Dealing with the garden center

Bank official responds to neighbors’ concerns

An official from Oregon Pacific Bank in Florence responded to concerns expressed by residents next door to the now-closed Oregon Coast Garden Center near Waldport in last week’s South Lincoln County News (SLCN).

Ron Green, the bank’s chief credit officer, said they are willing to listen and try to accommodate, but for the moment are mired in a process that limits what they can do.

Last September, Mary and Jack Eriksen watched as 52 years of providing what they called “largest show of color on the Oregon coast” at Oregon Coast Garden Center near Waldport was uprooted.

After reaching a record high of almost $1 billion in sales in 2007, Oregon’s nursery industry wilted into an historic slump, and has since been laying off employees and cutting costs in every category just to survive. Oregon Coast Garden Center’s fortunes mirrored that trend. Business had bloomed at the corner of Eriksen Ave. and Azalea Lane, reaching an apex in 2007, when they gleaned $1 million in sales and kept 10 employees busy.

For the complete article see the 07-04-2012 issue.

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