ones that have strug-
gled getting unemployment
and have them work on proj-
ects, but that will be a small
part of that 75% (required to
be spent on payroll for loan
forgiveness).
“Once the eight-week
period is over, we may be
open by that point, but our
sales will not be the same, and
I will not need the same num-
ber of employees. Assuming
I brought them all back in an
eight-week period, I would
just have to lay some of them
off again,” she said. “The PPP
is just not flexible enough to
provide what we are going to
need over the long haul.”
Continued from Page A1
These days Emmel said
she has been helping out at the
family ranch.
“I’ve just been trying to stay
busy with whatever I can,” she
said.
Emmel, who will attend
Treasure Valley Commu-
Monday - Thursday
7am-
6pm
Monday
- Thursday
7am-
6pm
Friday
8am
- 5pm
Friday
8am
-
Mendy Sharpe 5pm
FNP
Business
Apppointments
available
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139101
Continued from Page A1
businesses simply need an
influx of modest amounts of
cash.”
Wyden said businesses
with $1 million or less in
gross receipts with 50 or fewer
employees would receive a
check equal to the business’
gross receipts reported in a
previous year, up to $75,000.
Wyden said the PPP —
which provides loans that can
be forgiven under certain con-
ditions — is simply not enough
assistance for small business
owners who, when the econ-
omy opens back up, will be
operating at partial capacity.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
1188 Brewing Company Own-
er Shannon Adair said that a
to-go only model would not
work for 1188 because brew
pubs are too social of an en-
vironment.
Wyden said small busi-
nesses in retail and the
restaurant business will have
expenses that the PPP does
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