Hundreds of thousands of people have passed through the gates of the Polk County Fairgrounds since it opened in 1953. Many of the fairgrounds’ buildings in Rickreall are 75 years old and need electric and water system maintenance as well as significant seismic upgrades that would cost millions of dollars.

Polk County is out of ways to pay for that maintenance, and this year’s fair could be the last. It’s a common situation among fairgrounds in Oregon because county governments typically subsidize those facilities with general fund dollars.

Polk County will ask voters in the Nov. 3 election to raise residents’ property taxes to pay for repairs and other fairgrounds expenses. If voters decline to approve the levy, the fairgrounds will close, according to officials.

“If fairs were a private business, all would go bankrupt,” Polk County Administrative Officer Greg Hansen said.

As Oregon county governments feel the squeeze in their budgets, their fairgrounds are often left to suffer.

“I’ve heard very clearly that Polk County is probably the canary in the coal mine, that there will be others that will sort of follow suit,” Oregon Fairs Association lobbyist JL Wilson said. “I know that there’s a lot of eyes on this particular election because it will have implications for other counties.”

Tim Ray, the dean of the agriculture science and technology department at Chemeketa Community College, has been involved with the Polk County Fair since 2004 and is the fair board president. Over the past few decades, he’s seen how the fairgrounds has attracted people of all walks of life and financial means.

“There’s a cultural aspect to county fairs as well too, right?” Ray said. “It’s a way of life and not having that social aspect is scary, right?”

But Polk County officials say financial losses have been mounting at the fairgrounds in Rickreall. The facility operated at a $348,000 deficit last year and that number is growing.

Most of the buildings at the Polk County Fairgrounds were built in the 1950s. All need significant improvements. In some instances, there’s no way to source the parts necessary to repair older equipment.

Polk County officials say they can no longer subsidize the facility from the general fund.

“There is a breaking point for anybody,” Polk County Commissioner Craig Pope said.

Polk County’s November operations levy proposes to use $3.4 million for overdue building improvements, including floors, heating and cooling systems, electrical infrastructure and roofs.

The county says the levy is the last opportunity to save the fairgrounds, which hosts 700 events each year.

“Almost every fair in Oregon generates several hundred thousand dollars, if not millions of dollars, for youth through the livestock auction that occurs at the fairgrounds,” Ray said. “The fairgrounds gets zero from that.”

Polk County has invested $1.7 million in the fairgrounds in the past five or six years but would need to do much more to keep the facility operational.

“I think we can close the gap,” Polk County Commissioner Lyle Mordhorst said. “It takes a building that we can attract RV shows and sports shows. Those are bigger dollars. Those will close that gap some.”

Many fairgrounds in Oregon are in similar fiscal circumstances as Polk County, but none is in such a dire situation.

Property tax revenue has not kept pace with increasing expenses and most general fund dollars go to public safety, so fairgrounds budgets are often the easiest to trim.

“I happen to believe at this point until we fix our fundamental problems with taxation, we’re basically all trying to figure out ways to kick the can down the curb,” said state Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth.

For years, counties have received some state money via an Oregon law that allocates 1 percent of lottery funds. That law, however, caps support at $1.53 million. Last year, each county received about $53,000 for its fairgrounds from that fund, Wilson said.

The fund is expected to have an additional $12.9 million in the 2027-2029 biennium. That means that starting in 2027, counties could receive about $200,000 more per year for their fairgrounds’ operations.

“But again, we’ve had that promise before and they’ve taken that away in the next session,” Hansen said. “It’s always supposed to have been 1 percent.”

Wilson said some counties such as Washington, Jackson and Deschutes are better off financially than others because they have invested significantly in their buildings.

But Yamhill County officials are among those closely watching what happens in Polk County, Wilson said. Yamhill County commissioners have discussed selling the current fairgrounds in McMinnville and moving to another location. That’s because maintaining the facility’s aged buildings is difficult and expensive.

Most counties, like Polk and Yamhill, don’t have the money or a way to raise the money to pay for those kinds of improvements.

“Unfortunately, I’m fearful if we’re the first, we won’t be the last,” Ray said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

The post Many Oregon counties struggling to maintain their fairgrounds appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A sustainable yet practical approach to development of a new agriculture complex at Chemeketa Community College has produced a building expected to have net-zero energy use.

The anchor of the northern edge of an 8-acre campus in Salem is the 15,000-square-foot classroom building. FFA Architecture + Interiors designed the building, Lango Hansen Landscape Architects oversaw the exterior landscaping, and Swinerton Builders completed construction recently.

The project team had high sustainability goals. A mass-plywood-panel structure was chosen, along with a natural air ventilation system, and photovoltaic panels. Chemeketa Community College and FFA worked with Energy Trust of Oregon to help offset costs via the nonprofit’s Path to Net Zero program.

FFA Associate Partner Edward Running said when he starts work on a new project, he first sees what financial resources are available.

“The inability to make (a) better building has been cost,” he said.

With assistance from Energy Trust of Oregon, a 45-kilowatt solar array was placed on the roof of an exterior walkway along the building’s south side. The canopy not only ensures the photovoltaic panels receive sunlight, Running said, but also shades classrooms and puts less pressure on the ventilation system.

At first, even with those features, the building would have had an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) number too high to be net-zero. That number is calculated by dividing the building’s total energy consumed in one year by the total gross floor area. The new classroom building would’ve been around 20 EUI, Running said.

By the time the project team realized it wouldn’t achieve net-zero energy, it was a little late in the process; the contractor had been selected, and construction documents were completed. Now, 20 EUI would’ve been significantly lower than the state’s requirement that public buildings perform at least 20 percent better than the building code. But the team was “so close to net zero … the cost wasn’t too much more,” Running said.

Chemeketa Community College Technical Development Manager Isaac Talley then sought a grant from Portland General Electric to bridge the gap.

“There’s always the pursuit of the practical, best possible option but (a) need to balance that with what will work and the budget,” Talley said.

The college also looks at what would be the “best bang for the buck and maintaining the best functionality through the life of the building,” he added.

In February, when the project was nearing substantial completion, Talley received word that the team would receive a $158,000 grant from PGE. That would put a 91-kilowatt solar array on the classroom building’s roof, and achieve net-zero energy use.

The total cost to reach that goal was around $9 million, Running and Talley estimated. That included concrete floors, insulation, window systems, an efficient mechanical system, and the original solar array.

The key to this project, Running said, was “not trying to do every single sustainability strategy under the sun.” Instead, the team honed in on a few – one was natural ventilation inside the building, and another was solar energy production outside.

Outdoor features of the complex will include gardens and farm demonstration fields. Now the college can say it’s “harvesting from the ground and harvesting from the sun,” Running said.

The post Extra effort makes a big difference appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Ground will be broken June 11 on a 15,000-square-foot academic building that will form the heart of a new agricultural complex at Chemeketa Community College‘s main campus in Salem.

FFA Architecture and Interiors designed the building to feature light-filled, double-height spaces at the center. There will be views of the outdoors through a large glass wall and an overhead door that will open to the south. Programming will include flexible learning and research areas as well as working spaces for students, staff and industry partners.

General contractor Swinerton Builders will oversee installation of cross-laminated timber floor panels and other mass-timber elements. A unique covered arcade will protect the building along its south façade with a large photovoltaic roof array as the sustainable centerpiece. Lango Hansen Landscape Architects is responsible for the exterior landscaping.

“Unlike a typical academic project, the surroundings are vital to the educational success of the complex, and will serve as a focal point to connect with partners throughout the public and professional community,” FFA senior associate and project manager Edward Running stated in an email.

There will be several outbuildings, including greenhouses, labs and an outdoor classroom pavilion. In addition, there will be a tree specimen meadow for studies as well as a botanical rainwater garden. To the south, agricultural fields will host academic and research activities.

“Chemeketa has long been a leader in sustainable design, so it’s really fitting that the Agricultural Complex is being enrolled in the Energy Trust’s Path to Net Zero Program,” Running stated. “The buildings that frame the site actually interact with their environment a lot like plants interacting with the changing seasons. So, the learning environment extends way beyond walls of the classroom, deep into the eight-acre site.”

Designers have incorporated solar power, a high-performance envelope, daylighting, natural ventilation, high-efficiency utility systems, water reclamation, and use of local materials.

The building will sit at the corner of 45th Avenue and Fire Protection Way in Salem.

The post Agricultural complex coming to Salem college appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.