Crews are grading building pads, installing utilities and finalizing civil permits for the next phase of Millpond Crossing as a new construction team looks to jump-start a stretch of the development that’s frustrated neighbors for years.
Jody Miller, vice president of Jody Miller Construction of Tacoma, Washington, told the Philomath City Council on Monday night that his firm hopes to begin vertical construction on Phase 3 by October with the first homes on the market early next year. The next phase includes rows of townhomes grouped in clusters of eight to 10 units, City Manager Chris Workman confirmed.
Miller, who is not related to property owner Levi Miller, said the townhome buildings are being panelized in a factory and trucked to the site, allowing crews to move quickly once foundations are poured.
“By the time we pour foundations, they’ll be finished in three-and-a-half months, and then we’re just rolling down the line,” he said.
Miller’s team has also been working through a punch list of unfinished items left over from Phase 2 of the development, he said, including replacing sidewalks, installing ADA ramps and connecting storm drain laterals that were never completed.
Councilor Diane Crocker called it “welcome news to have professionals come in to take over.”
Mayor Christopher McMorran questioned Miller on longstanding concerns from residents about groundwater and methane at the site. Miller said crews have dewatered the property and continue to hold and infiltrate water on site, and that methane levels continue to be monitored by a subcontractor. He described the methane issue as decomposing organic material rather than contamination with soil being screened and reused on site.
Crocker also asked about a culvert planned under Chapel Drive. Miller said a 30-inch bypass pipe has been installed up to the county right of way, but the project is waiting on Benton County approval before crews can tunnel under the road itself. Workman said the delay is also holding up work on a drainage ditch behind homes on Timothy Street, though he said the actual construction once approved would take only a few days.
In an interview after the meeting, Workman said Jody Miller Construction has not yet purchased any part of the property — that transfer of individual lots to the builder can’t happen until the Phase 3 plat is recorded.
The underlying property remains owned by Millpond Crossing’s Levi Miller, Workman said. Going forward, Workman said the development agreement remains unchanged.
Workman estimated that the new team has been active on site for at least six months, including reconnecting Phase 2 storm laterals with individual property owners, and said the city has confidence in the group.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a timeline for this project in a year or so, so that was refreshing to see a company come in with a secured timeline that they’re working off of,” Workman said. “I think generally speaking, you could say that staff’s got a lot of confidence in Jody Miller to hit the ground running and being here to get the project developed.
“It doesn’t mean that the project doesn’t have some problems still and some hiccups that they’re still working through,” he added, “and that’s a discussion between Jody Miller Construction and the Millpond Crossing development on who’s going to pay for some of these outstanding items that still need to be done.”
Before the Phase 3 plat can be recorded, Workman said two other issues need to be resolved. One involves a paved path along the west side of a planned neighborhood park that doubles as both stormwater infrastructure and a pedestrian route — a prior land-use approval calls for a walking path around the park’s full perimeter, but a short stretch of that path crosses the backyards of two privately owned lots.
The city already holds a utility easement there for maintaining the stormwater line underneath, but that doesn’t give the public a legal right to walk across the private property. The developer is working with the two property owners to secure a pedestrian easement — a quick process, Workman said — as well as a longer-term lot line adjustment that would redraw the boundaries to match neighboring fence lines and resolve the encroachment for good.
The second outstanding item is an updated development agreement reflecting the current phase of the project.
“There were just a few updates and modifications that had to be made to it to reflect what’s actually happening in Phase 3,” Workman said.
McMorran thanked Miller and fellow developer Johnny DuRocher for their communication with the city and the neighborhood.
“I know we all watch that neighborhood and that development very closely, so we’re excited to see some progress be made,” McMorran said.
Miller believes additional leftover problems from earlier phases will likely need to be addressed.
“There’s going to be things that we’re going to continue to expose that we’re not aware of, so just bear with us,” he said. “But we’ll work through them all and get it done.”
The street renaming considered Monday — from Bullback Street to Head Rig Street — was a condition of the Phase 3 land use approval, correcting what city staff determined was a misspelling on an earlier plat. “Head Rig” is a sawmill term referring to the primary saw and carriage used to break down logs, consistent with logging-themed street names elsewhere in the development. No addresses have been assigned to the street, so no property owners will be impacted.
No members of the public spoke during the hearing and the council closed it and voted 6-0 (one absent) to approve the related ordinance.
