Portland-based DiLoreto Architecture has earned national recognition for prominent use of wood in the design of St. Edward Catholic Church in Keizer.

The $4 million project won a 2015 Wood Design Award from WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council. Winners of the competition that celebrates excellence in wood design, engineering and construction were announced last week at WoodWorks’ 2015 Bay Area Wood Solutions Fair in Oakland, Calif.

The 11,681-square-foot St. Edward church was completed this past spring and features glulam beams, arches and other interior woodwork using locally sourced Douglas fir and Oregon white oak. Exterior woodwork uses a combination of locally sourced Douglas fir and cedar.

The wooden interior arches, a nod to traditional church architecture, are visible from the facade through a skylight that wraps around the building.

St. Edward patrons told the DiLoreto design team they wanted a building that paid homage to Pacific Northwest scenery, said DiLoreto designer Brian Melton, who submitted the project for the WoodWorks award.

“They wanted it to be of the place,” he said. “That’s what drove the use of wood and local materials.”

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Chuck Sides has been sued 20 times in the past three years. Many of the lawsuits alleged that he defaulted on loans.

Lawsuits are part of the game for a big developer, Sides said.

“As a risk taker, you take risks,” he said.

City officials in Keizer understand risk. They formed a local improvement district with other local taxing entities and trusted Sides to reimburse the district $9 million.

Their trust proved justified – for the most part.

With fewer than 24 hours to spare, Sides on Monday paid the city $627,000 to keep officials from foreclosing on two of his properties. He failed, however, to pay on a third property. That one went to foreclosure as scheduled on Tuesday and was sold at auction back to the city of Keizer (the sole bidder) for $602,000.

Sides owed $510,888 on the property, which is occupied by high-tension power lines and not valuable for development. City attorney E. Shannon Johnson declined to say what Keizer officials will do with the property.

Given the lawsuits that Sides has left in his wake, some Keizer merchants are wondering why city officials would do business with him in the first place. Johnson said he understands such concerns, but added that people don’t understand the full story.

“This deal was done years ago,” he said.

The deal revolves around Keizer Station, the city’s 227-acre shopping complex near Interstate 5. Sides was one of its principal developers and owns several lots.

City officials formed the local improvement district four years ago to finance road construction and other infrastructure needed at Keizer Station.

The LID took out a $26.8 million bond for the work. Keizer Station property owners are supposed to pay the LID back. The other property owners have kept up with their payments. However, Sides fell dramatically behind – to the tune of $9 million.
City planner Nate Brown said Sides potentially left the city and other local taxing entities holding the bag.

“The city’s full faith and credit is on the line,” he said.

Johnson said city officials actually started negotiating the bond deal with Sides as far back as 1999, well before he amassed a collection of lawsuits.

Some Keizer merchants are upset that City Council increased the debt limit on urban renewal money to $25,000 to pay on the bond if necessary. They worry this will affect money available for, among other things, landscaping and facade improvements along River Road.

Merchants can calm down, Brown said. The bond will have a minimal effect on the money available to merchants.

“There was a million dollars left in the kitty,” he said. “We had to show the other taxing districts we were willing to make sacrifices.”

Unless the bond debt is satisfied some other way, that $1 million will go to it. However, city councilors decided that whatever is left over (after foreclosure sales and other attempts to satisfy the debt) will go toward River Road improvements.

Sides’ conflict with Keizer also drew the spotlight to his tumultuous financial history.

Blame the economy for the lawsuits, Sides said.

“Wall Street and the banks suddenly took a different view of the world in September 2008,” he said, noting that only two suits against him remain unresolved.

Sides’ former lawyer, Paul R.J. Connolly, sued him six years ago after Sides borrowed money from Connolly’s pension plan and put up his 50-percent interest in Northwest National, the developers of Keizer Station, as collateral. Connolly accused Sides of default. The case is still in court.

Two of the lawsuits filed against Sides were by Jack Yarbrough. In a suit filed five years ago, Yarbrough alleged Sides broke a promise to buy another Keizer Station property for $751,000. A hearing on damages in the case is set for December.

Yarbrough, who loaned Sides $350,000, also sued him for defaulting on the loan connected with a property in Jackson County.

Sides laughed off such lawsuits.

“That’s Mr. Jack Yarbrough,” he said. “He is just one of those guys. He files lawsuits. But we’ve worked things out, and we’re friends again. He’s a great guy. We just started a new project together.”

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Villagers are grabbing their torches and pitchforks, so to speak, but city officials in Keizer are asking them to calm down. The monster is not going to take their hanging flower pots.

City planner Nate Brown said there is no monster anyway – just a developer who defaulted on a bond and potentially left the city and other local taxing districts on the hook for $2.5 million.

Some merchants along River Road are steamed because rumors are spreading down the street that city officials are using urban renewal money originally earmarked to improve landscaping and business facades to instead repay the debt.

“It does make it look like the city is diverting money from River Road to cover its rear end,” said Jim Nardi, the owner of Uptown Music on River Road.

Such talk is creating a well of misinformation where everyone seems to be taking a drink, Brown said.

“There’s already a lot of bacteria in that well,” he said.

City officials formed a local improvement district with other local taxing districts to finance road construction and other infrastructure requirements for five lots at Keizer Station – the city’s 227-acre shopping complex along Interstate 5 at the Chemawa Road exit.

The LID took out a $2.5 million bond for the Keizer Station work. Developer Chuck Sides, who owns the five lots targeted for improvements, had agreed to pay the LID back. But Sides fell dramatically behind in his payments on the bond and eventually defaulted.

However, Brown said, Sides never received any money because it went to the LID. Sides’ responsibility was to pay the LID.

“The city’s full faith and credit is on the line,” Brown said.

Now that Sides has defaulted, city officials have begun foreclosure proceedings on three of his five lots.

Two of the lots are up for sale, according to Brown. Keizer City Council set an auction for the other three for 10 a.m. on Oct. 16 on the steps of the Marion County Courthouse. Two of those lots are next to Interstate 5 and the other is behind a Lowe’s home improvement store.

But merchants are upset that the council increased the debt limit on its urban renewal area to $25,000 to pay on the bond if necessary. This will minimally affect the money available to merchants for River Road landscaping and facade improvements, Brown said. That money was available for years, he said.

Merchants have had ample opportunity to take advantage of the money, he said. If anyone lost out, he said, it’s their fault.

“If Van Winkle … just woke up after 10 years and applied for funds, he’s kind of missed the boat,” he said.

That is not to say the River Road project is not affected.

“There was a million dollars left in the kitty,” Brown said. “We had to show the other taxing districts we were willing to make sacrifices.”

Unless the bond debt is satisfied some other way, that $1 million will go to the debt. However, council members decided that whatever is leftover (after foreclosure sales and other attempts to satisfy the debt) will go toward River Road improvements.

Nardi said he is not necessarily mad at city officials.

“I am not a big fan of pretty sidewalks and extra trees when you have bills to pay,” he said. “You have to take care of business first.”

However, he said, what irks merchants like him more is that it looks like the city is focusing less on River Road – traditionally, its main business district – and more on Keizer Station and its box stores and chain retailers.

“There does seem to be a shift to Keizer Station, like that’s the new center of business in Keizer,” Nardi said. “Even the Chamber of Commerce has moved out there.”

Brown said he understands people‘s emotions.

“But my response to that would be there is often a difference between what you want to do and what you would like to do,” he said. “Keizer Station is demanding a lot of attention right now. The fact that councilors made the decision to return as much money as possible to the River Road project shows that they do care about River Road.”

Brown added that it is unlikely that the LID will have to pay the entire amount because much of it will be recouped by the sale of the land. There is also the possibility that Sides himself will come up with some of the money, he said.

Businesses along River Road will not bear the burden, Brown said.

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Wal-Mart may have a scary reputation, but is it so frightening that the mere possibility of a new store is enough to kill a local business?

The leader of a mid-Willamette Valley supermarket chain says so.

Michael Roth, president of , said he closed a 35,000-square-foot store in Keizer this summer for fear of increased competition.

Then Wal-Mart executives dropped their plans to build a store at at the intersection of Interstate 5 and Chemawa Road. So, Keizer lost a grocery store for nothing?

“Either that or the store isn’t being entirely honest about why they’re closing,” Keizer planner Nate Brown said. “I mean, really, the threat of a Walmart is going to close a viable business? I have a hard time swallowing that.”

In a prepared statement to Keizertimes, the local newspaper, Roth said he hired a market survey company to calculate the effect of the proposed Walmart store as well as the possibility of an existing Target store adding groceries.

“The report was very clear,” Roth said in the statement. “With six grocery stores in the Keizer area serving 36,145 people, our sales will be too low to continue operating the store.”

Roth added that his other 10 stores have been used to prop up the Keizer location at River and Chemawa roads.

“The market study pointed out that after Walmart is open, this subsidy would grow so large, it could be unsustainable. So we are making the necessary arrangements to close the store,” he said in the statement.

Roth did not respond to calls from the 91��Ƶ.

Brown said Roth’s story is suspect especially because it was never certain that Wal-Mart was coming to Keizer. The project was troubled from the beginning, he said.

“There was a great panic by a certain number of people who think Wal-Mart is the great evil corporate overlord,” Brown said.

A group of local residents got a measure on the ballot last year to confine all big-box stores to Area A of the sprawling 227-acre Keizer Station complex. Area A is already occupied by Target. Wal-Mart executives were eyeing Area C on the southwest corner of the complex across the railroad tracks.

Voters rejected the initiative, but Wal-Mart nevertheless faced obstacles. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals ruled that any Keizer Station commercial development larger than 10,000 square feet must include mixed uses such as residential and office space. Wal-Mart developers were willing to work with that, Brown said, but with some modifications.

LUBA said no, sending the case to the Oregon Court of Appeals. It upheld the LUBA decision last November without comment. Wal-Mart executives announced they were abandoning their plans in Keizer at about the same time that Roth announced the closure of his supermarket.

Alan Roodhouse, the developer of Keizer Station, said he doesn’t know what will happen with Area C.

“We do not have any firm plans,” he said. “We’re not sure who we’re going to lease to. It doesn’t have to be a grocery store. But that doesn’t preclude a grocery store either.”

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Nine out of 10 people who live in Keizer leave town to go to work.

City Planner Nate Brown said that’s bad. Oregon cities and counties depend on property taxes, but homes do not bring in as much property tax money as commercial and residential properties. Meanwhile, residents require more city services than businesses.

The solution might be to expand Keizer’s city limits to enable more businesses to move to the community.

A citizens advisory group started meeting Aug. 29 to do an inventory of available land in Keizer. Brown said members will likely meet five times before going before the city council with a recommendation in April. Their next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 3.

The end result of this land-use inventory might be a recommendation to expand Keizer’s urban growth boundary.

Keizer, despite a population of 37,000 people, is a relatively young city. Connected seamlessly to Salem‘s northern boundary, it was incorporated in 1982. Most of the city’s businesses are located along River Road N., and the 227-acre Keizer Station complex off Interstate 5 on Chemawa Road.

Johnson Reid LLC of Portland, a consulting firm, has been hired by city officials to perform an analysis of Keizer’s land-use needs.

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Construction crews expect to finish a boat ramp at Keizer Rapids Park by October.

They still have more excavation work to do in the river, and they must still set pre-cast planks and finish concrete work above the water line. They also need to pave the parking lot and complete landscaping and general clean-up tasks

When they are done, however, boaters will have 37 parking spots with room for 22 boats and trailers. They will also have a new restroom. Part of the park project includes installing the site’s first permanent restroom.

Bill Lawyer, Keizer’s public works director, said it won’t be anything fancy. It will just be a single-vault toilet with a latrine-like pit underneath. There will not be any running water. However, Lawyer said it will meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The park is located off Chemawa Road, about four miles east of Keizer near Interstate 5.

Lawyer said there will be a ceremony when the new dock opens, and park rules – such as operating hours – will be updated to reflect increased boating activity. Boaters will be able to use the new ramp when water levels are low.

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wants the new Keizer transit center to benefit not only the community, but also the environment.

That’s why the firm’s design of the multimillion-dollar facility includes many sustainable features not often found in transit centers.

“The most unique feature of the facility is the check-mark-shaped roof, which will have photovoltaic panels,” said Kari Turner, a PIVOT associate. “You don’t see many bus stops with green roofs.”

PIVOT also is hoping that the final product will include a geothermal ground loop system for heating and cooling, LED lighting and rain gardens to treat stormwater on-site.

Although the facility will not receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating – because no one will work there full time, Turner said – the project did receive a large sustainability grant from the state. The grant money will help pay for the sustainable features, as well as grass lawns and water features around the bus waiting areas.

“It looks like a place designed for people rather than something you wait in on the side of the road,” Turner said.

The project is part of Salem-Keizer Transit’s plan to expand transportation access in the northern part of its district. The design includes bus bays, passenger waiting areas, park-and-ride spaces, carpool drop-off and pickup areas and bicycle storage. The park-and-ride lot will include approximately 70 parking spaces.

“As individuals and communities look for ways to live more sustainably, a well-planned transit system encourages people to leave their cars behind and try alternative methods of transportation,” Turner said.

She said PIVOT does not anticipate many construction challenges, except that the land being used for the $8.2 million (in 2009 dollars) project is “not ideal” for bus circulation.

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please email ontheboards@djcOregon.com or call 503-802-7240.

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The Keizer City Council on Monday approved a master plan for a new 116,000-square-foot, large-format retail store and a 36,000-square-foot, mixed-use building to be built on a parcel near Interstate 5.

But the council’s approval of the master plan is another blow to a citizen-driven ballot measure being voted on today that would stop the development.

Because the development application was submitted to the city before the ballot measure went for a vote, the ballot measure, if approved, won’t apply to the development, according to city attorneys. The development application would have to be appealed successfully to the Land Use Board of Appeals or the Oregon Court of Appeals in order for the measure to apply.

At issue is the development of a 36-acre parcel known as Area C that is part of the Keizer Station development. It includes nearly 650,000 square feet of mixed-use, retail space. The parcel is vacant and sits between the commercial development and a residential neighborhood. Nearby residents formed the advocacy group Keep Keizer Livable and have been fighting the development, which they believe to be a Walmart, since it was first pitched four years ago.

After the city began the planning process for the development last year, the group gathered the 3,770 signatures needed to get a measure put on a special ballot, said Kevin Hohnbaum, one of the cofounders of the group. If approved, the measure would limit all developments outside of the already developed Area A of Keizer Station to a 65,000-square-foot maximum, which is about 10,000 square feet larger than the average Fred Meyer, he said.

Even though there has been ample and vocal disdain for the project, City Attorney Shannon Johnson said at the meeting that the council was only to judge the development based on its compliance with city codes.

The approval of the master plan sets a directive for city staff to prepare an order that would approve the development application. It will be presented to the council for formal approval sometime next month.

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After Keizer City Council voted against a local grassroots campaign’s wishes nearly three years ago, the group is taking its issues with big-box development to the people.

The city of Keizer verified 3,770 citizen signatures on Monday submitted by Keep Keizer Livable, a local campaign looking to cap the size of commercial developments in the Willamette Valley town of 36,000. The signatures authorized a citizen-driven initiative that will now be in front of the voters during a March 8, 2011 special election, and could potentially stop one major grocery development.

If approved, the initiative would cap the size of any commercial development at 65,000 square feet, which is about 10,000 square feet bigger than an average Fred Meyer or Safeway. The one exception to the rule would be a parcel of land at the Keizer Station development just east of Interstate 5 where there is currently 650,000 square feet of large-format retail anchored by a Target and Lowes.

“We are not taking an anti Walmart stance or an anti-development stance here,” said Kevin Hohnbaum. Hohnbaum and his wife Jane Mulholland are the drivers behind the initiative and the group. “We just think there are more desirable ways to approach development in our town then to allow large format retailers to be next to our homes and parks.”

But while the proposed ballot initiative is receiving ample support from citizens – with nearly a 68 percent approval rating from the initial polling the group has done – developers and city representatives aren’t biting.

“I believe it could harm future economic development and would make recruiting local employers to Keizer more difficult,” said Mayor Lore Christopher. “In the toughest economic climate in four decades, now is not the time to exclude local employers.”

Because of Keizer’s proximity to Salem, a large portion of residents commute to work out of town, Christopher said. If this cap was to be approved, it would limit opportunities for future in-town employers – like the town has now with Keizer Village mini-mall, Keizer Plaza, Safeway and Roths, she said.

The battle between the group and the city started three years ago over an undeveloped 36-acre lot zoned mixed-use commercial known as Area C. The lot is located west of the Keizer Station Area A development where large format retailers would be funneled under the initiative.

The city council wanted to remove the city-wide, 10,000-square-foot cap on commercial buildings built on mixed-use zoned property, and make a much bigger one. Hohnbaum and his neighbors opposed this because it would have allowed much larger retailers on Area C, which is located only 150 feet away from the property line of the housing development where they live.

“My wife and I knew it was zoned for mixed-use when we bought it,” Hohnbaum said. “But our definition of mixed-use development was neighborhood retailers on walkable developments – not a big box store.”

Despite the group’s efforts, the council ended up raising the cap from 10,000 to 80,000 square feet. And that could be exceeded if the developer incorporated some residential or office space.

According to Christopher, one of the reasons to eliminate the cap was to “more adequately spread out traffic and retail space (by preventing) multiple 10,000-square-foot mini-malls with multiple access points on Chemawa Road (the frontage road to Area C).”

Once the decision was made, the developers of Area C, Alan Roodhouse and Chuck Sides, started working on a master plan for the site. It includes a 116,000-square-foot discount grocery store and 36,000 square feet of mixed-use office and residential space encompassing two five-story buildings.

“I would be surprised if the citizens actually vote for this,” Roodhouse said. “A vote for this is a statement by the people that they don’t want to play in the free market system.

“It’s a severe restraint on trade and I question if it’s even constitutional.”

Keizer City Council will decide Nov. 15 whether to approve the initiative, which would make it law without going to a public vote, or reject it, in which case it would go to a vote. The council could also write a competing initiative that would negate it if voters approved it, Christopher said.

But all signs point to little support from the city.

“The initiative is a job killer,” Christopher said. “If my fellow community members vote to implement a cap on local employers, I will abide by their decision.

“As for me, I will be voting no.”

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