Oregon Shores - Agency Lake Lots - Good or Bad Place (Klamath Falls: foreclosures, HOA)

[hitstreak23]

Again, thanks for the tips as we just purchased a lot in oregon shores II.. Native californian, retired, and will be welcoming any and all bugs...The beauty of oregon has always appealed to us and what a great oportunity to be close to Crater lake and all else oregon has to offer....We do like trader joes though...any updates on the medford store or any new stores in klamath or the area?
Thanks again,
Mike

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by hitstreak23

Again, thanks for the tips as we just purchased a lot in oregon shores II.. Native californian, retired, and will be welcoming any and all bugs...The beauty of oregon has always appealed to us and what a great oportunity to be close to Crater lake and all else oregon has to offer....We do like trader joes though...any updates on the medford store or any new stores in klamath or the area?
Thanks again,
Mike

Updates?
Lowe's just bailed on building in Klamath Falls, the lot they've been talking about building on for the last 8 years or so is up for sale. Nothing in the Costco front.

In Medford, the new shopping center with Trader Joe's and REI is supposed to open later this summer. Drove by it last week and the concrete tilt-ups are in, roof is on, so another couple months seems likely.

[Hawk J]

Home Depot opened in Grants Pass, earlier this year.

[hitstreak23]

Sorry to hear about the Lowes....Assuming there is or was talk of a Costco going in at some time? I see where winco foods has distribution spots in oregon and would be nice to get one of those placed nearby..Thanks for the comments...

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by hitstreak23

Sorry to hear about the Lowes....Assuming there is or was talk of a Costco going in at some time? I see where winco foods has distribution spots in oregon and would be nice to get one of those placed nearby..Thanks for the comments...

Supposedly something like a quarter of Medford Costco's business is from the general Klamath Falls area. Depending on who you listen to, Costco's plans to build a store in Klamath Falls were nixed by: a bad economy, the County building permit process, ODOT's traffic requirements for the site - or some combination of all of the above, which is what I think is likely.

Grocery Outlet is somewhat like WinCo, and there is a Cash and Carry - owned by Smart & Final, a wholesale grocery that is open to the public, although how that makes them "wholesale" is beyond me.

Standard grocery stores in Klamath Falls - Fred Meyer, Safeway, Albertson's, a Sherm's Thunderbird which has a GREAT Mexican foods selection. And WalMart, I forget about them because I don't shop there. Two specialty meat stores, Howards and Diamond S. No specialty produce stores, unfortunately, and our only natural foods market closed about a year ago. There is a Farmer's Market that starts middle of June, but the pickings are usually slim until mid-July or so. I tend to head to Medford or Ashland Farmer's Markets for a much better selection and earlier availability.

Chiloquin proper has two very dingy markets which are barely a step above a 7-11.

Lowe's would have added a bit more selection, but there is already smallish Home Depot, Diamond (a semi-local hardware store with a good selection of hardware fittings), Grover's Plumbing and Electric, Parr Lumber and Cashway Plywood and Lumber plus Cook's, a specialty lumber store (think: exotic woods - we've gotten bubinga, ebony and walnut there). My husband has built most of our cabinets, wall units and a lot of our furniture and he hasn't had any trouble sourcing locally - although it's a bit more expensive locally.

Our biggest shopping problem in K Falls would be that we have no "department" type stores for clothing and we have a bunch of really mediocre restaurants. There really is no "fine dining" in town. There are some okay casual dining places - Nibbley's, The Creamery Brewpub, Mr. B's, Hurry Curry, Thai Orchid, Pho Hong (good pho, so-so curry), but nothing that really stands out. A lot of places that specialize in huge portions of awful Denny's-style food.

[hitstreak23]

I sent off a request to Winco foods and they sent a response back to me as follows: Michael,

Thank you so much for this wonderful location suggestion, Klamath Falls is a beautiful area. While we can’t guarantee a yes, we will gladly forward this to our team for consideration. We hope to some day have the honor of opening a store closer to you. Thank you for your support and have a wonderful day.


Cathy D.
Let us cater your next event!
http://www.wincofoods.com/departments/deli/deli-catering/


-----Original Message-----
From: MiCHAEL VAIL [mailto:PEOPLESEXPRESS@COX.NET]
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 3:38 PM
To: Comments
Subject: WinCo: KLAMATH FALLS STORE????

From: MiCHAEL VAIL
Email:PEOPLESEXPRESS@COX.NET

Location: Other
Subject: KLAMATH FALLS STORE????
Satisfaction: 10

Comment:
ANY PLANS TO PLACE A WINCO IN KLAMATH FALLS AREA?
THANK YOU...

Who Knows? Ask and we may receive..We have a Winco store here in nevada and it would be great in Klamath...

[hitstreak23]

PNW-TYPE-GAL:
Thanks for the great info on the area....Yeah, I kinda expected that to be the situation shopping there, but hey, hopefully when the economy comes back and they loosen up the building restrictions things will get moving...for now, dont mind driving to medford or bend, heard it was a nice drive anyway..Thanks

[Check-Mark]

I have also been thinking of relocating to several of the places mentioned in this forum. Curious about life and looking over Sprague River before discovering Oregon Shores I came across this URL:

[url=http://www.freewebs.com/spragueriver/]Welcome To Sprague River, Oregon | Just past the end of the road...turn left....[/url]

and read about the need to form a Sheriff’s Citizen Advisory Committee. Here is a quote from that website of some of the problems and what is being talked about.

"Log trucks going through downtown, not slowing down – we need to report this. Write down license numbers and give to the Sheriff. The department will follow up. We would like to have 25 Mph through downtown area. We would need to send letters to the road department, governor, commissioner, state representative, senator, etc. Let Sheriff know that we're doing it and he will support us and write a letter. Dirt roads have the same enforcement of laws. Send a letter to the Sheriff, who, what and when. They will analyze the problem. Mischievous children - cut a kid a break - if it’s just mischief. If the deputy wants to take him home to mom and dad it’s okay. If parents are cooperative, that’s great, if they aren’t they will probably take the child to jail. For destroying roads - call 911 for assistance. We want to know. If they give you grief - call sheriff. You should hear that we’ll get to it ASAP or at least contact you. His home number is listed. What can we do legally - too long a response time - if you’re in fear for your family’s safety or your life - you have a right to protect yourself. We will make life miserable for annoying folks. Eventually they'll wear down. Use common sense and logic Sometimes it’s better to be a good citizen / witness - write down information and call 911. It’s a crime for someone to threaten you. Report it immediately. Spotlighting is a felony".

"We encourage our people to make decisions and talk with us. Our product is our people. 700 new carry permits have been issued since the Sheriff was elected. If we stop you and we feel you know what you did, we'll give you a warning. If you become consistent - we will give a ticket".

After reading that I ask myself is Oregon Shores having similar experiences and also addressing them with any success?

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by Check-Mark

After reading that I ask myself is Oregon Shores having similar experiences and also addressing them with any success?

At the last election, Evinger, the old sheriff, was tossed out of office. Evinger was the one who created the sheriff's website (which rarely worked) for county residents to report crime, since 911 was refusing to route calls short of "dead bodies" to the sheriff's office. Skrah, the new sheriff, ran on the platform that Evinger was wasting money and the budget, diminished though it was through the loss of Federal timber dollars, was sufficient to restore service.

Kind of. While Skrah has done away with the website reporting and has done a somewhat better job of allocating deputies, he's still looking for money to increase coverage so that it is 24/7. Because two of the card-carrying Tea Party member County Commissioners ran on a platform of "TAXES!! OMG, TAXES!!" they refuse to consider any tax increases, even though one of them admits it is necessary to restore a basic level of services. I suspect it will take an election cycle or two to get a citizen's initiative going that will pass a tax levy for safety-related issues.

There are some things that make Klamath County a hard county to patrol - it is 6,200 square miles (34th largest county in the US), more than 120 miles from tip to tip. The city of Klamath Falls (20,000) has a city police force that covers the city pretty well (they have had their share of cuts, too, but not as bad as the county). The problem is that the immediate "south suburbs" of Klamath Falls, covered by the county sheriff, are also 20,000 people plus. Because of the suburban density, the county sheriff's department is pretty much headquartered there, at the far south end of the county, making response times slow to the north.

The advantage Oregon Shores has is that is pretty much a closed community, meaning that there are about 4 roads in to the subdivision, which are pretty closely watched by neighbors. Even though there is some space between houses, most places have a neighbor or two to keep an eye out. Although Sprague River has a small "town" area, most of it is spread out and extremely isolated, hence the "you are on your own" feeling.

[Steve Pickering]

Please do not buy in these areas until you have been there in two seasons, and talked to the county at length.