Vancouver

[CouvScott]

Project offers new library, new look for downtown Vancouver
Riverwest - Twin towers of condos and a hotel would anchor a four-block area
Thursday, May 25, 2006
ALLAN BRETTMAN
VANCOUVER -- An anonymous donor has pledged $5 million and a developer has given a $2 million tract of land for a proposed main library downtown.

Now it is up to voters to decide Sept. 19 whether to approve $43 million in bonds that would pay for that library and another on the east side, as well as other system improvements.

The new main library would be one of the cornerstones of the $165 million, four-block Riverwest project next to Interstate 5 near downtown Vancouver.

Riverwest would feature two 12-story buildings with condominiums, a seven-story office building and 17,000 square feet of retail space. One of the condominium buildings would also house 75 to 85 hotel rooms on the lower six floors. Also, 11 town homes would be built near one of the condominiums and a restaurant would be built on a public square.

Developer Killian Pacific has said construction could start as early as the first half of 2008. The property, currently the home of a car dealership, is next to a movie complex near the Interstate Bridge.

Susan Hildreth, in-coming president of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, said libraries are becoming part of other developments in urban areas where land is scarce and neighborhoods are "reinventing themselves."

Riverwest's construction depends on voter approval of the bonds.

Here's why: In March, the state Legislature named Riverwest as one of three projects statewide that would receive money under a Local Infrastructure Financing Tool. The bill would provide Vancouver with as much as $500,000 annually for 25 years to pay for 400 of the 900 spaces in a Riverwest underground parking garage.

That money -- funneled through the state from a variety of Vancouver tax sources -- is contingent on the library being part of the project, said Steve Burdick, director of economic development for the city.

If the library bond fails, "then we're back to Square One," Burdick said.

The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District board approved several resolutions Tuesday night setting in motion the Sept. 19 bond vote.

The $43 million bond, which requires a 60 percent supermajority, would pay for:

The new 90,000-square-foot main library about four blocks west of the existing main library on Mill Plain Boulevard.

A new 25,000-square-foot branch library next to the Firstenburg Community Center on 136th Avenue.

Technology improvements at the Vancouver Mall library, including wireless access and self check-out stations.

The cost to taxpayers would be an estimated 17.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation over the life of the bonds, or $35 a year for a home with an assessed value of $200,000.

[MarkDaMan]

c'mon 'couver...I'd like to see this come together.

[pdxstreetcar]

excellent news, this should be a great project

[CouvScott]

Wednesday, June 28, 2006
By THOMAS RYLL, Columbian staff writer Advertisement


Shortly before 10 Tuesday morning, the county commissioners voted unanimously to vote unanimously shortly after 10 to put a $43 million library construction measure on the Sept. 19 ballot.

It was all on account of state law that makes the commissioners the Vancouver Library Capital Facilities Area board. Voters formed the facilities area as part of the first attempt, in 2004, to pass a library measure. But the financing portion failed then, as it did, narrowly, in November.

In accordance with the rules, the commissioners, acting as the library facilities board, voted Tuesday morning to again put the measure before voters. A few minutes later, the commissioners, acting as county commissioners, approved a consent agenda that included the bond proposal.

Discussion on the proposal was short Tuesday. Commissioners were briefed on the library's request at a work session last week. "I'm sold," said Commissioner Steve Stuart. "This is a situation where two plus two doesn't equal four. It equals nine."

The proposal would build new libraries in downtown Vancouver and east Vancouver, at the site of the city's new Firstenburg Community Center, and provide new equipment for the Vancouver Mall Community Library.

The new downtown library would be the keystone of the Killian Pacific Riverwest project, proposed for the four blocks at Evergreen Boulevard and C Street now occupied by the Carr auto dealership.

The plan for Riverwest includes 200 apartments, 120,000 square feet of office space, 15,000 square feet of retail space, a central plaza, the 90,000-square-foot library and an underground parking garage.

An anonymous donor has pledged $5 million to the library's bond effort, and the Killian family is donating the site, valued at $2 million, for the Riverwest library.

Despite climbing construction costs, the Sept. 19 package will accomplish everything in the November 2005 bond measure, but for $1 million less. The November proposal got 59.37 percent of the vote, but needed a 60 percent supermajority.

Today's Mill Plain library building, dating to the early 1960s, is 48,000 square feet. If voters approve the bond issue, most of the Mill Plain building would be used for book processing and administrative offices, but some space would be reserved for public use after the library moves out.

$200,000 home: $35 a year

A 25,000-square-foot library would be built in east Vancouver, next door to the Firstenburg Community Center. That library, referred to now as the "eastside library," would replace the tiny Cascade Park Community Library, which is about 2,500 square feet.

The bond issue would have an estimated tax rate of 17.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or about $35 per year in property taxes on a $200,000 home.

The library proposal would also be one of the first beneficiaries in the state of a measure for three pilot projects approved by the Legislature this year. The measure makes a portion (400 of 900 spaces) of the Riverwest underground parking lot eligible for public financing. Of those 400 spaces, 200 would be free to library patrons and 200 would be available for other public use.

If the city, the county, the Port of Vancouver and the library district all concur, property tax proceeds from a portion of the taxes on the project would be plowed back into the cost of those parking spaces. The arrangement would not affect other property taxpayers.

At last week's county commissioners' work session, Stuart praised the eastside library, so close to the Firstenburg's pool, as the ideal place for children "to run around and get their energy out and then sit down and read a book."

That prompted Bruce Ziegman, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District executive director, to quip, "So long as they still don't have their swimsuits on."

[CouvScott]

Wednesday, August 2, 2006
By JONATHAN NELSON Columbian staff writer Advertisement


Downtown Vancouver's lone auto dealership is a step closer to leaving its landmark site and joining the competition at the auto mall near Andresen Road.

Carr Auto Group is asking the city to change the zoning of seven parcels, four of which the Oregon-based company owns, so it can build Cadillac and GMC, Pontiac and Buick showrooms at the corner of Fourth Plain Boulevard and Northeast 66th Avenue. The two buildings would stretch across 4 acres, an acre bigger than the dealership's location at 901 C St.

Dan Kuske, vice president of Carr, said the company is talking with General Motors officials about the design of the two showrooms. He said the earliest construction could begin would be later this year.

"We have the utmost urgency to get it going," Kuske said. "Time is running out on us."

The urgency is rooted in an agreement between Carr and GMC that requires the auto lot to move out of downtown and near the Vancouver Auto Mall within three years after the 2005 purchase of Bill Copps Motors.

Carr, which employs 60 people, paid approximately $1.9 million for the four parcels, Kuske said. The price for building the showrooms hasn't been determined, he said.

Carr executives had hoped construction would have started this summer, but finding the land and maneuvering through the planning process has taken longer than anticipated.

Carr's entry into the Clark County market mirrors the national trend of consolidation. Last year, Vancouver businessman Alan Webb expanded his line of automobiles when he bought the Vancouver Mazda Dodge dealership. He also intends to move the company from its Hazel Dell location to the auto mall area.

The downtown auto dealer opened in 1917. Copps became a partner in the business in 1967. The property, now owned by Killian Pacific, is being considered for a major redevelopment project that would move the downtown library onto the site as part of a residential, retail and commercial complex.

Jonathan Nelson covers retail. Reach him at 360-759-8013 or jonathan.nelson@columbian.com.


Update

Previously: Carr Auto Group of Hillsboro, Ore., bought the Bill Copps Motors dealership in downtown Vancouver in 2005.

What's new: Carr is asking the city for a zone change on land near the Vancouver Auto Mall and intends to move the dealership to the new site.

What's next: Company officials hope construction can get started before the year ends.

[urbanlife]

very cool news.

[PDXPaul]

Man the 'couve starts changing once I leave. Close up old Bill Copps and build something decent on it. And that closed down Denny's too on Mill Plain.

[CouvScott]

[Dougall5505]

oooo purdy

[MarkDaMan]

Yeah for da 'couv! That is really going to change the, uhumm, skyline.

[der Reisender]

if what is in that drawing actually gets built it would be a really nice addition to vancouver. if they get light rail someday it could be a popular, affordable alternative for those urban dwellers who cant afford portland's inner city, like me

[CouvScott]

Friday, August 4, 2006
Columbian editorial writers Advertisement


When progress takes hold and neighborhood improvements kick in, one of the biggest temptations in the hurried drive to modernize is to ignore history. Such disregard for the past is a sign of arrogance.

Consider six old houses on Evergreen Boulevard, just east of C Street, in downtown Vancouver. When the $165 million Riverwest project begins, it would be easy to simply pretend those aging structures never existed. Few people would probably even miss them.

But one of those houses the 99-year-old Kiggins House at the east end of the block has for more than a decade been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built by the famous former mayor, John P. Kiggins, who wanted to build a home on the lot because it was within view of the Vancouver Barracks stockade, where he was briefly incarcerated. Holly Chamberlain, the consultant who wrote the 1995 application for historic recognition, explains: "This was part of him thumbing his nose. 'OK, I was in jail briefly in the Army, but I went on to become a successful citizen.' "

Indeed, and that's why we were delighted this week to learn that the old Kiggins House will not be demolished when work begins on Riverwest, the four-square-block project that will include apartments, office and retail space; a central plaza; a new library pending voter approval; and a 700-space underground parking garage. The property is best recognized for the Carr auto dealership, which is being moved to the auto mall near Andresen Road.

As The Columbian's Jeffrey Mize reported Wednesday, the Kiggins House might be moved, but it won't be destroyed. "Under no circumstances would we be a party to seeing that building demolished, no way," said George Killian of Killian Pacific, the company that wants to undertake the project.

City officials are working with a Portland State University graduate student who is searching for an individual or a group that would be willing to move the Kiggins House and the five other buildings.

The Kiggins House might be kept as a part of Riverwest, but if it's moved, we hope it will be to a site nearby. That would conform with the intent of Tom Jones, president of the Esther Short Neighborhood Association, who said: "One of my biggest arguments since I became president is that I didn't want to lose our downtown image, where it is so commercial and modern like downtown Portland. I prefer to keep our rustic look."

A great success story in downtown redevelopment has been Esther Short Park, popular not for steel, glass or asphalt, but for trees, grass and public gathering places. That's the kind of attention to history that should guide the renovation of downtown Vancouver. Let's remain enthusiastic about the future, but whether it's recognizing pioneer woman Esther Short or saving the old Kiggins House for later generations to appreciate, let's not forget the past.

[der Reisender]

seems like a good thing to be saving the Kiggins house with its local history and whatnot, but the other five buildings too? is there any significance to those ones?

[PDXPaul]

I can't remember what other buildings on the street with kiggins look like but whenever I go to Kiggins I always feel like I'm back in the 50's.

Is anything happening on the block that's cleared and fenced north of vancouver center and east of heritage place? It's kitty corner from Eshter short park.

[CouvScott]

Originally Posted by der Reisender

seems like a good thing to be saving the Kiggins house with its local history and whatnot, but the other five buildings too? is there any significance to those ones?

Here is a picture of the Kiggin's House... ( I couldn't get a picture of the front of the house due to trees along the street)


The rest of the other housing isn't anything special.

[360Rich]

Man I hope this project comes together. Primarily for the continued redevelopment of downtown Vancouver, and selfishly for the fact that I work directly across the street, eight floors up, with a great view of the site.

Here are two more images from the Fort Vancouver Regional Library's site.

http://www.fvrl.org/aboutus/drawings...yRendering.jpg

http://www.fvrl.org/aboutus/drawings...rySitePlan.jpg

[CouvScott]

Is this where you work?

[360Rich]

Originally Posted by CouvScott

Is this where you work?

That's the one.

Man, you're good.

[CouvScott]

Thanks. I have a few customers downtown and have been in that building for a few TI walk throughs.

[CouvScott]

Low turnout - Unofficial returns show passage of a bond in a primary election featuring few contested races

FACTBOX
• Local Measures

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
ALLAN BRETTMAN
VANCOUVER -- Voters gave a comfortable "supermajority" approval to a $43 million bond to build two libraries in Vancouver, unofficial returns showed in Tuesday's primary and special election.

Construction of a new Cascade Park branch next to the Firstenburg Community Center could begin late next year, said Bruce Ziegman, executive director of the Fort Vancouver Library District. Construction of a new main library, as part of a mixed-use development near downtown, probably would not begin until 2008 at the earliest, Ziegman said.

"We thought we had a really good plan," Ziegman said, accepting hugs of congratulations at Clark College's Gaiser Hall.

The bond needed 60 percent plus one vote to be approved. Unofficial results showed it received 62.8 percent approval to 37.2 percent rejection.

Turnout in Clark County showed 54,163 ballots cast of 187,861 ballots provided to eligible voters, a 28.8 percent participate rate. Election officials had projected a voter turnout of 33 percent. Vote counting will continue for several days.