Marmot Dam/ Election Results/McKinstry Moves

Seattle’s largest mechanical contractor opens a Portland office.

Rains Finish Off  Marmot Dam

Sandy, Ore. - Mother Nature triggered the last phase of the Marmot Dam removal on the Sandy River in mid-November. As anticipated, the first high- river flows of the season breached the earthen coffer dam that held back water during Portland General Electric’s (PGE) demolition activities at the site.

Crews finished removing the 47-foot-high Marmot Dam on September 30 after a series of blasts and excavations.

Scientists and regulators had decided the best thing for the river would be to allow its autumn flows to remove the coffer dam and distribute accumulated sediment behind the dam. This mimics the natural events that give the Sandy River its name.

With the coffer dam gone, salmon and steelhead will now be able to navigate upstream without a fish ladder or human help for the first time since Marmot Dam construction in the early 1900s.

Voters Take Back Some Property Rights In Election

In Oregon, voters approved Measure 47, a property rights measure that tightens up the current law, passed three years ago. The vote was 61% in favor to 39% against.

Proposition 37 that allowed owners whose property value was reduced by environmental regulations to either be compensated by the appropriate agency or be allowed develop the property. Property owners filed more than 7,500 claims, in order to build projects as small as a few houses and as large as full scale resorts. Local jurisdictions have up to two years to either allow construction to take place, or compensate the property owners for not being able to use their land.

Under Measure 47, up to 10 homes may be built.  Ownership can be passed between spouses, when one dies. And it vests projects approved under Measure 37 so far.

McKinstry Breaks Ground On Oregon Office Building

Portland – McKinstry Co., a Seattle-based mechanical contracting firm broke ground on the company’s new Oregon campus in October.

The 115,000 sq ft building is  slated for a LEED Gold rating. Scheduled for a Fall 2008 completion, the planned campus will be constructed in phases with the initial phase focused on increasing warehouse space. Also included in this first phase is the addition of shop fabrication facilities. Currently fabrication for Oregon projects takes place in McKinstry’s Seattle facility then transported.

Some sustainable features include: a rainwater collection system, groundwater HVAC system, renewable construction materials, daylighting system, PV panels, utilizing the wetlands as bio-filter, high performance glazing and curtain wall, demand control ventilation with outside air monitoring stations, high efficiency heat pump heating and heat recovery unit / waste heat coils. The project team is led by Portland-based General Contractor Hoffman Corporation, design by Mildren Design Group and space planning/interior architecture by Mulvanny G2. McKinstry’s financial partner is Columbia Bank.