A sign welcomes people to Blue River, Oregon which was leveled by the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire.
Brian Bull / KLCC
With the help of a $4.1 million state grant, Lane County plans to begin developing low- to moderate-income housing in Blue River, where many homes were destroyed by the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020.
Most of the housing will be single-family homes, and Commissioner Heather Buch said the state funds also will help with property surveys in and around the community’s downtown area.
“Where a lot of old survey markers are no longer existent. Or they were made of wood, and of course, went up with the fire,” said Buch.
“We’ll help with internet communications as we’re installing conduit in roads,” Buch said. “I want them to be as successful when they’re up there with their homes as anybody else would be in the metro area.”
The funding was made available by Oregon House Bill 5006, which has provided $150 million towards wildfire recovery across the state.
The Holiday Farm Fire decimated much of Blue River in September 2020. Buch says they’ve managed to get most displaced residents back into housing, after several years of living in hotels and inns across the Eugene-Springfield area.
