DevNw Underway; Weekend Crash Closes 126; No Council Meeting

DevNw Underway

The completion of an affordable housing project is expected to be by the fall of this year.  On Thursday DEVNW and the City of Florence had a ceremonial ground breaking after over two and a half years of planning.  The property located on Airport Road across from the Boys and girls club was most recently the site of a community garden and previously housed the Florence Senior Center.  Now the land will be home to affordable housing which will make it possible for a family of four that makes below $51,000 a year to be homeowners.  The land will be held in trust through DevNw with homeowners being able to purchase the houses.  There will be one, two and three bedroom homes beginning at $160,000 and ranging up to $200,000.  Plans also include a garden space, basketball court and green space.  The city’s new residential code will allow projects such as this one to build more affordable housing by streamlining the process builders have to go through as well as some cost cutting from the previous code.

Weekend Crash Closes 126

A Saturday evening crash on Highway 126 shut down traffic in both directions.  Oregon State Police as well as Siuslaw fire and rescue and western lane ambulance were on the scene.  There were reports of at least one vehicle on fire.  One Florence resident said they waited in traffic on a return trip from Eugene and decided to head back to Mapleton to await the opening of the road.  The multi-vehicle crash occurred near milepost 8 at around 6pm on Saturday evening.  ODOT reported 5 cars involved in the accident.  There was no word available on injuries though there were several unconfirmed reports of at least one fatality.  The site was opened to one lane of traffic by 8:30.

No Council Meeting

There will be no city council meeting this evening, both the work session and regularly scheduled meeting have been put off.  This Thursday the city will focus on delivering the State of the City address beginning at 5 pm.  In addition the city will also offer an expo to bring city services information to the public.  The event will be at the Florence Events Center from 5 to 7 pm with Mayor Henry delivering the State of the City address at 6pm.