After a rocky start, Chuck the trumpeter swan is making beautiful music with his new lady swan Gracie
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Have a Safe
JULY 4 Holiday!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Nature Center ............... 8 Calendar ..................... 13 SROA Board................ 26
Public Safety ............... 34 Commentary ............... 46 Classified .................... 47
The weeds are coming, the weeds are coming! Sunriver’s annual war against noxious weeds has been expanded as a week-long affair
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S U N R I V E R
S C E N E
ALL FIREWORKS
PROHIBITED IN SUNRIVER
A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSOCIATION
JULY • 2015
VOLUME XLI • NUMBER 7
Mavericks in escrow, could become an assisted living facility
By Brooke Snavely A potential buyer has the former Mavericks fitness facility in escrow while he and his partners conduct due diligence. Christian Myers, owner of two long-term care facilities in Portland, proposes to develop assisted living and memory care facilities within the former Mavericks buildings. Myers told the SROA Board of Directors at their June 19 meeting that this would provide Sunriver residents the ability to remain in the community as their care needs progress. “We originally sought a location in Sisters but discovered assisted living facility licensing rights had already been acquired. Then a deal we were working in the Old Mill District fell apart and only after that did the Mavericks property come to our attention. It’s like it was meant to be,” Myers said. Myers discussed developing 15 assisted living facilities and 15 memory care units within the footprint of the existing 30,000 square foot Mavericks building. The assisted living units with full baths, kitchenettes and two common areas, would be located in the building that currently houses the indoor pool and Flowrider. The old Sunriver Preparatory School building would house the memory care units. The existing entry foyer, lounge, elevator and exercise equipment would remain. “We won’t touch the exterior walls, other than to replace windows and provide a covered drop-off at the entry, until we can demonstrate the need for additional service,” Myers said. There are zoning issues and deed restrictions that require clarification before the bank will close the deal. Myers said he needed to obtain a lot line partition of the existing buildings to provide both assisted living and memory care in one location. He said such a lot line partition was recently obtained during development of a similar facility Turn to Mavericks, page 3 SUNRIVER SCENE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSN. VOLUME XLI • NUMBER 7 P.O. BOX 3278 SUNRIVER, OR 97707
Concert at SHARC
Get your tickets before they’re gone to see The Blind Boys of Alabama, left, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, above, at SHARC on July 27. SROA members are eligible for a ticket discount by calling 541-585-3147. See ad on page 4.
New owners of Bend Elks baseball club are Sunriver owners
John and Tami Marick have vacationed in Sunriver since the 1980s and co-owned a Sunriver property since 2009. Last year they bought the Bend Elks baseball team that plays home games at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend and road games throughout the Pacific Northwest. “It kind of fell into our laps,” said John Marick. “We weren’t looking for a baseball team to buy, but our daughter worked for previous Elks owner Jim Richards last season. She found out that Jim was thinking about other things after 15 years of owning the team. Kelsie convinced us this was a good opportunity for us, so we decided to give ownership of a baseball team a try.” The Maricks co-own Consumer
The Marick Family
Cellular based in Tigard. The company specializes in providing affordable nocontract cell phone plans to casual mobile users. The company worked with AARP to grow its subscriber base from 30,000 customers in 2006 to more than one million in 2013. In their rookie season of ownership, the Maricks turned management of
the Elks over to Casey Powell and their daughter, Kelsie Marick. Powell focuses on team operations including hiring of coaches, player selection, scheduling and management of the Bend Fieldhouse, the indoor practice and retail facility at Vince Genna Stadium. Kelsie, who recently graduated with a business degree from Gonzaga University, is responsible for marketing, ticket sales and sponsorships. “Our goal, if we have one, is to make a seamless transition for all the folks attending games this summer,” said Tami Marick. “We didn’t approach this as a ‘we want to change this or that’ proposition. We just want to encourage and Turn to Elks, page 5
Future enhancement for SROA member river access The 2015 river floating season is underway with enhanced river access for members and guests of the Sunriver Owners Association and Sunriver Resort, but the general public is cut off from two river frontage areas inside Sunriver that were never technically open to the public. SROA boat launch The Sunriver Owners Association new boat launch next to Hola Restaurant opened Memorial Day weekend. The facility features a gravel beach for
hand launching canoes, kayaks and rafts, and a paved ramp for launching and recovering trailered boats. Other amenities include paved parking and a plumbed restroom. Access is via a security gate that only can be activated with current SROA Member Preference or Recreation Plus program swipe cards. The cards are available for SROA members to purchase at SROA’s Member Services office at SHARC. For more information, call 541-5853147.
Closure to facilitate restoration Earlier this spring, SROA fenced off a commons area downstream of Harper Bridge off Meadow Road to allow an environmental restoration project time to take root. More than 500 willow cuttings were planted to stabilize collapsing stream banks. Topsoil will be spread over compacted areas and seeded to restore plants and terrain that were trampled by heavy use. Turn to River, page 3 PRSRT STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID BEND, OR PERMIT NO. 213