CGCC Presents "BrewHub" Brewing Facility Proposal to The Dalles Urban Renewal Board
By Cole Goodwin
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Get the highlights of the recent Urban Renewal Meeting without having to sit through a two and a half hour meeting.
The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Board held their regularly scheduled meeting on March 15th, 2022 at 5:30 p.m.
Meeting Highlights
Columbia Gorge BrewHub Proposal by Columbia Gorge Community College
2021-2022 Urban Renewal Highlights and Accomplishments
2022-2023 Urban Renewal Goals and Priority Projects Proposal
Review and discussion of a proposed draft Urban Renewal Incentive Program, based on Board feedback and discussion of the current incentive program at the January 18, 2022 meeting.Please note that Urban Renewal meetings will return to in-person meetings
Watch the Meeting: Watch here.
Read More: Agenda & Board Packet.
Submit Public Comments: Your City, Your Voice.
CGCC’s pilot brewing facility proposal would mix agriculture, technology, education, and job training into one all encompassing brewhub.
Dan Spatz
Columbia Gorge BrewHub Proposal
Video Time: 2:02:04
Dan Spatz, Capitol Project Director for Columbia Gorge Community College, presented an initial proposal about a fermentation science partnership opportunity that would involve the development of a pilot brewing facility in downtown The Dalles in 2023.
“In 2018 the community college brought on a feasibility study around the fermentation industry,” said Spatz.
Spatz quoted the feasibility study conducted by Thomas P. Miller and Associates.
“TPMA recommends that CGCC consider developing a pilot brewing facility. Such a facility would provide an essential service for test runs and small batches for mid- and large-sized brewers. In concert with the AA in Food Science & Fermentation, this facility could also provide students with valuable and necessary hands-on experience,” said Spatz.
Spatz proposed locating the pilot facility to downtown The Dalles.
The pilot facility, currently titled the Columbia Gorge BrewHub, would be a gathering place in downtown The Dalles showcasing the Columbia Gorge brewing, viticulture, cider, spirits, and kombucha industries. The geographic scope encompassed would include Wasco, Hood River, Klickitat, Skamania, Sherman, and Gilliam counties.
A slide from the CGCC proposal shows the currently identified stakeholders in the project.
The Columbia Gorge BrewHub would include commercial aspects such as:
A Retail Center of on-site sales of wines, beers, ciders, fermented teas and spirits, as well as a gift shop and information center.
A Restaurant offering menus paired with local beers, wines, and ciders. And maybe even a restaurant that would offer menus paired with local beers, wines, and ciders.
“We are not proposing a non-profit center,” said Spatz. “This would be a commercial facility.”
An Innovation Center for new and existing brewers to test recipes. The 2018 study by CGCC discovered that Brewers often do not have sufficient capacity to set aside production tanks for the purpose of testing new recipes.
In addition the BrewHub would be a CGCC education, business consulting, and job training facility that provided the following services:
Community Education: CGCC would provide non-credit home-brewing courses in beers, wines, and ciders with guest instructors from the region’s fermentation sectors.
Business Counseling for brewers.
Job Training specific to the fermentation industry as a part of CGCC’s agriculture-technology program which is anticipated to start in 2023.
Click this graph for clarity. A graph from the feasibility study shows regional employer responses to questions about issues facing them in the food, beverage, brewing, and agricultural industry.
Ag-Tech Program Classes and Testing Technology innovations arising through the ag-tech program of study would be tested when appropriate in the BrewHub innovation center. Credit classes would take place on The Dalles and Hood River campuses as well as in area high schools and on dedicated farmland near Hood River.
A feasibility study currently being conducted will define the curriculum and scope of the dual credit program and the results will be available by late May to early June.
“We are talking about a program that would incorporate all the agricultural sectors in the Mid-Columbia,” said Spatz.
Spatz pointed out that current challenges for agriculture include rising cost of farming, market challenges, cost of farmland, modernizing farms and farming practices, climate change, rising labor costs, global competition, and resource scarcity.
The facility would empower local entrepreneurs with agricultural and technological solutions, he said.
“We’re looking at opportunities for entrepreneurship to come up with new innovations and technologies which may be tested in the field,” said Spatz.
Follow the Funding
The facility would be owned by a for-profit business entity established and controlled by CGCC. As a taxable entity, this would generate a financial return for the Urban Renewal District. The business entity would operate the innovation and retail center and lease the restaurant space to a private entity.
Spartz suggested that Urban Renewal could invest through a grant for the cost of building acquisition and limited remodeling.
CGCC would apply for a USDA Rural Development RISE grant and requested that The City of The Dalles or Urban Renewal be a co-applicant.
“We would be the leading application under this scenario,” said Spatz.
The RISE grant would provide funding for job training through the college’s ag-tech program, non-movable equipment for the fermentation components (tanks, etc.) and renovations specific to the innovation center.
The $2 million RISE grant would require a 20% match of $400,000.
The current round of RISE applications is due April 19th, 2022.
“We may or may not try to submit a proposal in April,” said Spatz. “Sometimes you need to rush it, sometimes you need to let it cook. One of the reasons we're here at Urban Renewal is to prompt that discussion. If at a minimum I have this on your radar now… I think that might inform your CAP (incentive program) discussions you’re having tonight.”
Urban Renewal board members felt that the program was a good idea but said that they would need to undergo additional processes to entertain supporting the BrewHub and grant application following their next budget meeting.
Spatz agreed to send a specific request and proposal to Urban Renewal for future discussion and said that based on the board response he felt the project would likely not move forward with applying for a RISE grant until 2023.
For more information about CGCC’s upcoming Fermentation Science and Industry Training program, click here.
2021-2022 Urban Renewal Highlights and Accomplishments & 2022-2023 Urban Renewal Goals and Priority Projects
Video Time: 20:15
The Urban Renewal board approved the following highlights and accomplishments as written.
Monitored progress and supported Recreation Building developers to rebuild two new storefronts on Agency-owned property located at 215 and 219 E. Redevelopment is now complete. The Agency is slated to sell the property to developers by mid-April 2022.
Completed 95% engineering design and started required environmental evaluation for the First Street/Riverfront Connection project. This project will rebuild First Street between Union and Laughlin Streets, including the installation of new utility lines, new pavement, sidewalks, and street furniture.
On the Agency-owned Tony’s Building property located at 401-407 E. Second Street, obtained Federal Environmental Protection Agency grant funding to complete a Phase I Environmental Assessment and underground storage tank removal. These environmental efforts prepared the building site for demolition in FY 2022-2023. Demolition will make way for a shovel-ready redevelopment site at a prime corner in downtown.
Budgeted and reserved up to $300,000 of matching funds toward a North Wasco Parks and Recreation-sponsored State grant application for design and construction of the Mill Creek Greenway Trail.
Updated the Comprehensive Finance Plan for the Agency.
Started a URA Strategic Planning effort to guide remaining Agency activities through 2029.
2022-2023 Urban Renewal Goals and Priority Projects
The Urban Renewal board approved the following goals and projects as written.
Goals and Projects include:
Complete strategic planning in response to the publication of the February 2022 Comprehensive Finance Plan for the Agency. This strategic plan will guide future investments, projects and activities of the Agency through its projected closure in 2029.
Sell the third and final Agency-owned storefront property to the Recreation Center developers, following completion of the proposed indoor/outdoor restaurant storefront concept, located at 213 E. Second Street.
The First Street/Riverfront Connection Project will rebuild First Street from Union to Laughlin Streets, adding upgraded sidewalks, ADA ramps, new water/sewer/storm water lines, asphalt and street furniture. Complete design, right-of-way/easement acquisition, and advertise an opportunity for contractors to bid on the project in 2022-2023.
Initiate demolition of the Agency-owned building at the northeast corner of Second/Federal Streets to make way for a development-ready site in downtown. This building is locally known as the “Tony’s Building.” Site redevelopment will create space for new housing units and either retail, restaurant or office on the ground floor along the prime corner of Second and Federal streets. In FY 2022- 2023, the URA is likely to be awarded an Oregon Brownfields Cleanup Fund in excess of $250,000 to remove asbestos from the building prior to demolition. Following demolition, staff will begin a public/private process to offer the vacant site for redevelopment.
Market newly adopted Urban Renewal Incentive and Vertical Housing programs to developers who need financial support with redeveloping blighted and underused properties in the UR District.
Collect payments and track progress on outstanding URA loans for the Honald Building, Gayer Building and Commodore II Building.
Proposed Urban Renewal Incentive Program Discussion
Video Time: 43:49
The Urban Renewal board reviewed and discussed the new Incentive Program proposal.
Highlights from the discussion included a question from Urban Renewal board member Dan Richardson who asked why only $250,000 had been budgeted for the new incentive plan. Alice Cannon, City of The Dalles Community Development Director agreed that the number was low saying that she had had to budget the money before having seen a draft of the incentive program. Cannon said that she would be open to appropriating up to a $1 million to $2 million in funds for the incentive program contingent upon various factors including board approval.
Proposed Incentive Plan Goals
The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency of The Dalles has funding available for building and property owners who seek to improve and develop properties that meet community goals. The Agency is specifically seeking to incent redevelopment of unused and underused land and buildings, to meet the goals of the urban renewal plan, including investments that:
Increase value of properties.
Place unused and underused properties in productive condition.
Assist with opportunities for business, civic, residential, cultural, and tourist-related property to be developed, redeveloped, improved, rehabilitated and conserved.
Support development or redevelopment projects to construct, install or replace publicly owned utility systems such as water, storm drains, and sanitary sewers where existing facilities are inadequate, undersized or otherwise substandard.
The new incentive program would offer the following new incentive grants:
Commercial Project Grants - up to $50,000
Matching grants to fund smaller building upgrades, tenant improvements, and similar types of rehabilitation projects that build community vitality and prosperity.
50% matching grant, up to $50,000, to reimburse for construction of real physical improvements that meet Agency priorities, Plan goals, and program eligibility specifications outlined here.
Mixed-Use Project Grants - up to $150,000
Matching grants to fund transformational mixed-use redevelopment and reinvestment in underused or vacant properties.
70% matching grant, up to $150,000, for larger and more transformational mixed-use projects that construct real physical improvements that meet plan goals, Agency priorities and program eligibility specifications outlined here.
New Residential Project Grants - $10,000 per new housing unit
SDC credits to assist with costs of building new housing in the area.
Urban Renewal Agency will pay Systems Development Charges for projects adding new housing units (net increase) of up to $10,000 per new unit, Approved SDC credits will be applied at time of building permit and will have the same terms and expiration date.
Who Can Apply
Owners of property within the Columbia Gateway / Downtown Urban Renewal Area that are current on their property taxes. If the primary applicant is not the current owner, application must also be signed by the property owner, providing approval for the applicant to proceed.
Projects pursuing property tax abatements are ineligible, except for those developments receiving abatement from the The Dalles Vertical Housing Zone. They will remain eligible for any of the incentive program grants outlined.
For more information on proposed eligibility requirements click here.
Watch the full meeting by clicking the video below.
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