City To Buy Land Under ARCHES

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

615 Commercial Street NE

Monday night, the City Council acting as the Urban Renewal Agency is, at long last**, expected to authorize the purchase of the property (land only, not the building) at 615 Commercial Street NE, and a 30-year lease-back to the seller, the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency.  See staff report here.  The building's lower level is occupied by MWVCAA's ARCHES Project.  The City Manager's 10/28/20 Update incorrectly states that the City has purchased the building already, but the City will not be purchasing the building, only the real estate under it, and the City has not yet authorized that purchase, but likely will on Monday night.    

City Manager's 10/28/20 Update

The agreed purchase price is $2,225,000.  **See "The Golden ARCHES Project", Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, "State to Sink More Hless Assist $$ in MWVCAA Bldg", "MWVCAA Bldg Sucks Up More Gov't $$",  "Urban Renewal to the Rescue" (28 November 2018), "MWVCAA Pays Mortgage Debt with Hless Assist $$" (21 February 2019) and "State Seeks Accountability from Hless Svces Providers" (24 February 2019).

As discussed in an earlier post, the purchase is part of the City's effort to establish a much-needed  navigation center/low-barrier shelter and will allow the The ARCHES Project day shelter to expand from 27 to 41 hours/week and be open on Saturdays.  Current hours are M-W, F: 9–3 and Th: 9–noon.  Expanded hours will be M-W, F-Sat: 9–4, Th: 9–3.  It won't be the 24/7 nav center/low barrier shelter that some had hoped for, pre-pandemic, but it's a step in the right direction.  See "News from the Continuum" (17 October 2020). 

Ward 1 Councilor Kaser will not be voting on the purchase, having resigned earlier this week. Woodworth, W.  "Salem City Council member Cara Kaser resigns. What we know."  (2 November 2020, Statesman Journal.)  (stating that Kaser served on the Police Facility Committee, the Water/Wastewater Task Force, and "focused on the city's response to homelessness" during her four years on Council).  On October 23, 2020, Kaser entered into a stipulated final order with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission in which she agreed she'd violated ORS 244.120(2) by failing to disclose that she lived across the street from a proposed low-income housing development that was before Council on an application for the City's HOME funds.  She also failed to disclose that she was married to the neighborhood association officer who testified against the development.  See November 6, 2020 Meeting Materials at page 123, and "'Progressive' Council Snuffs Affordable Hsg Project"  (20 June 2020).  Kaser's term would have expired in two months.  She told the Statesman Journal she resigned because she and her husband had moved to Silverton.  Council is expected to accept Kaser's resignation Monday night, and appoint Councilor-elect Virginia Stapleton to serve as guest councilor (can't vote) in her absence.  

Also Monday night, Council will be asked to "consolidate" extend its unsheltered emergency declarations and extend them for a year to October 26, 2021 [correcting a misreading of the staff report that the resolution would also consolidate the COVID emergency declarations].  Staff report here.  The resolution consolidating the emergency declarations would also "allow the City Manager to suspend land use regulations, including land use permit requirements, for warming centers and emergency shelters on land not zoned single-family residential, and continue the vehicle camping pilot program."  If passed, the City Manager plans to suspend land use regulations to allow the property at 1787 State Street to be used as a shelter for women and children. 

1787 State Street

On the CRU mobile crisis unit front, Councilor Nordyke will ask Council Monday night to "direct staff to present Council with a proposal to implement a mobile response unit for the city including funding options. The proposal shall describe how a mobile response unit will fit in with other services and identify potential community partners to share costs."  To understand why this motion is cart-before-horse, see "Council Conducts 'Disjointed' Session on 'Non-Criminal' Policing" (22 October 2020).  See 11/7/20 update below.

City Council will also be asked to allocate $1.2M from the General Fund "to allow for the additional expenses related to the unsheltered in Salem."  It looks like these funds can be reimbursed from CARES Act funding.  See details in the staff report here.

11/7/20 update:  City Manager 11/4 update states, "Following City Council’s October 26 discussion of a mobile crisis intervention program, staff will work with the United Way on the United Way’s invitation to area organizations to explore what funding partnerships would be available in Salem."  

11/9/20 update:  correction that only the City's unsheltered emergency declarations were extended, not the COVID emergency declaration, which is set to expire January 12, 2021. 

11/13/20 updated paragraph on former Councilor Kaser to reflect the stipulated agreement with the OGEC.