The Philomath City Council on Monday directed staff to prepare a request for proposals for mixed-use development of a city-owned lot on the southwest corner of Main and South 14th streets, with councilors expressing a preference for flexibility while still setting parameters around parking, building height and community aesthetics.
The 7-0 vote came after the council and members of the Housing and Economic Development Committee conducted 40-minute interviews earlier in the evening with two development firms that responded to a request for qualifications the city issued in January — Hanlon Development of The Dalles, represented by Mary Hanlon, and Jamestown Development of Lake Oswego, represented by Scott Miller.
Mayor Christopher McMorran set the tone for the evening’s discussion early, framing the task at hand simply.
“What we need from us all this evening is just some direction for staff, informed by the conversations we had, what you would like to see in an RFP for that lot,” McMorran said.
City Manager Chris Workman explained that the RFP process for the downtown location is intended to establish a partnership.
“This will be more who wants to partner with us, not who wants to develop a piece of property for us,” said Workman, explaining how the situation differs from an agreement with an affordable housing developer to build apartments on a city lot at the corner of Main and North 20th.
Workman said the goal is to reach an exclusive negotiating agreement and a memorandum of understanding with a preferred developer, which would eventually lead to a purchase or lease agreement. The RFP will be targeted specifically to the two qualified firms rather than opened to the broader market.
“We’re going to work with them on development, we’re going to do the outreach to the community, we’re going to talk about aesthetics, we’re going to talk about all of that stuff,” Workman said.
He said the RFP will include specific parameters — such as minimum parking requirements and maximum building height — but the council also heard a consistent call for flexibility in how proposals are evaluated.
Councilor Brent Kaseman said the city should resist being overly prescriptive.
“If we want total control over the property, we can keep our empty lot,” Kaseman said. “They’re going to be doing the investment, they’re doing the work and so there’s going to be something great there, I think, whatever it turns out to be.”
Councilor Spencer Irwin agreed but said building height and overall aesthetics are concerns he hears frequently from the community.
“Pretty much everybody has panicked at the idea of a very tall building in the downtown,” Irwin said, adding that he thinks residents would ultimately accept a larger structure once it was in place. He also suggested the RFP include a preference for publicly accessible restrooms, saying good downtown spaces — like good parks — benefit from that kind of amenity.
Councilor Diane Crocker said she favors a layered approach to the upper floors, preferring commercial space on the ground level with a small boutique hotel component or apartments above.
“There’s no way we’re going to fill 60 rooms every night or even half the nights, I don’t think,” Crocker said. “I think on a weekend or certain events, we could probably do that but the 15 rooms or 20 rooms I would imagine we could do.”
Councilor Teresa Nielson said the RFP should reflect the city’s community goals, including a design aesthetic consistent with Philomath’s character.
“The timber town theme and it feeling like a good fit for our community — those community goals that we’ve been talking about in a lot of our meetings, those should be things that should be a part of the RFP so they know who we are and what we’re looking for,” Nielson said.
Councilor Jessica Andrade emphasized ADA accessibility, saying she wanted the RFP to prioritize access beyond minimum code requirements, particularly in areas such as rooftop access and elevator service.
Assistant City Manager Chelsea Starner suggested the RFP use preference language rather than hard requirements where flexibility is desired, allowing the city to signal priorities without discouraging developers from submitting proposals.
Workman said staff plans to bring a draft RFP back to the council next month with a response window of approximately two months to give developers adequate time to prepare detailed proposals. A scoring matrix will also be included so firms know how they will be evaluated.
