West Linn Tidings...
Emmanuel Presbyterian Church
19200 Willamette Drive
West Linn, OR 97068
7:00 - 9:00pm
Project Overview
Does West Linn need a Robinwood Neighborhood
Community Center? Ultimately, the impetus of this Master Plan is predicated on
the notion that it does. Phase 1 of this
study was commissioned to evaluate the existing community center to determine
the probability and scope of future City investment in the temporary
facility. In 2010, residents from the
Community, with the support of local Neighborhood Associations came before the
City Council with a request to repurpose a decommissioned fire station
for use as a venue for various Community-related activities. Advocates were successful in their request to
the extent that an organization of citizen volunteers was granted the authority
to improve and manage the facility under certain Permitted conditions of
temporary use. The purpose was to demonstrate, within a finite amount of time,
the need for a community center. As the
clock winds down on the final of two temporary use periods for the existing
building, it is imperative to review the history of operations and
determine whether a compelling
demonstration has been made for both the City and its taxpayers, that a
permanent community center in the Robinwood Neighborhood is considered necessary even to the extent
that its creation and ongoing operations might be subsidized by the City of West
Linn.
Originally constructed in 1964 by the unincorporated
village of Robinwood, the small fire station at 3706 Cedar Oak Drive served as
home to the area's volunteer fire department.
With the incorporation of Robinwood into West Linn, the station became a
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue Facility. After TVF&R decommissioned the
old Cedar Oak Fire Station, it was used mainly by the City for storage of
records and equipment. Occasionally
meetings and events were held there, but for the most part it remained
empty. Under-utilized and virtually
abandoned, the building quickly descended into a state of disrepair. When Friends of Robinwood Station (F.O.R.S.)
was founded in 2010, they organized a team of Community volunteers to clean,
repair, and improve the facility and its grounds.
The
Temporary Use Permit is a discretionary consent awarded by the City Council for
the extent of 1 year. During that time, the facility could operate in the
capacity of a community center in with minimal changes and improvements. The WL CDC restricts use of this consent to
two periods or twenty-four months
total. The first permit was awarded,
however , with the condition that certain minimum accessibility and fire, life
safety standards imposed by the local building department must be in place
prior to the authorization Occupancy.
While those conditions were being met, FORS organized officially as a
501(c)3 Oregon Non-Profit, forged a
Memorandum of Use (MOU) agreement with the City of West Linn outlining
the conditions and limitations of operations, and drafted a set of operational
documents for facility users. The agreement with the City imposed restrictions
similar to other COWL facilities, including limited hours of operation, varying
with certain days of the week, no consumption of alcohol on the premises, and
strict compliance with noise ordinances.
Permits will expire at the end of June 2013. Information assembled in this Analysis should
be made available to the sitting Council for their consideration. The
Pre-Application conference in 2010 provided specific guidelines for adequate
remediation of deficiencies with the existing building(s) and property. Those will be reviewed in more detail in
subsequent Phases of this Study, suffice it to say they will require considerable
time and investment. The Planning process is expected to take no less than six
months, leaving very little time to complete this study, then design and
contract the necessary improvements. As
the schedule suggests, maintaining the timeframe is critical if operations at
the Center are to continue beyond June of 2013.
The Robinwood Community Center, "Robinwood Station," will soon
enter the closing stage of its two year long experiment with FORS, RNA, and
COWL to establish the case that "Yes!" The City of West Linn does indeed
need a Community Center in Robinwood. If that case has now been
established, make the determination to proceed, implement the recommendations
necessary for success, and then plan for
growth.
Please join us.
