Wednesday, October 30,2013 • The Umpqua Post • A9
LOCAL
American Bridge property Sign up for Douglas County reverse 911 eyed for development BY CHELSEA DAVIS The Umpqua Post
REEDSPORT — While Oregon Seafoods lost out on the Hollering Place bid, there’s a chance that if the seafood processing company moves, it could stay nearby. Mike Babcock, owner of Oregon Seafoods, said he has looked into the soon-to-be vacant American Bridge Manufacturing property in Reedsport since the company announced that the facility will officially close in December. “The manager in Reedsport brought that to my attention when it first became public,” Babcock said. “It has buildings and it has a bunch of bare ground. It’s a pretty good sized piece of property, but we don’t actually need to be in those buildings. There’s enough property there to build another facility.” American Bridge Company announced the closure of its manufacturing leg on Oct. 8, with facilities in Reedsport and Coraopolis, Pa. getting the ax. “American Bridge owns the property,” said Douglas County Commissioner Susan Morgan. “What we are hoping to do is enter into discussions with them on what their plans are with the property, whether they’re planning to put it on the market. We have not yet had that discussion, but we’ve made contact with them to let them know we’re interested in doing that.” Reedsport Mayor Keith Tymchuk said discussions with local, county and regional leaders are already brewing about how to best
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Unfortunately, it’s not known when the work will begin Latham said it’s best for residents to plan ahead. “My recommendation would be to leave early,” he said. “Before 11 o’clock and travel then. If you can only get out after 11 o’clock at night then you probably would have to detour through Eugene.” On those three nights, it would be an even longer trip for someone who needed to get to or from, Gardiner or Smith River to Reedsport. A trip on those nights would be over three hours, instead of the three or four minutes it currently takes. There will also be impacts on river traffic at times during the maintenance work. ODOT will provide more details during the actual work on the bridge. Latham said, unfortunately, it’s not known when the work will begin. “Not yet,” he said. “We just bid the project … I’m not sure of the contractors, but we should know that fairly soon. They have a lot of flexibility in the schedule to determine when those dates will be.” Latham said residents can be added to a project email list by emailing him at Dan.Latham@odot.state.or. us. He will announce traffic impacts during the length of the project. Information will also be available at www.tripcheck.com. Latham said there are definite problems with the bridge to be taken care of. “There is some rust,” he said. “There are some places on the deck where you notice that it’s been pitted a little bit. In part of the project, we’re going to be resurfacing the deck.” Latham said they understand that road construction can be an inconvenience to the traveling public, local businesses and residents. “We will do everything we can to keep impacts to a minimum,” he wrote in the Oct. 18 letter. “If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.”
jump-start economic development on the property. While he said the discussion has to include American Bridge, local voices should be able to decide what’s best for the community. “In some ways, I think that the marketing of the International Paper site in Gardiner has not gone as smoothly as possible because International Paper’s headquarters is in Memphis 2,000 miles away,” he said. “If you have more active local involvement, then I think you’re more effectively able to market the property and find the appropriate user. “I think that we certainly, in the local area, have the ability to reach out in a way and represent the property that American Bridge may not quite be able to do, since it’s in Pennsylvania.” American Bridge’s 30acre complex contains a modern office building and manufacturing section, a dock on the Umpqua River and sits on the Coos Bay Rail Link.
With the American Bridge closure, the town of 4,154 will watch 51 people lose their jobs. Currently, Babcock employs 12 at Oregon Seafoods. “I would like to see anything that would create family-wage jobs in that region move in there,” Morgan said. Morgan agreed with Babcock that American Bridge’s physical building may not be the “ideal configuration” for Oregon Seafoods. “That would be part of the discussion, too: Whether that building would fit or if putting a different building on that property would better meet the needs of fish processing,” she said. “But it’s not just the land and the buildings. The buildings are full of things, too. There’s a lot of construction and fabrication equipment and machinery to move things around.” Reporter Chelsea Davis can be reached at 541-2691222, ext. 239, or by email at chelsea.davis@theworldlink.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ChelseaLeeDavis.
Many of us today only use cell phones to communicate. These mobile devices enable us to stay in touch no matter where we are, making voice, text and email communication instantly accessible. We can also choose Internet-based systems for voice communication or VOIP. Cell and VOIP users often drop their land line phone service, so fewer people THE COUNTY are using land based SCENE telephone connections. Keep reading if you use a cell phone or VOIP — this message is for you. It’s about the Douglas County Citizen Emergency Notification System. This is a Susan Morgan tremendously valuable Douglas County tool to quickly notify Commissioner citizens about public safety emergencies taking place in your area. CENS resides in the Emergency Communications and Dispatch Center at the courthouse where our dispatchers use a computer program to define a geographic area to be notified, then record the emergency message and activate the calling function to all the numbers they have for that area. CENS is useful in a number of emergency situations. The recent shootings in Winchester, and the wildfires in south county this summer are the most immediate examples, but evacuation alerts for floods, missing children alerts, hazardous materials leaks, and neighborhood emergency incidents are other examples of when the system is activated. Land lines are automatically enrolled
in CENS, but cell phones and VOIP are not. You will not receive an emergency notification on your cell phone or by VOIP unless you sign up. The sign up form is on the Douglas County Sheriff’s website at http://www.dcso.com/dccens/dccens_ main.asp. You can register multiple cell phones or VOIP lines, but the notification will be tied to the physical address that you put in the registration form. So if your home address is in Myrtle Creek you will receive calls about emergencies in Myrtle Creek. If you head to the coast on vacation, you will still receive calls for Myrtle Creek emergencies. There is a great deal of information about the system on the website, including answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). I was relieved to learn that my contact information won’t be used in any other way and will try to remember that I need to re-register if I move or change my communication numbers so that I get the notifications that help keep my family safe. Please make it a priority to register all your family’s cell phones and VOIP lines as soon as possible. With winter weather coming our way – don’t delay! Thank you, in advance, for making CENS registration a priority so the system works for you and your family! Susan Morgan always welcomes your questions or comments. Please contact her by email at morgan@co.douglas.or.us; by mail at Douglas County Courthouse, Room 217, 1036 SE Douglas, Roseburg, 97470; or by phone at 440-4201.
Information I n f o r m a t i o n for for Reedsport/Winchester Bay/ ay/ G Gardiner ardiner Reedspor t/Winchester B Active Listings Residential: 68 (Average Listing Price $192,259) MFH on land: 9 MFH in a park: 11 Condo’s: 5 Average Days on Market: 264 SOLD Properties (last 6 months) Residential: 31 (Average Sold Price $137,006) MFH on land: 2 MFH in a park: 17 Condo’s: 6 Note: Average list price of sold properties $145,316 Average Days on Market: 148 Norm Lacey/Principal Broker Pacific West Realty Inc. Reedsport, OR 541.271.9378
www.normlacey.com
$99,000 MLS# 13106411 STUNNING VIEWS! AFFORDABLE OCEAN & R I V E R V I E W H O M E ! Barview Heights area of fine homes in Winchester Bay. Open floor plan, 3 decks for sunning & storage galore. Large stone fireplace with elevator to bring wood up from lower level. Unfinished daylight basement (not figured in sq.ft.) is rough framed for large 3rd bedroom and separate workshop.
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Penny P e n n y Jackson J a c k s o n - Broker/Owner Broker/Owner 5 541-662-0943 41-662-0943
BECKY B ECKY B BROSI ROSI PRINCIPAL P R I N C I PA L BROKER BROKER
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