General notes: Work proceeds on planning for the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 4th. We have, at Seth’s request, changed things around a little bit this year. You may have noticed the excavation project going on in Centennial Plaza last week – that was our Public Works crew installing a 4 foot section of pipe in the ground to use as a base for the Christmas tree this year. That means that the 90’ tall behemoth on Cool Printing’s property is no longer going to be used for the tree this year. After going through all of the trouble (and expense) to get the lights on that tree situated properly, only to have them blown around by the wind and generally criticized by the general public, Seth decided that we should have a proper Christmas tree with proper decorations.
Therefore, we have secured a 20’ tree from Knapp Farms, and our Public works crew (and yours truly) will have it delivered to the plaza this coming Monday. We have contracted with the same business that does the Gresham tree to decorate our donated beauty at the east end of the plaza, and the tent will be erected parallel to the transit center facing east toward the tree. We have also asked Orient Electric to install two new circuits and outlets in a vault at the base of the tree so we will have proper electrical facilities for this purpose in coming years. I am also trying to figure out how to get the lights on the Cool Printing tree removed and repurposed to light up the transit shelter.
Other than that, the festivities should proceed as normal. We have the SHS Choir already committed to singing Christmas carols for us, and the usual suspects will be providing food and drink. Oh, and by the way….we have also secured the sound engineer who does the concerts in the park to provide us a proper PA system for the event, so people will actually be able to hear our MC and the Mayor speak this year. [You’re welcome, Mr. Mayor. 🙂 ]
Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):
Michael Maiden properties: It appears that the last vacant space in this complex is now occupied. Raven Books has moved into the space and is in the process of acquiring a business license. They plan to operate primarily as an internet retailer, but do intend to open their shop up for normal retail purchasing soon after opening depending on what is allowed after the zone change on this property. Interestingly, the gentleman I spoke to over there most recently is Bruce Erickson, who was the founder of Firwood Design and sold the business to Kelli Grover back in the day. He is related to one of the two owners somehow, and is assisting with getting the business off of the ground.
I have also recently seen the plans for the remodel Mr. Maiden plans to do for these buildings once the zone change goes into effect, and boy howdy is it an improvement on the current design. This project will make these buildings much more appealing to the eye, and it will be interesting to see how this design change will affect the current businesses located there (especially Bunsenbrewer!)
NW Trading Post: Well, we thought this was a done deal, but now the business owner seems to be having difficulties getting a straight answer from the property owner and may back out of the deal altogether. The issue is surrounding the stairwell on the interior of the building leading to the storage space downstairs – the business owner needs to have interior access to his secured storage so that he doesn’t have to close and lock his doors, have his customers wait outside, run around to the back of the building, unlock it and secure it behind him whenever he needs to get money or valuables for a client. This is a reasonable request. However, the building owner will need to reconstruct the stairs so they a) reach the ground (!), and b) meet code. According to our building official, there are several ways to do this and he has explained this to the building owner, but the building owner is telling the business owner that the City is prohibiting her from doing this somehow. We were actually contacted by a lawyer for the business owner about this issue, but after meeting with Tracy and Terre on this subject it sounds like both the attorney and his client are fairly clear that the City of Sandy is not causing the problem here.
The owner has stated that he may begin looking for another location to house his business if this is not resolved in a timely manner. I will help him again with site locations if this happens.
B of A building: This property was ready to change hands, but the bank that was ready to process the loan on the behalf of the purchaser found a reason to hold up the process. Apparently many years ago (8 or so) the City went through the undergrounding process to widen the sidewalks, build bulbouts, etc. As part of this process, we had to move some telecom vaults in the public right of way, and when moving a telephone vault, someone came across hydrocarbons in the soil. We literally removed the vault, removed the contaminated soil, filled it with concrete and replaced the vault, but this showed up on the DEQ site because the source was never determined. DEQ now says that any sort of physical upgrade to the property will require hydrocarbon mitigation.
The property owner has stated that he will cover the cost of the mitigation, but the business owner is on a timeline and doesn’t want to wait the 2-3 months it will take to go through this process. I suggested that the business owner and the property owner contact DEQ to find out what their options are regarding transferring the property and opening a new business on this site. I also explained that the City of Sandy doesn’t have a dog in this fight so long as they don’t plan to breach the parking lot or the foundation to make changes. I have a running dialogue with the business owner (I use his services from time to time), so we’ll see where this goes.
Oregon’s Wild Harvest building: I have submitted this property for a GPI project (Project Green) that seeks to relocate a smallish software development company from San Francisco to the greater Portland area. The client is most likely looking for something “hip” (read: Pearl or Mississippi District, downtown Vancouver, etc.), but the OWH building fits their description in every other category. Plus, there’s a) gig fiber already installed for CHEAP, b) Enterprise Zone benefits, c) no Multnomah County Business Income Tax, d) gig fiber at your house if you live here, and e) all the things to do on the mountain on the weekends.
A long shot for sure….but the pretty girl at the dance will NEVER dance with you if you don’t ask her, right?
Location undetermined: Just to give the Council a heads-up, I have received several inquiries recently from people interested in opening another day care center in Sandy. So far all of the inquiries I have received seem to be coming from people operating day care services out of their homes that want to move to a commercial location due to lack of space, and none seem ready to make the expenditure necessary to operate a commercial business. However, our market study seems to indicate that this would be a profitable endeavor to look at considering current demographics. Hopefully someone serious puts pencil to paper soon to try and figure this out. We need another day care.
Project work:
- City of Sandy Omnibus Bicycle Tourism Proposal: application submitted; waiting for a response. So far the feedback I have received from CCT&CA has been nothing but positive, so I am hoping for an approval some time in December. Watch this space.
- Xmas Tree Lighting Ceremony: In process (see above) – event is on December 4th.
- City of Sandy Facebook page: Over the summer I responded to a request from Facebook to verify our page as an official government page by sending them a copy of our articles of incorporation or some other paperwork showing unequivocally that we are a government institution. Lisa was able to provide me with tax-exempt documentation, and last week Facebook finally responded with a confirmation that we are, in fact, the official page for the City of Sandy, Oregon. This can be verified by the new light blue check mark that appears right after our name on the page.
Conferences/training:
- Oregon Economic Development Association annual conference (Medford) October 18-20: This was another conference of local (to Oregon) economic developers, and was mostly a peer networking event. It was good to have social time with my peers around the state again, and I reconnected with Clackamas County personnel and my counterparts in Estacada and Canby on a number of ongoing issues. It was also enlightening to see Medford move forward with a couple of projects that seem to be turning the downtown area of this formerly depressing city (as I remember it, anyway) into a more vibrant, inviting downtown.
- Emerging Local Government Leaders Annual conference (Edgefield) October 22, 23: Another chance to connect with younger folks in government around the region, and our illustrious former city manager was on hand as a speaker. There were several mentions of the City of Sandy fiber project at the conference, and I heard a rumor from a trusted source that the City of Lake Oswego appears to be trying to make the magic with fiber happen again over there. Unfortunately, that Council doesn’t seem to be quite as progressive-minded as we have been here in Sandy so far. (Just a (light-hearted) thought — In the event that the LO Council decides not to move forward, perhaps we should advertise that we have gig fiber in Sandy for those who wish to join the 21st century?)