EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Heppner Chamber of
Flood mitigation is a step in the right direction,
Commerce annual luncheon but hurdles still remain at the old mill site
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Engineer’s rendering of the flood mitigation along willow creek. - Contributed Image
Nicole Mahoney speaks at the Heppner Chamber Annual
Luncheon.- Photo by The Heppner Chamber of Commerce.
Jerry Conklin - Photo by The Heppner Chamber of Com-
merce.
Ann Murray - Photo by The Heppner Chamber of Com-
merce.
Kim Coil speaking at the Heppner Chamber Annual Lun-
cheon. - Photo by The Heppner Chamber of Commerce.
and the St. Patrick’s Cele-
bration March 13-16.
During the luncheon,
the Heppner Chamber Vol-
unteer of the Year Award
was presented to Alita Nel-
son in recognition of her
dedicated service as the
St. Patrick’s and Morrow
County Fair & Rodeo pa-
rade coordinator and as
chairperson for the St. Pat-
rick’s bed race.
The chamber also held
By Andrea Di Salvo
The Port of Morrow has
been given the go-ahead to
begin flood mitigation in
the South Morrow Indus-
trial Park along Willow
Creek, but what does that
mean for Heppner?
According to Mark Pat-
ton, POM Chief Operating
Officer, work on the flood
plain is the next step in what
he hopes will be a short
journey toward making the
former Kinzua Mill site
completely buildable.
“That’s the first step
that needs to be complete,”
he says.
That first step had been
a long time coming.
Patton says the old mill
site first went through a
review with the Dept. of
Environmental Quality in
the early 2000s. The ap-
propriate paperwork was
apparently filed with the
DEQ at that time but “dis-
appeared,” Patton says.
It wasn’t until they put
the flood mitigation work
out for bid and applied
for DEQ permits to do the
work that they realized the
process had never been
completed.
“So we had to back it
up,” he says. “We basical-
ly had to pick up the ball
again.”
The Port began go-
ing through the process of
conducting more tests to
satisfy the DEQ. Port staff
also went through their ar-
chives and dug up previous
records, which they handed
over to the Port’s engineer-
ing firms.
Testing done at the site
so far has not found any-
thing negative in the site’s
soil; Patton says the DEQ
has given the mill site “a
clean bill of health.”
The POM started the
process in 2021 and was
awarded a state grant in
2023. It was only recently,
though, that the Port re-
ceived DEQ’s clearance to
begin work.
With the DEQ’s ap-
proval coming through,
Patton is hopeful that the
project will be sent out for
its annual board instal-
lation: President, Brandi
Sweeney; First Vice Pres-
ident, Kim Coil; Treasurer,
Natalie Robinson; board
members Amy Wolters, Ali-
cia Doherty, Jerry Conklin,
Ann Murray and Amber
Schlaich; and new board
member John Doherty.
The event concluded
with a lunch catered by
177 N Main St.
Tacos Hometown.
Heppner, Or 97836
O: 541-676-9228
E:sykeschris@hotmail.com
bid in the next couple of
weeks.
Meanwhile, engineer-
ing firm Anderson Perry
and GSI Water Solutions
are working on a contam-
ination management plan,
which will guide the con-
tractor doing the work. For
instance, if they find any
soil that doesn’t look con-
sistent with the soil around
it, it will need to be tested.
The steps are necessary,
but the extra time and effort
have driven the cost far
above what was expected.
POM originally agreed to
chip in $86,000 but has
already spent more than
$250,000 on engineering
and site environmental re-
view, Patton said.
The Port isn’t the only
one with money on the line.
Willow Creek Economic
Development Group (WC-
VEDG) fronted $350,000,
while Morrow County had
promised another $100,000.
The Port also received an
Oregon State Special Public
Works grant to help with the
funding and has budgeted
up to $80,000 more of its
own money to finish the
process.
As far as the flood miti-
gation process is concerned,
the contractor will not be
working in Willow Creek
itself. Rather, they will
excavate along each side
of the creek to expand the
width so water can flow
freely.
“So it’s just basically
making a wider channel,”
Patton says. “We’re just
moving dirt.”
Some of that dirt will
be moved off-site. Some of
it will be used to build up
the lower elevation ground
near Blue Mountain Manu-
facturing.
Patton is optimistic that
the process will be quick
but says it will be a summer
project.
“We won’t even start
this till all the high wa-
ter comes down Willow
Creek,” he says.
Once the work starts,
hopefully around May of
Broker
Chris Sykes
541-215-2274
Price Reduced
this year, it should take five
to six months to complete
the flood mitigation project.
Patton says he hopes to see
it completed by October.
Meanwhile, Patton says
there is still a complete
study that needs to be done
to satisfy DEQ. That should
take six months to a year to
complete.
“A lot of the stuff has
been done,” he said. “We
only need to do more tests.”
However, the flood mit-
igation removes a huge hur-
dle to siting any projects on
the old mill site. While there
is concrete that needs to be
demolished before anyone
can build in that area, Pat-
ton says there wasn’t much
point until they dealt with
the flood plain.
“This does open up
some opportunities for any-
one who wants to go there,”
he said.
The 130-acre property
does have some existing
business on site, as well as
the Morrow County Oregon
State University Extension
Office, the local DMV of-
fice and the Oregon Dept
of Fish and Wildlife.
At the same time, Pat-
ton says, getting people
interested in building at
the mill site is a hurdle in
itself. Attempts to attract
businesses, both regional
and out of state, have been
disappointing.
177 N. Main
P.O. Box 337
Heppner, OR 97836
Chris@sykesrealestate.net
“We always try to bring
the site up, especially with
someone local, but it’s dif-
ficult,” Patton said.
The rural location and
lack of major transportation
infrastructure makes the
site less than appealing for
many. The mill isn’t com-
ing back, Patton says, and
neither is any other large
business—not without rail
or barge to transport goods.
So, the Port’s efforts
have been toward attracting
small to medium regional
companies.
“Home grown people
are better,” he says, saying
local people are better able
to handle the rural location.
“But it’s also got to
pencil,” he adds, saying a
lot of small businesses can’t
justify the cost of building
at the site. “We’re always
hopeful to get someone up
there.”
He did say the Port
had been approached by a
cryptocurrency company,
but had turned them away
because it would have pro-
vided no jobs and would
have been a huge drain on
the power grid, using 10
megawatts of power.
For now, with flood
mitigation underway, the
Port will continue to work
on the rest of the DEQ’s
requirements simultane-
ously. Patton said he hopes
to have the land completely
buildable in a year.
After that, the proper-
ty’s future is less certain.
“I don’t know what the
city wants to do with the
property,” he says, adding
that the Port is open to any
ideas. “We don’t want to
shove something down
Heppner’s throat that they
don’t want.”
Broker
Chris Sykes
541-215-2274
Pending
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