SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 38, NO. 2
SECTION A
OCTOBER 7, 2016
$1.00
Saber-rattling Target sole
holdout on hotel parking
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When it comes to
grievances about Keizer
Station, parking availability
rarely tops the list.
However, Target is now
the sole holdout preventing
the construction of a new
hotel in the area and its issue
is parking.
“The only reason Target
has given for denying its
approval is that they will not
approve the amendment until
they get an agreement on
an amendment that contains
their request of an additional
10,000 to 20,000 square feet
of retail space,” said Mark
O’Donnell, an attorney for
Cheo Fong Tzeo, the owner
of the property that has long
been envisioned as a space for
a hotel.
At issue is a condition of
an Operation and Easement
Agreement
(OEA)
that
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Construction on a planned hotel at Keizer Station may be nearing a standstill unless Target agrees to an amendment allowing for
fewer parking spaces.
would require the hotel to
have 235 parking spaces.
The language was adopted
to cover the parking needed
for retail space, but there
were no exceptions made
for a business as vastly
different as a hotel. Even if
there were space available to
accommodate the sky-high
parking requirement, Keizer
city code would forbid it. City
offi cials could only approve
120 parking spaces. Tzeo is
only requesting 83 parking
spaces, or a little more than
one space per room in the
hotel.
To alter the OEA allowing
for fewer parking spaces,
Target, Lowe’s and Donahue
Schriber
Realty
Group
all have to sign off on the
changes.
Keizer Community Devel-
opment Director Nate Brown
was acting as an intermediary
in July, but negotiations broke
down and now O’Donnell is
threatening a lawsuit to get
Target to budge.
Attic fire
on Sunset
Avenue
PAGE A2
Please see HOTEL, Page A8
Council denies heritage designation
Speaking
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When Roberta Schmechel
spotted one of her neighbor-
hood trees in the Keizertimes
last week, she felt compelled
to speak on its behalf at a
Keizer City Council meeting
Monday, Oct. 3.
“We look up the street at
this tree and it’s a beautiful,
symmetrical tree,” Schmec-
nel said. “When the leaves are
off the other trees, that one is
magnifi cent. I think it
is worth being called
a heritage tree.”
Schmechel
wasn’t the only
Lorax in the
audience.
Keizer resi-
dent Cathy
Philbr ick
also pleaded
the case for
the protecting
the tree.
“I really care deeply
about the living environment.
We have a tall eastern white
pine in our yard that was
causing trouble for a neighbor,
but we worked together and
consulted with an arborist
SKSD
nurses
fare better
than most
PAGE A3
for the tree
who was able to prune the
tree without damaging it. This
tree should be a heritage tree
and I feel strongly it should be
preserved.”
The owners of the tree
applied to have the tree
but the council unanimously
denied the petition.
The giant sequoia on
Dennis Lane Northeast is
approximately 100 feet tall
and has become a point of
irritation for the neighbors
of the owners.
A
signifi cant
“The tree didn't choose
portion of the
tree is growing
the tax lot, the tax lot
into their yard
chose the tree, and the and depositing
there.
neighbor has the right debris
The owners
to ensure their health hoped to have the
city designate it
and safety.”
as a heritage tree
to protect it from
— Cathy Clark, Keizer Mayor
their neighbors’
hopes to prune it.
designated as a heritage tree
The tree fell short of
by the city council. The meeting the criteria for such a
designation
would
have designation, however.
prevented any type of pruning
“It’s not of botanical interest,
or other signifi cant change to was not a commemorative
the look of the tree without planting and is not historically
written permission of the city, signifi cant,” said Bill Lawyer,
KNOW
glams it up
PAGE A5
KEIZERTIMES/File
A giant sequoia on Dennis Lane North was denied heritage sta-
tus by the Keizer City Council.
Keizer Public Works director.
As far as anyone on city
staff could remember, it was
the fi rst time an application
for a heritage tree designation
was handed in to the city.
Even then, the portion of city
ordinance which talks about
heritage trees seemed to have
been an afterthought to a more
pressing issue concerning trees
in the right-of-way.
Please see TREE, Page A8
Keizer man victim of
Sheriffs and police chiefs:
fatal crash in Hillsboro Defelonize drug possession
Speeding
is
believed
to have been a factor in
the death of a Keizer man
in a head-on collision in
Washington County Friday,
Sept. 30.
According to offi cials
with the Washington County
Sheriff's Offi ce, Paul Douglas
Ingraham II, 32, was driving
a 2002 Mazda Protege and
traveled across the center
line colliding with a 2016
Toyota Highlander driven
by Caryn Jean Jennings,
54, of Poulsboro, Wash. The
crash occurred near the
intersection of Southwest
Spa
Week
Oct 10-14
Paul Ingraham and wife Erika
Schools Ferry Road and
Southwest Rainbow Lane in
Hillsboro.
Please see CRASH, Page A8
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The movement to de-
felonize drug possession has
garnered a pair of big-named
allies.
In a joint statement
released last week, members
of the Oregon State Sheriffs’
Association (OSSA) and the
Oregon Association of Chiefs
of Police (OACP) said they
are willing to work with
other justice system partners,
the Oregon Legislature and
the governor’s offi ce to “craft
a more thoughtful approach
Your passport
to Pampering
to drug possession when it is
the only crime committed.”
Currently, user-amount
drug possession charges are
a felony and the OSSA and
OACP suggest making it a
misdemeanor.
“Unfortunately,
felony
convictions in these cases also
include unintended and col-
lateral consequences includ-
ing barriers to housing and
employment and a disparate
impact on minority commu-
nities,” the statement read.
Keizer Police Chief John
Teague, in his role as fi rst vice
president of the OACP, is one
of two people taking the lead
in the coming discussion.
The other is Marion county
Sheriff Jason Myers.
Teague said there are
two answers to how such a
change would affect Keizer
police offi cers.
“On one hand, not much,
because all our offi cers are
doing is laying a charge on
these individuals,” Teague
said. “The other answer is
that it will, we predict, keep
Lady Celts hit
gridiron
PAGE A10
Please see DRUGS, Page A8
Schedule
your
Mammo
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