Costs to demolish Tony's come in around $750,000 at TD Urban Renewal
By Cole Goodwin
Darcy Long was elected chair of the Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board at Tuesday’s meeting.
Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board extended construction deadlines for the Recreation building and then moved forward with demolition plans for the Tony’s Town and Country building at its Tuesday meeting, Jan. 18th.
The board also took a look at financial incentive programs, affordable housing, and elected new officers.
Watch the Meeting: Click here to watch the livestream of the January 18th, 2022 meeting.
Read More: January 18th, 2022 Urban Renewal Agency Agenda.
Submit Public Comments: Click here to email the Urban Renewal Agency.
The Agenda Highlights
Tony’s Town and Country Demolition
Gene Parker Public Comment on the Tony’s Building
Fifth Addendum to the Recreation Building Disposition
Election of New Officers
Urban Renewal Financial Incentive Programs
Affordable Housing Discussion
Tony’s Building Demolition Will Cost up to $750,000
Tony’s Town and Country as it sits today.
The board gave a verbal update on the Agency-owned Tony’s Building located at 401- 407 E. 2nd St. in The Dalles and discussed next steps in the environmental assessment/clean-up that must occur prior to building demolition.
Urban Renewal applied for an Environmental Protection Agency grant to help fund the clean up of the Tony’s property.
“When all is said and done with the grant we expect to receive sixty to ninety thousand dollars..to do that environmental clean up,” said Alice Cannon, Community Planning Directore for The City of The Dalles.
In addition Cannon said that the Tony’s project may qualify for a $250,000+ Business Oregon Grant geared towards aiding businesses in removing asbestos.
“That’s about half the total cost of what we expect the total demo to cost,” said Cannon. “We think the demo could cost anywhere from $700,000 to $750,000 at this time.”
Urban Renewal will also pursue the option of taking out a low- or no-interest loan to cover the demolition cost.
Urban Renewal has spent $35,000 on the project so far to complete phase one and two of the environmental clean up assessment.
A contractor is scheduled to remove the underground storage tank that sits underneath the sidewalk on Federal Street between First and Second streets during the last week of January.
A Native American tribal representative will be present during the digging to ensure Tribal archaeological interests are preserved.
Tony’s Demolition Background Information
On July 28th, 2021 The Dalles Historic Landmark Commission and the Urban Renewal Board held a hearing to determine whether the Tony’s buildings should be repaired or demolished. Following the hearing, it was determined by the Commision and Urban Renewal that the building should be demolished.
Read CCCNews’ previous story on building demolition here.
For a CCCNews historical perspective on the building and its former owner, Tony Foote, click here.
Public Comment on the Tony’s Building
On Tuesday, Gene Parker, a former City of The Dalles attorney who served the Urban Renewal Board from 1990 to 2020, submitted a public comment about the Tony’s Town and County Building.
Parker wants to see the building turned into a mixed-use facility, which would include housing use. The past Urban Renewal board had done much of the groundwork for a mixed-use project, he said, noting he wanted the board to revisit the idea.
Two-thirds of the Recreation building got a coat of primer back in November as the integrity of the building was fortified earlier and the facade got a major upgrade. It has since been painted. Urban Renewal extended the timeline a year for the reconstruction of the building.
Recreation Building Gets Another Year to Complete Construction
The board approved the fifth addendum to the Recreation Building Disposition and Development Agreement for the 213-219 E. 2nd St. The addendum gives building owner Todd Carpenter another year to complete demolition and reconstruction at the Recreation building.
One of the last tasks to complete on the building is the installation of a sprinkler system, Carpenter told the Board. Unfortunately, a leak in the fire suppression system was discovered in the street. Carpenter said he was working with the City of The Dalles Public Works to get it fixed.
Recreation Building Background Information
Todd Carpenter, owner of the Last Stop saloon purchased the Recreation Building in 2019. Construction and repair of the building have been ongoing following that purchase. In 2020, Carpenter was awarded $80,250 by Urban Renewal to remove the roof of the building. The roof had to be removed due to significant water damage from a heavy rain event that had occurred in August of 2019.
In August of 2021, Carpenter said that next steps included installing a steel structure that would stretch from the retaining wall to the rafters as the interior of the building needed to undergo repairs to strengthen the building's integrity. Other next steps also included ordering glass and doors, prepping for indoor occupancy, preparing and saving the old wood from the bowling alley ceiling to reuse it as flooring, and the installation of plumbing, electrical, and sprinkler systems.
Urban Renewal incentive plans are generally going underutilized, according to a presentation given to the Board on Tuesday, Jan 18.
Urban Renewal Financial Incentive Programs
The Board reviewed, discussed and gave staff direction on future changes to financial incentives for development in the Urban Renewal Area. In the past few years, Urban Renewal has budgeted about $60,000 annually for incentive programs.
Deb Meihoff from Communitas LLC gave a presentation to the Board analyzing current Urban Renewal incentive programs locally and from around the state.
Deb Meihoff said that current incentive programs are largely underused by the community, although the historic improvements incentives had been very successful. She also pointed out that loan programs may be too burdensome and expensive and therefore less attractive to developers.
Following Miehoff’s presentation on Urban Renewal Incentive, the Board gave Alice Cannon, Director, Community Development Department and Urban Renewal Manager and Meihoff the go-ahead to build a new proposal for a financial incentive program which will be presented in February as a part of the Board’s strategic planning process.
Background Information
The Board has quite a bit of policy guidance in place in regards to financial incentive programs. The plans and policies that guide investments for Urban Renewal are
A slide from the Deb Meihoff’s presentation provides examples of incentives from other communities that are addressing a housing shortage.
Affordable Housing Discussion
Alice Cannon shared that two housing developers hope to begin housing projects that would support the development of 40-48 new housing units in The Dalles by the end of the 2022 calendar year.
Board members discussed the need for affordable housing and potential incentives for constructing affordable housing. Most agreed on the need for affordable housing. However, several board members pointed out that social goals like affordable housing projects were not necessarily a part of the founding goals of the Urban Renewal Agency, and that the agency existed to increase property values, not to fulfill social goals or to cater to non-profits.
Urban Renewal Elected New Officers
Gary Grossman receives kind words.
Every few years the Urban Renewal board votes for new officers. Before stepping down as Chair of the board, Gary Grossman received many kind words from Alice Cannon and The Dalles Mayor Rich Mays for his years of dedicated service to the board.
Darcy Long was elected Chair of the Urban Renewal Board and Kathy Schwartz was elected as the Vice-Chair.
