Sweet Home, Oregon

A Sweet Spot in an Already Beautiful State

 

Offering an unparalleled lifestyle that is ‘sweet’ to call home

Anyone who has driven down the famed Oregon Coast and explored the natural wonders further inland can testify to its sheer beauty, however, only the lucky ones can live in this slice of the US. For the residents of Sweet Home, Oregon, waking up to a serene backdrop and enjoying an unmatched community spirit is not taken for granted.

It is not only the lifestyle that is second to none in Sweet Home, Oregon, the community can also look forward to a dynamic future with commercial and residential growth on the horizon. The City invests in its residents, and the residents give back to their cherished community in any way they can. Sweet Home Oregon is simply a sweet spot to live in a state renowned for its outdoor splendor.

Steadily growing in popularity, attracting new residents and tourists to the area, Sweet Home is busy laying the groundwork for a dynamic future rich in city amenities and providing a host of housing options for those looking for a ‘sweet’ spot to call home.

 

A city invested in ‘sweetening’ infrastructure for its residents

“Sweet Home is a very sweet place to live, “ Kelcey Young, City Manager, affirms. “We are located at the base of the Cascade Mountains and on the edge of Foster Lake and Green Peter Reservoir, with the South Santiam River running right by the city.”

“We are a Goldilocks-sized community that is just over 10,000 people which gives you that rural lifestyle but we have plenty of amenities and are [located] very close to other cities,” she continues. “We are just under two hours to the coast if you want to go to the beach and we are only two hours from Bend, Oregon and within an hour from Corvallis, Albany, Salem, and Eugene.”

Surrounded by Douglas Firs and historic covered bridges at its doorstep, Sweet Home has stepped up to preserve some of these assets.

“We are responsible for saving some of the covered bridges here in Oregon,” Young explains. “We have the Weddle Bridge in what we consider to be our premier park, Sankey Park, and we are in the process of restoring and working on the bridge there.”

Other infrastructure projects are filling the city agenda. Young highlights that Sweet Home is currently investing in its wastewater treatment plant and upgrading other parks in the area to help facilitate its overall tourist efforts.

“We are updating our wastewater plant which has not been thoroughly updated since the 70s and we expect to be breaking ground on that sometime this spring or early summer.”

Young points out that by addressing the wastewater plant, Sweet Home is a step closer to providing the vital infrastructure necessary to draw in further commercial business to the area as well as provide the groundwork for a host of residential projects it is planning to implement later in the year.

“To keep up with our growing population and those that are still coming in we also just finished our Sankey Park with [completion] of phase one and two and we are still working on phase three,” Young relays.

“We will be providing additional trails and paths and access through that area connecting to different sections of the park.”

The City is also focusing its civic infrastructure lens on the addition of parks and playgrounds throughout the vibrant community.

A ‘sweet’ downtown for local business favorites and those moving in

Young is quick to point out that the community is blessed to have several local businesses that have become the fabric of the community. Supporting these pre-existing businesses has been a top priority for the City, even as new businesses are looking to move into Sweet Home’s beautiful downtown core.

Part of the reason, Young attests, that the downtown core is so vibrant and attractive boils down to the community spirit that derives from these businesses, which remain favorite spots to visit for locals. The City is adding to the dynamic atmosphere of its historic downtown by further investing in its overall streetscape.

“We have a streetscape plan that has been in place for a while and we also have a program called ‘SHARE’ that we are currently revitalizing that helps to provide some design standards that we are working through right now.”

Another key downtown initiative includes ‘Let’s Paint the Town,’ a project involving creative art facades on multiple buildings throughout the historic downtown core.

“The Community came forward [to help with this] as well as Miller Paints that donated paint and Fitzpatrick Painting that donated many hours of painting,” Young describes.

“We painted about 40 businesses in our downtown area in all different colors and differing color schemes and now we are in the process of obtaining applications to put murals on a lot of the buildings as well,” Young adds.

Young also details the City’s efforts to add to their downtown beautification efforts by adding artwork to city benches in front of the local stores and restaurants, as well as adding several pocket parks to provide community gathering spaces.

A summer market also adds to Sweet Home’s downtown appeal.

“Our community market is held every Saturday in the summertime, and you could park in our downtown area, walk throughout our entire historic downtown, hit the market, go to the library, stop at some of these pocket parks, get some coffee, go to lunch and never have to get back to your car.” Young enthusiastically summarizes.

All of these downtown initiatives are benefiting Sweet Home’s cherished local business and Young is quick to boast of some of these ‘sweet’ hometown treasures.

“We have our Economic Development Department and we have CEIP (Commercial Exterior Improvement Program) Grants which are designed to help remodel some of the businesses that were [hit hard by COVID] that we will provide up to $5,000 and up to $15,000 to partner with these businesses if they have a match.”

“We try to help them so it is not coming out of their pocket. We work with our businesses because we have primarily small businesses and we try to support them as best we can,” she elaborates.

“We have a donut shop that we are all very proud of that has been around for a while, our Ace Hardware is locally owned and family-run,” Young details. “We have quite a few restaurants that are well-known for their food and have also been around a long time. The Point is a local restaurant that has a beautiful view of the lake and has excellent beef including local beef that is brought in from one the farms right here in Sweet Home.”

Young also points to a local vineyard, Moore Family Vineyards, and a particular local favorite, Lilies and Lovelies, enjoyed by Sweet Home residents.

 

‘Sweet’ home options

“We are very fortunate here in Sweet Home in that we still have lots of land that is great for development and our housing prices, while they have gone up, are far more affordable than a lot of the surrounding areas.”

Sweet Home is meeting the increased population demands by introducing several apartment complexes as well as some single-family subdivisions.

“We have three single-family home subdivision projects that have submitted planning applications, one of which will go up to about 130 homes,” Young says.

“These are all in the process of approval and design right now. One is about 230 new single-family homes, some of which will be up on a hill with a view and some have larger lots,” she outlines. “ A lot of housing looks like it will be in over the next couple of years.”

A ‘sweet’ future to look forward to

As Sweet Home continues to grow, the City is looking to attract all types of businesses.

“We would love to have additional stores. For example, we need some additional clothing stores and similar-type stores and we also have the space for industrial businesses of all sizes.”

One of the biggest additions on Sweet Home’s wish list for the future is the addition of a new hotel that would cater to the increase in tourists exploring the delights of the City.

“There are a lot of people coming in who want to do some of the recreational activities around here. If we could have a hotel or even something like a Great Wolf Lodge that had year-round interest, it would get a lot of traffic through the area. So that is another thing we are looking for.”

As for Young, the City that she calls home is a natural fit and one that she is deeply proud of.

“I really want to help out the community. I have found that the amount of volunteer spirit that is in the community, the compassion and kindness as well as the willingness to jump in is really exceptional.”

“Some of the things that I want to see over the next year include trying to help our recreational and tourism amenities to make them more accessible to our community and to the people from the outside.

Young also emphasizes the need to grow with sustainability in mind as more and more people discover the charms of Sweet Home.

As Young fittingly reflects, “They will be able to truly see what a gem Sweet Home really is.”

AT A GLANCE

Sweet Home, Oregon

What: Charming and historic town with a tourism and residential focus for 2024

Where: Oregon, at the foothills of the famed Cascade Mountains and two hours from the coast and larger surrounding communities

Website: https://www.sweethomeor.gov/