Options Counseling Office Building in Florence, Oregon

Location: Florence, Oregon
Client/Owner: Options Counseling and Family Services
Partners: City of Florence planning, public works and fire departments; electrical, mechanical and landscape consultants
Year: 2015–2016, design and permit; construction began late 2016
Size/scale: New single-story office building of about 4,000 square feet, the first phase of a three-lot plan
JBE services: Feasibility study and zoning review, pre-development meeting with the city, site plan, water and fire-flow options, design review support, building and structural permit drawings, and construction administration
Sector: Faith & Community

Graded building pad for the new Options Counseling office in Florence, with the existing building behind

The challenge

Options Counseling had outgrown its office on 8th Street in Florence and owned three adjoining lots. The plan was to build in phases: a new building on one lot first, then take down the old office, add parking, and leave room for a second building later.

Phasing raised questions a drawing set alone couldn’t answer. The city’s zoning asks for parking with every new building, and the parking was planned for a later phase. The lots sit in a downtown district where every new building goes through design review and a public hearing. And the water main in the street could not deliver the fire flow a new commercial building needs.

Project photos

What we did

We started with a feasibility study in 2015: a full review of the Florence zoning code against the three lots, and a preliminary site plan to see what would fit. In February 2016 we met with the city’s planning, fire and building staff, and reworked the site plan around what they required, including access from the side street and a paved, two-way aisle along the alley.

For the water supply, we laid out the options and their costs. The one chosen was to upgrade the main along 8th Street and add a hydrant at the edge of the property, with Public Works folding the highway crossing into work it already had planned.

We then prepared the Phase 1 permit set, issued in July 2016, and coordinated the electrical, mechanical and landscape design. Once the building was permitted, the owner kept us on for construction administration: reviewing the contractor’s submittals, answering questions and change requests, visiting the site through foundation work and at milestones, and running weekly meetings with the contractor and owner.

The result

The site was cleared and graded for the new building by December 2016, with the existing office still standing next door, as the phasing intended. The owner got one team from the first zoning question through construction.