The Willamalane Park and Recreation District, Creswell School District and City of Creswell, including the Creswell Recreation Advisory Committee (CRAC) partnership has announced an Open House series at the as-yet unoccupied, city-owned Cobalt Building.
Area residents are encouraged to tour the Cobalt Building, meet representatives from the school district, city and Willamalane, and provide input on possible uses of the facility.
The Cobalt Building will be open from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22 and Thursday, Jan. 24, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26. Some refreshments will be provided.
The Cobalt Building is located at 364 Cobalt Lane, a short distance northeast of Creswell High School. The former torque converter reclamation facility has sat unused but has been maintained since 2005, when it was donated to the city by local developer, Ross Murray, as part of a parks and open space requirement associated with a nearby residential development.
The 9,000 square foot building was constructed in 1993 on a 1.2-acre lot as a light industrial facility. Conversion of the property to a community center that provides multiple recreational, social service and educational opportunities for all ages is the City’s goal, but fine-tuning that vision into specific tenants and activities has proven challenging.
Recognizing a need for partnerships, in 2011 the City of Creswell joined forces with Willamalane and the school district to jointly strategize on future improvements to local recreational activities and opportunities for expansion.
The partnership led to a variety of new programs, including Movies in the Park, yoga, dance, art, martial arts and cooking classes. This past summer, Willamalane also took the lead on the Creswell Summer Fun Program for kids. Any discussion of future opportunities with this partnership naturally lead to the Cobalt Building, an unutilized property dedicated to non-commercial, community-enhancing programs.
Other planning and development tools include a newly-adopted City-level strategy that proposes initial use of limited portions of the building, followed by incremental, room-by-room development. Additionally, the CRAC team was recently established to push the dialogue on recreation in Creswell forward, involving City Councilors, school district board members, Willamalane employees and community members in that conversation.
The Open House event is an opportunity to engage the public and facilitate a community dialogue that results in a consensus on the future the community chooses for the Cobalt Building. Area residents are encouraged to become engaged in the long-term use of the Cobalt Building, and to join in with the partners’ efforts to identify the best use of the facility for the community.
A variety of classes administrated by Willamalane or the school district, a teen center and a Creswell Family Relief Nursery satellite facility have been identified as potential options for the Cobalt Building, and could occupy the several classrooms and multi-use gymnasium planned for the building.
Retrofitting needs for the Cobalt Building include the removal of three-phase power (a remnant from the manufacturing use of the building) and other alterations, as recommended in an initial architectural assessment.
Interested parties are encouraged to find the City of Creswell on Facebook, view Cobalt Building-related videos on the City of Creswell website (www.ci.creswell.or.us), or contact Steve Dobrinich, Creswell’s Resource Assistance to Rural Environments (RARE) intern, at 541-895-2531 or sdobrinich@creswell-or.us.
Originally published in The Creswell Chronicle
PO Box 428
Creswell, OR 97426
Phone: 541-895-2197 Fax: 541-895-2361