Rebuilding Phoenix, Oregon after the 2020 Fire

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Southern Oregon Real Estate Show with Guest Eric Swanson, City of Phoenix

Alice Lema: Well, good morning, Southern Oregon. Welcome to the real estate show. Pete bell Castro, Alice Lema, we're you're hosts here today. We're both brokers at John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon, and Pete it's been another week of low inventory. We got a few more houses on the market. What, what do you have to say about what happened this week?

[00:00:25] Pete Belcastro: Well, we're still in that, in that boat of, of, you know, high demand and in low inventory, which is, which is where we in.  I think what we're seeing, you know, with summer starting now, we're going to see maybe a change. But I hope people are taking serious the drought that we're in and the seriousness of the fires that we may have the summer, Alice.

[00:00:44] It really I'm down here on the lower Klamath river where here we're not even summer yet. And it's really hot and dry. So, you know, take it seriously when you're out there because it's going to affect real estate. We don't want to burn our country or our area down again, like we've seen. So I think that's the biggest concern going into the summer right now.

[00:01:00] Especially if people come back out into the forest, into the RV parks around. So, you know, it's out there and please be aware of it because we're in a big mess right now with water and the lack of it around here. It's so precious. Anyway today, you know, speaking of fires, you know, it's been almost well, not quite a year in September coming up and the Alameda fire.

[00:01:19] Eric Swanson is the city manager Phoenix, and he's going to join us in a little bit to talk about kind of what's the update for that thing. He was by the way, the city manager, I met him when he was a city manager in Roseburg. He came here from Iowa. Then he was a city manager of Medford for a number of years also before he left there a few years ago.

[00:01:35] And now he has resurfaced back in Phoenix. So,he's been around a long time, got a lot of experience. And I think he's probably the perfect person to lead Phoenix right now through this revival of how are you going to be the new Phoenix and literally rise from your ashes and what kind of a community you are going to be.

[00:01:51] It'll be interesting to see what he has to say about that.

[00:01:55] Alice Lema: Well, and it's been nice to drive through there and see so much cleanup. And, there's a few sticks going up here and there, I guess they're worth a million dollars, right? Each piece of plywood.

[00:02:07]Pete Belcastro:  Well, you know, here, you have a lot of construction going on in Phoenix and in talent.

[00:02:11] And yet if you want to do it right now, you know, try to get yourself a, what is going to cost you because the price of lumber was has gone up so much and utilities, you know, systems that are all charges that go into that make things very unaffordable. So what kind of affordable housing can we reimagine Phoenix to be?

[00:02:29] Because, you know, I don't know what they're going to do, but they've got a chance. Because they lost an awful  lot of affordable housing in the fire. How you bring that back in this day and age, man, what a challenge. And yet it's going to be a huge, huge impact on our community, in the future.

[00:02:45] Alice Lema: And what a great question cause that's something you and I have been wondering since the fires. Is what is Phoenix and talent going to do? Are they going to recreate some of those. Zoning spaces. Are they going to do something different? Are they going to go back to the same old, same old that, that everybody does? The three bedroom, two bath, although the manufactured parks, the mobile home parks, be interesting to see what they're doing, but anyway, we're going to talk to, Eric Swanson, the city manager of a city of Phoenix, Pete Belcastro Alice Lema we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

[00:03:17] Well, welcome back Southern Oregon to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema here with my co-host Pete Belcastro we're both brokers here at John L. Scott in Southern Oregon, and we're welcoming Eric Swanson today as our guest. He is the city manager of the city of Phoenix.

[00:03:33] Welcome Eric.

[00:03:34] Eric Swanson: Welcome well thank you for welcoming me here. I appreciate  getting on. Thank you.

[00:03:39] Alice Lema: Well, gosh, your, your city has been through so much in the last year, and we're so appreciative of you coming on the show and kind of bringing us up to speed of where things stand now.

[00:03:51] Eric Swanson: Yeah. There's been some pretty long days here during the rebuilt, but, you know, I'm happy to say that things are, things are moving ahead and, you know, the community is quite resilient through this whole process. So, so far so good.

[00:04:05] Alice Lema: So we see some of the cleanup is moving on and we, we have a few, a house starts here and there.  How, how difficult is it to get those cleanups finished?

[00:04:17] Eric Swanson: You know, it's actually gone fairly well. Oregon department of transportation has been, heading up the process, working with contractors, removing the debris.

[00:04:30] And ensuring that all of the, all of the properties are cleaned up in accordance with all the federal environmental laws and those kinds of things. So, last report I got from John Vile with the county, he's headed up with the county, is they're about 85% through the process of clearing all the residential properties.

[00:04:53] So, I mean, if you imagine, that process really got started at the end of the year. First part of this year, they made a lot of progress, in, in that short amount of time. So we're very appreciative, very thankful and very blessed that, that they've made, made this kind of progress and things have moved along as quickly.

[00:05:12] Alice Lema: 85%. That's huge.

[00:05:16] Eric Swanson: And it was, it was a, it was a big process, you know, it was a large, No, there's a lot, there's a lot of moving parts, especially with the hazardous materials and debris that's left behind, you know, in a fire and getting that right. Is really important for the rebuild process. So I'm happy to say that that's gone pretty well.

[00:05:38] You know, if I can, I might just give you kind of a little bit, some, some facts, some information regarding what that cleanup process or rebuild process is looking like in, in Phoenix. You know, we lost a total of 284 mobile homes within the three parks, in, in Phoenix. So all three parks have been working with the city and they planned to replace all units.

[00:06:05] Some replacement own permits are starting to be issued, but supply shortages will slow the process of replacing all these homes. And I'm sure we're all aware of supply issues and costs considerations. At this point in time has been, very detrimental to the process of rebuilding. But, things, things move forward.

[00:06:29] Another thing I want to mention is of the 150 multi-well whole family units, we lost. 138 are somewhere in the process of being permitted for reconstruction, including 64 units that are, are under construction. Now, these are both rental units and townhouse condo units,that are individually owned.

[00:06:52] In addition to the rebuilds, we have a pre-application for a new 26 unit apartment complex, used to apparently drive on lands that were formerly vacant. So a lot going on again in that, in that multifamily, realm of, of rebuilding. We've, we've, we've issued permits for the replacement of approximately 50% of the 116 detached single-family homes that were destroyed.

[00:07:22] And we hope to start issuing, certificates of occupancy for some of these very soon. In fact,  we usually do two of those last week, a certificate of occupancy, which is kind of a milestone, as you can imagine for the individuals that were, that lost their homes and going through the process of rebuilding and getting all the different permitting processes.

[00:07:44] And so that's a big milestone for us. And to have two folks back in their homes after the, after losing their homes is pretty exciting. We have, we also have an application for the construction of, of, of a new four-story 55 unit apartment complex to replace. A single level of multi-tenant commercial building that was lost in the fire.

[00:08:07] That's approximately,if you, if you, if you know where Ray's grocery store is and, and then behind, the Jack in the box is that area that, that was a little strip mall that was lost. So that's being replaced, by,multi-family, a multifamily project. So that's, that's a big, big step. We also have an application for a 12 unit cottage cluster development.

[00:08:37] These will be 900 square foot units grouped around shared parking and open space. And one thing I'll just mention as part of that process of, of looking at some of these areas where we're looking in a construction of residential and commercial areas,  early on in the process shortly after latter part of the year, we went ahead and made a change to our zoning code, which allowed for mixed use development of commercial and residential, just given the huge need that we see for residential.

[00:09:12] You know, we had a problem with, with residential units or rental units in particular being available. And before the fire and the fire only made it worse, obviously. And so you being able to make that change, I think opened up a lot of possibilities, more possibilities than what was there before. And again, to specifically address, the need for, residential.

[00:09:40] As well as understanding that, you know, commercial, commercial buildings and the future of commercial property in general is, is sort of, something that's going to be hard to predict, you know, giving the,Amazon age that we live in and the brick and mortar versus the, kind of the brick and mortar type, development, especially in the commercial area.

[00:10:03] So anyway, that's, that's just a quick overview of the, what's going on in the residential rebuild,in Phoenix. So we're really happy to see that type of activity.

[00:10:15] And we're really pleased with, our community development director, Joe Slaughter. And his people that have been helping, we, we really had to amp up the ramp up, excuse me, and well kind of amp up to, but then to really ramp up our ability for permit review and that process. So, we had, we hired a few more folks and we're getting support from the state, financially, to make that happen.

[00:10:46] So we were very very thankful that that's, something that the state has helped us out with financially. When, when I came here in April of 2020, the budget included one plans permit person in the department. And obviously that would have not been able to keep up given the kind of, activity in our community development area.

[00:11:09] Pete Belcastro: So. Well, it's good. It's good, Eric, that you're having that we're seeing developments take place. We're seeing some new construction going on, but I'm telling you those parks that are going to be the other point you're talking about, you know, coming back into, we did a show recently with them and I think it was over a year waiting for a new manufactured home to even be delivered.

[00:11:30] So they're simply so backed up so far that it's going to take longer, I think, than any of us anticipate ever filling the parks back up. And now you've got on top of that. You've got all the huge construction costs that are rising for people that are trying to build, and all these kinds of projects are going on and the costs are going to go higher.

[00:11:47] So even though you're doing so well, it sounds like you're on a good trajectory. Gosh, there's so many obstacles still to overcome to try to get that mix back and try to bring people back into Phoenix and Talent. So, you know, it's a slow process, isn't it? And it's not easy. Yeah.

[00:12:01] Eric Swanson: Not easy, not easy at all.

[00:12:02] And, but it's so important. So vitally important that we, that we continue to try to support this given, given the obstacles that are confronting us. And, I'm not sure who you spoke to specifically., I know that there's one, one, Development,  barely the states they had over 200 units, last 203 units lost in that, in the fire.

[00:12:28] And they're a national company. You know,  I think they're out of Utah or somewhere, out of, out of state. So I think,  for that particular project, it'll be important, obviously that they have the bandwidth to deal with this, kind of rebuild process. And as you said, waiting for that long, I think is going to be a really, really an impediment to seeing this happen.

[00:12:56] And as I've said to everyone, this is, this is, this is not a sprint. This is gonna be a marathon. And to get us back to where we were before, I think is we just have to recognize what we're talking years.

[00:13:08] Pete Belcastro: And I hope, and I hope Eric, that the city will watch these guys, especially as out of state companies in terms of what they're charging and these people coming back. I lived in Bear Lake Estates states when it burned and lost my house there. And you know, these out of state companies are starting to charge 700, $700 and higher just for a space in these places. And so that's so unaffordable for so many people who live there at that time. And it was a big concern and I know the other parks are in that same boat.

[00:13:33] So. As you guys do this because the whole thing is that people live in Phoenix because it was affordable to live there. And, as this change takes place with so many new things, I just hope that you guys will watch that the cost and the kinds of things that they're going to be charging. Even though I know it's no private enterprise, I'm not talking about that, is that what they're going to charge these people to try to get them back in there because the people who lived in Phoenix and all of those who left so many, you know that was an affordable place to live.

[00:14:00]Eric Swanson:  I agree. And definitely we'll, we'll keep an eye on that. I think it's important that we try to do what we can to support, affordable housing that that can, can, and will hopefully, exist in, in Phoenix. And you know, I, I also want to mention, you know, the fact that we were looking at urban growth boundary expansion.

[00:14:22] If you're familiar with the PH five and PHD areas that were part of the previously part of the long-term planning that the, I guess the community had done or that the area, the region had done, this regional planning process, our RPS, a regional problem solving. And, that's an area that PH three is an area that's north, north of Phoenix.

[00:14:50] And, and kind of included in that south Medford area. And that's another area where there were several mobile home parks that were lost in the fire. There are, that are currently in Jackson county unincorporated.

[00:15:05] So this process of moving forward with PH three different growth path or expansion, it will be super important to also look at keeping those residential units affordable, because that's what they, they really played a huge part in affordability for, for the region.

[00:15:23] Pete Belcastro: Yeah. I mean, so many people, you know, lived in, in the fifth wheels and in old RVs, you know, the one Park right on, on there that all lost all that. And those people are the ones that have no place to go. And in that little west, what was so sad for so many of us, you know, victims or whatever, to see that and try to get these people to come back. Because that was, we were really hoping Alice wasn't, that Phoenix was Phoenix and Talent would really come back with some very cool ideas about how to, how to do this homeless thing, because we had a clean slate. And, Somewhat it's going on, you know, somewhat, it's not, but it's, it's good to hear that you're talking about it, Eric, more than anything else.

[00:15:59] Eric Swanson: Well, that's it. I mean, that's what it starts. It's got to start with a conversation, right? We've got to talk about it. We've got to figure out what are some, some, some of the strategies that we can, that we can, that we can develop that are sustainable, that are, again, that allow, allow the folks to come back.

[00:16:19] I mean, it's really important to our school district. There was a lot of kids that lived in those, in those areas. And, I know they'd done a tremendous job to keep those kids engaged. And I, in fact, I think there was a development in White City that are, is full of former students of the high school and grade schools that they're keeping in touch with us, so that there's still that connection to Phoenix.

[00:16:47] And those kinds of initiatives are really important. And,  Well.

[00:16:51] Alice Lema: And we've got a break coming up, Eric. So, we're going to be right back with a word from our sponsor. We're visiting with Eric Swanson. He is the city manager, the city of Phoenix, bringing us up to speed. What's going on in his town. Do not touch that dial. We'll be right back. Okay.

[00:17:10] Well, welcome back to the real estate show folks. We're here visiting with Eric Swanson, the city manager, the city of Phoenix, Pete Bellcastro and myself Alice Lema. We're both brokers here at John L. Scott and Southern Oregon. And, it's really been quite remarkable to hear that you've got your first two occupied certificates in the burn area in the city of Phoenix.

[00:17:32] You've got two people that not only rebuilt, but they're actually moving in. That's quite remarkable. Yeah. So yeah, getting those certificate of occupancy permits were, was really important. And I saw, I saw a picture of one of them and it looks like,he's definitely a Oregon and duck fan because the color of that, that green color.

[00:17:57] Eric Swanson: Yeah. Either, either love or hate, I guess, which side of the fence you are, in terms of,  either you're a duck or beaver fan, but no, that was, that was great to see. And I think, again, a real milestone for us as a community, as a city to see, see that happening and someone moving back after, again, losing everything.

[00:18:20] Alice Lema: So, what was, what do you think has been the hard, the biggest challenge, during these last few months for the recovery?

[00:18:29] Eric Swanson: Well, you know, one, the things that for, from my perspective is, at least, you know, and again, this is, this is the, council, and city staff, and we're pretty small, pretty small organization.

[00:18:46] You know,we have police, we have public works. We have the folks that are in town hall, city hall, you know, we're a little more than 20 some individuals. And so the challenge has been, you know, basically having two jobs, right. We're trying to run the city, do all the things that occur kind of just through,  You know, from the city perspective, budgets, all those kinds of things.

[00:19:13] And then at the same time, trying to, rebuild and go through that process and working with FEMA and working with Oregon emergency management, OEM,business, Oregon,we've even reached out to Sorein. Local economic development initiative. They're meeting they're, they're conducting meetings every Thursday from nine to 12 at the the Phoenix civic center.

[00:19:45] And specifically it's there for, to help the businesses and provide them some with some information about how they can finance the rebuild process. Ask questions. What, what things or opportunities are available. And they've actually hired an individual.That's  specifically was hired with EDA EDA funds.

[00:20:08] His name is Tarell Roper and I'm sure if you call soul rate, it's already number and asked for Tarell. He, he was he's the individual that's been hired specifically to help rebuild. And so there are resources out there and available or businesses and, and individuals. And I think, you know, getting back to the, having two jobs has been really you know, this pleasing to see the, kind of the support and help we've gotten, not only from, from FEMA and the state, but also, you know, Jackson county and others have really come in to try to help us out.

[00:20:47]And, and of course they're also dealing with some of the loss loss as well, but. At the same time, it's been extremely pleasing to see those folks really reach out and help out, help out with the process still challenging. I'm not saying it's not easy. It's, it's a hard, it's a hard process, but at the same time, you know, again, we've had folks representative Maurice, Senator Golden, that's supporting supporting us on a, on a project.

[00:21:14] We lost crew quarters at the fire department. For district five it's right next to city hall. And so looking to, to rebuild rebuild, potentially look at completely rebuilding the fire station, the police police station in city hall. And if you've ever been into our police station or city hall you'll know that the, this, this opportunity or the time is really has gone past whether this is something we should have done sometime ago.

[00:21:44] And it's something that's really needed. So we're, we're hoping for some state and federal assistance to get that accomplished. It's a big project, but I think it will really compliment the community. And long-term, I think it'll have some really huge benefits for the community in terms of, as we look to rebuild and then expand our urban growth bonds.

[00:22:04] So lots of, lots of help out there. And we've even had, we didn't reach out to our federal partners. Our Senator or Congressman they've been helpful too with identifying some potential financial resources to, to, to make this rebuild happen. Cause we lost a lot of we lost a lot of damage. We had a lot of infrastructure that was damaged during the fire over a million dollars.

[00:22:28] And so we've been piece by piece trying to rebuild or have plans to get financing, to rebuild some of that infrastructure that was lost and you know, complete subdivisions that were burnt out. And so that causes issues with our water distribution system and trying to keeping the water. You know, the testing and all the things that additional testing that's required because of that, we lost, we melt all the meters that were melted

[00:22:54] I mean, this was an extremely hot, intense fire where we lost, we even lost underground pipes to our irrigation systems that were melted or burnt. We lost A children's playground at Blue Heron, which gets a lot of use. So these are all the things that we're working on to try to rebuild again, it's going to take us a while to get there.

[00:23:14] And I think patience and just understanding that it takes, it takes time.

[00:23:22] Alice Lema: So as the recovery is continuing in the city of Phoenix, Eric we do have some people that are still struggling to try to get their lots cleaned up. Do you have any advice for them?

[00:23:34] Eric Swanson: Well, I think, you know the, the, the, the start for that is that they have to have right of entry so that they filled out the right of entry permits.

[00:23:44] It's, it's really simple process. And most of it, I mean, we had a really good participation rate. In fact, like I said, of the, of the right of entries that have been filed with the city in this, or with excuse me, with FEMA and the county through the county, we've had 85% of the cleanup completed.

[00:24:03] So I think it's important that if there's some issues with cleanup and they've already, they've already signed the paperwork for right of entry on your property to have it cleaned up for free. It won't cost them anything that that we're, we're making really good progress. And I think it's just a matter of time before they get to those areas.

[00:24:21] And so anyway, I think patience and if there, if there's some questions that they have about these ride ventures, And whether they, you know, where they're at in terms of the process, certainly contacting myself or contacting the county. We, we can take care of that and it makes sure they're on the list for a cleanup.

[00:24:41]Again, as I mentioned before, I think we're doing pretty good in terms of getting people to participate in that. And there's also been a lot of self cleanup. You know, a lot of people hired their own contractors. You know, and, and paid for that through insurance proceeds, I believe. It just depends, but right now the, the oh, Odot clean up is really going well.

[00:25:02] Pete Belcastro: One of the things that's going to happen though, is that, first of all, I think that the commercial part of Phoenix is going to change a lot. I think you're right. Adding debt downtown and adding departments for that. It's going to be really helpful. I think Phoenix is going to see a resurgence in the commercial world because it's so close and it's, you know, it's not, it's not as crowded as it is in Medford whenever we go.

[00:25:21] So I think you're on the right track there. What's really going to happen though. Eric, is that the prices and this is what's happening in our valley right now. We had a 20% price increase from a year ago in the last quarter. And we'll get March, April and May's so next week, and we'll find what they did this time, but the prices that we're seeing in Phoenix, so what's selling and not much, it's not much been on the market.

[00:25:41] Risk went up by more than 20%. So, you know, it's a desirable place right now and people see that, but we're also seeing really high prices, you know, the price increases, which is really, I think, in any way, it's going to slow that down, maybe for you, but it's there. And I don't know how we overcome that, but we are seeing large price increases go on, which is unsustainable really in our valley.

[00:26:03] And you're more vulnerable, Phoenix and Talent, I think for this in any place that almost almost in the whole county.

[00:26:08] Eric Swanson: Well, no, it's definitely, I think, you know, understanding this is an unfortunate situation and we wouldn't have liked it to happen at any point in time, but it is an opportunity I think, to, to look at the future and how we rebuild, I think can really will really affect the future.

[00:26:27]And, and I, and I think that's where we're, we're having some discussions and we've got two days strategic planning session that we're planning in July with the city council to kind of look at it's kind of the short, the shorter term strategic plan and what we can do. Some kind of things kind of initiatives we can do that obviously are going to change now because of the, because of the the fire.

[00:26:51] So I think that's going to be important time for the city council to get together and, and the staff, and really come up with some ideas. And look, look to, to the next two or three years as to what we can do, you know, to really, to really rebuild in a way. In a way that's going to be sustainable.

[00:27:10]Pete Belcastro:  But a Warren, Warren buffet, you know has invested in, in a startup that like prefab homes. Have you seen any of that? Where there is kind of like, I'm going to say like the old Sears catalog stores, which you can actually buy these, buy these homes already predone, they're shipped out and just put together. They come in all sorts of sizes and those things and the affordability issue is there.

[00:27:30] So those are the kinds of things that I'm hoping that we're going to see somewhat in, in Phoenix and talent, even in Medford there, as we go along here, different types. The thing for different types of peoples. And we also saw Eric, you know, where motels were being converted into, you know, extended stay places and things.

[00:27:45] We're seeing that all over Phoenix lost, you know, you lost your motel there. But that's a way also to solve this of single people, smaller family sizes, the minority communities who are here, who needs some type of housing. So it's not just all stick built homes and nice condos and things like that.

[00:28:02] It's really a mix of other stuff there. And the price is the way we're going. It's going to be more important than ever that we, that we try to allow that type of housing in our community. So good luck with that. But you know, if you, if you can solve this man, you're going to be the smartest person I know, because we've been talking about this for years on this show.

[00:28:17] And it seems like we just never get any opportunities to do something like this until this fire came. When all of a sudden opened up all sorts of possibilities of housing.

[00:28:26] Eric Swanson: Yeah. No, I think it's, it's, it's a, it's not a one person deal, but I'm definitely, you know, definitely feel like I'm at the crossroads here in terms of seeing a lot of the ideas that have been generated.

[00:28:40]And I think we're open, open to all of those, but I think really it boils down to the property owners themselves. And the risks that they're willing to take in these times again, from a residential, I think it's a no brainer. I think we're, we're, there's definitely a demand now, how do we, how do we take that demand and make that work for Phoenix?

[00:29:00] It's going to be really important.

[00:29:02] Alice Lema: Well folks, we have a break coming up. We're chatting with Eric Swanson, the city manager and city of Phoenix. Pete Belcastro, Alice Lema.. We're both brokers here at John L. Scott. And we want to say thank you to our sponsors. John L. Scott, a Southern Oregon guy, Giles mutual of Omaha mortgage and our local Rogue Valley Association of Realtors.

[00:29:22]We'll be back in just a quick minute to finish chatting with. Eric Swanson, the city manager, the city of Phoenix. So do not touch that dial. There's more to come. You don't want to miss it.

[00:29:34] Well, welcome back to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema here with my co-host Pete Belcastro. We're both brokers at John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. And we're here in our last segment of interviewing Eric Swanson, the city managers, city of Phoenix. And it's been a very very uphill battle last few months with the city of Phoenix is making it back. And one of the things Eric that we heard you talk about was the.

[00:29:57] Cottage cluster that that is a kind of a future thinking housing solution. Would you elaborate more on that for us?

[00:30:07]Eric Swanson:  Yeah. Again, it's a, it's an application, so it's  an application stage right now. And it's a, a new 12 unit Cod cottage cluster development. These will be 900 square foot units that would be grouped around shared parking and open space.

[00:30:22] So I think that's gets back to what she was mentioning earlier is, is looking at and aligned for some type of residential development. That's going to be a little bit out of the box, right? I mean, it's not going to be your traditional type whether it's single family or multifamily you know, cluster development.

[00:30:43] And I think the you know, there's other examples of this, you know, I've seen in in the valley and Ashland in particular where they've used, you know, this, this whole shared parking, open space, community garden, you know, developing a sense of community.

[00:31:00] I think those are great ideas. I think those are the kinds of things that we need to, to really you know, try to encourage, you know, and, and certainly having those aspects of, of the open space and, you know, neighbors not being, you know, kind of located close to each other. And I mean, again, these are things that we see in the valley, and I think, I think it could definitely work work in Phoenix. One of the things that I mentioned before about making that change in our commercial districts to allow for residential. We also allow for ADU's, you know, on to single family was another, another change that we had made to, again look at the possibility of providing an additional dwelling unit on, on these residential properties.

[00:31:50] Again, they're not going to be large, obviously they will be small. They're going to be, you know, could be potentially for someone that you know, someone's relative that lost, that lost a home, or just somebody that's looking for, you know, a small space to live in. And you know, potentially not have to be burdened by, you know, the upkeep of a single family home.

[00:32:12] And so these are all things that I think again, will allow for, or, you know, not only developers, but just persons that own a home that are looking for potentially some additional income, you know, and, and helping with mortgage and those kinds of things that, you know, something that can be relatively low costs.

[00:32:32] If, if we weren't in a, such a pickle with these the costs that we're seeing with regard to you know, the lumber prices and materials, construction materials, prices, and you know, it's interesting here we are in the middle of a timber country. And in particular, during my time in Roseburg, you know, we were the timber capital in the nation.

[00:32:52] And obviously you know, there's some and there's some issues there in terms of supply. And what we can do big picture in terms of improving that I don't have any answers. I just know, as I look around and I spent, you know, a lot of time, many years now in Southern Oregon, that it's just sort of ironic for us to be located in, in timber capital and  here, we are looking at these construction materials and I know there's lots of reasons for that, but. It is something that, that does kind of I questioned from time to time and how can we do this do this better.

[00:33:29] So maybe I maybe switched to our, some of our commercial activity, you know, we've issued a land use approval for a new commercial office building on at 4 71 Bear Creek Drive, replace the building that was lost in the fire.

[00:33:46]We've issued a temporary use permit for an office for Leave Your Mark Landscaping. A site development plan has been submitted for review to redevelop the site with a landscape supply operation. I know, I know Pete, you'reprobably interested to know this. We are working with Pucks Donuts to replace the place they're building with slightly larger buildings.

[00:34:08] So I don't know if that means that they're going to have slightly larger donuts there.. No, sir. You know, as my past has always been, it's always been a great place to go and enjoy, enjoy a little bit of Phoenix. You know, the Pucks Donuts is it's got a lot of history there and the sign and everything survived the fire.

[00:34:28] So we're looking forward to that. Superior carpet is working with us to replace their building in that same location. Phoenix, self storage is working with, with us to replace the building they lost in the fire. And then we are just, finally, we're talking to Brian Garrison about building a new Garrison store in Phoenix to replace the store that was lost. And this would be a likely be in a new location.

[00:34:52] So lots of conversations going on. Yeah.

[00:34:57] Pete Belcastro: The Phoenix motel?

[00:34:59]Eric Swanson:  Have not heard that anything with respect to the Phoenix hotel. I know, I believe I saw it was up for sale. I mean, that's certainly got a great location. But in terms of the build of the permitting process, I think at this point just spent some conversations, nothing specific in terms of permits than a middle button, you got a lot going on.

[00:35:18] I'll tell you that you're like the busiest guy around in city mechanics, right? Well, I don't know. I mean, again, it's I got a lot of help and one thing I learned a long time ago is it's a team, you know, it takes a team and a team and I'm really appreciative of the support. Not only in the community, but the city council, the mayor, mayor baker, Terry Baker, and all the city council.

[00:35:44] They've also been very helpful in leading us, leading us through this process. And that, that makes a difference. So one of the questions that I think Pete and I got is on the residential lots, when they do become available and a new person wants to approach the city about building the, the rules are slightly different because is it true that some of those single family lots could now be a duplex or that there's a little bit more flexibility in what, what you could build?

[00:36:20] Well, yeah. As I mentioned before, the idea of the ADU is, is something that, that we've introduced to, to the mix in terms of possibility. And obviously it was zoning. You can't make any kind of just sweeping sort of observation, but again, these are, these are ideas. And I think again, you know, looking at.

[00:36:43]Duplex development. You know, again, we're seeing that already in terms of at least the multiple multiple family units. So we lost, as I mentioned before, of the 150 multiple family units, and we lost 138 or somewhere in the process of being permitted reconstruction, including 64 of those units that are under construction.

[00:37:02] When do you think those might be finished and online? You know that's a good question. It's really dependent upon on, you know, it's kind of like anything else. You've got the contractor, you've got the owner, the city and you got all these things that we have to comply with in terms of building electrical, plumbing, those kinds of things.

[00:37:23] And we're just gonna have to work through those and be responsive as best we can. And I think it's important. That you know, we, we contract out with our, our building official duties, you know, the providers, all of those yeah, electrical, plumbing, all the different types of, so we're, we're finding that that's a real challenge right now.

[00:37:45] And so we're working on how, how, what can we do to help with facilitating that in a, in a more efficient. Well, we'll have to have you back on for another update. Thank you so much, Eric, Eric, again, you're out there enjoying, enjoying life as Lou. Sorry to hear about your house. So thank you. Well, folks, we'll be back next week.

[00:38:12] Make it a great Southern Oregon weekend. Bye now.