Philomath could be on the receiving end of up to $1.9 million in federal funding to be used toward infrastructure-related needs in future phases of the Millpond Crossing housing development.
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle pushed forward the Philomath project and 14 others earlier this month to the House Appropriations Committee.
“This funding would support the building of streets and sidewalks as part of a larger project to construct 150 workforce housing units,” Hoyle (D-Ore.) wrote in a summarized description of the funding request. “The streets and sidewalks built from this funding will serve workers and the general public, facilitating crucial economic development in the city and providing infrastructure for much-needed affordable, middle-income housing.”
Philomath City Manager Chris Workman said the funding would go toward Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the sizable housing development.
“We’ve been working with Rep. Hoyle since she got elected and she’s come to Philomath a couple of times,” Workman said when asked about interactions between the city and the representative. “Mayor (Chas) Jones has paid her office a visit a few times when he was in D.C. for unrelated things but was in town … so we’ve built up a good relationship and a good rapport with her office.”
Millpond Crossing has been a project riddled with various issues from methane detection to miscalculated property lines. Phase 2 work at the site in recent weeks slowed considerably with several homes in various stages of construction. In the meantime, the developer, MPC Builders, received a Business Oregon grant, Workman said, to help pay for expenses related to methane mitigation and testing.
“The developer’s been working with Public Works on getting a new time frame put together,” Workman said, referring to MPC Builders’ Levi Miller. “They’re also working with DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) on methane mitigation that needs to take place — that’s getting renegotiated as well. I think between the work with DEQ and the work with Public Works, we’ll have a better idea in a week or two of what the time frames are going to look like. At this point, he’s moving forward with progress on the houses.”
Details to work out with Public Works include the completion this summer of infrastructure-related work in the first two phases and the paving of South 16th Street.
As far as phases 3 and 4, Workman said the developer hopes to get into the planning process before the end of the year with construction possibly next year. Workman said no building permits for phases 3 and 4 will be issued until all infrastructure — streets, sidewalks, sewer, etc. — has been completed. There is also a requirement for the construction of a neighborhood park before Phase 3 can begin.
As for Hoyle’s work in Washington, House members were allowed earlier this month to submit 15 community projects to be considered for funding on behalf of their congressional district to the U.S. House Appropriations Committee.
“These 15 projects reflect the priorities of local communities who know their needs best,” Hoyle said. “If funded, these projects will support the construction of affordable housing, promote workforce development, advance public safety and more.”
In a letter to the House Appropriations Committee, Hoyle described the project as “an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because the public funding provided will directly offset the cost of purchasing the houses, making them affordable for workers and middle-income families that currently cannot afford to purchase a home in Philomath.”
Workman said he’s not sure if the city would actually receive the entire request of $1.9 million.
“Those numbers tend to get shaved down a little bit,” he said. “If you look at last year’s appropriations that came through, most of those were in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, so we don’t really have the full expectation that we’re going to see all of that money. But we wanted to be transparent about what the cost would be for the street and sidewalk infrastructure we’re asking for.”
Workman said the result should lead to lower prices for prospective buyers.
“The agreement with the developer would be if the government, whether it be state or local or federal, is going to put money into the project, then we’re going to want to see a reduction in the cost of housing on a dollar-for-dollar basis,” he said. “So any money we can get towards the project is going to help offset some costs for families.”
Hoyle shared a similar message from Philomath in her letter to the committee.
“Middle-income workers such as teachers, firefighters, police officers, small-business owners, entrepreneurs and more are currently unable to purchase housing in town, making it difficult to attract these types of individuals and their families to help build our local economy and strengthen our community.”
The House committee will now begin the work to consider what projects to include in future appropriations bills.
Following is a list of the 15 projects selected by Hoyle for potential funding:
- Cottage Grove Community Policing Project — $500,000
- Lane County Rural Fire Radio Network Resilience Project — $1.5 million
- Siuslaw River Slope Stabilization Project, Florence — $800,000
- Springfield Police Emergency Response Equipment — $1 million
- Corvallis Backup 911 Center — $1.98 million
- Workforce and Middle-income Housing Infrastructure Support, Philomath — $1.9 million
- Charleston Shipyard Capacity Enhancement Project, Coos Bay — $1.5 million
- Rogue Siskiyou Regional Wildfire Training Center Construction, Gold Beach — $2 million
- Port of Port Orford Affordable Workforce Housing — $1.5 million
- Emergency Communications Radio Tower for Rural Community Coverage, Roseburg — $1.45 million
- UCC Affordable Housing for Rural Workforce Training Students, Roseburg — $4 million
- Siletz Fire District Fire Station and Emergency Shelter — $1.35 million
- OCCC Maritime Welding Workforce and Training Facility, Newport — $2,991,750
- Central Oregon Coast Rural Public Safety Assistance, Waldport — $3 million
- Newport Critical Wastewater Improvements — $3 million