Appeal Tribune Wednesday, January 3, 2018 3A
Wildfire
Continued from Page 1A
Oregonians who headed south to help battle the blazing
front lines in California. Oregon Department of Forest-
ry officials reported that several hundred ODF and as-
sociation firefighters from the state dug control lines
and put out spot fires during their assignment.
The duties were weighty and often different than
those to which the local firefighters were accustomed.
Assistant Fire Chief Brad McKenzie noted that in
Oregon “Type 3” fires are strictly defined: firefighters
tactically patrol assigned divisions while prepping and
protecting structures. Reports back from California in-
dicated they not only patrolled and prepped structures
but interacted with other hand crews and assisted in
digging and putting in a wet line around structures.
Morlan said safety issues were paramount.
“Thick smoke, unkept, narrow roads, potential fall-
en power lines and trees — and other drivers,” Morlan
described the hazards. “You just always want to be
aware what is going on around you.”
Morlan recalled the only constant was change.
“Fire conditions changed every day. At briefing we
were constantly reminded to keep our heads on a swivel
Growth
Continued from Page 1A
greeted with open arms
by long-standing resi-
dents, but the trajectory
was understood.
“It’s because that’s
where companies locat-
ed,” Carter said of the
Portland metro area. “It
wasn’t because city coun-
cils or residents wanted
their towns to grow.”
She noted that Silver-
ton’s location – away from
a major artery such as In-
terstate 5 – alleviates
some of the worry about
rapid growth in the same
vein as Portland metro
communities. But not en-
tirely.
“I would love to see Sil-
verton stay the way it is,
(but) it is a regressive atti-
tude to think that we can
remain a 19th-century
town in the 21st century,”
Carter said. “We will at-
tract new people. We can’t
have a not-in-my-back-
yard attitude toward ev-
erything. We have to face
the fact that we will
grow.”
Part of facing that is
anticipating the growth
and, perhaps, affecting
the complexion of it.
“Our residents must
play an active role in
shaping how Silverton
evolves,” Palmer said, en-
couraging residents to be
active in everything from
city government and com-
missions to civic groups
and events. “That is how
we ensure that what
makes us special will con-
tinue regardless of any
other changes.”
Who pays?
One issue Silverton’s
city council anticipates
reviewing this month is
system
development
charges, fees paid to the
city by developers to off-
set costs of needed new in-
frastructure.
Council
President Jason Freilin-
ger has been the point per-
son on that topic.
“I am very concerned
about Silverton doing it
due diligence in making
sure we are smart about
growth,” Frielinger said.
“The State of Oregon has
really placed a very high
burden of proof on cities
to show why they would
deny an application to in-
crease growth through
annexations,
zoning
changes, and building
codes.”
Freilinger said Silver-
ton’s SDC fees are, for the
most part, adequate when
construction takes place
in areas that are already
developed.
“The problem we face
now is most of the push we
are experiencing is for de-
velopments well beyond
our current infrastruc-
ture limits on the fringe of
Silverton,” he said. “Typi-
cally when it comes to the
cost to run streets and
storm-water infrastruc-
ture out to a development
on the outskirts of town,
SDC fees are only cover-
ing on average 25-to-50
percent of the cost. That
means that unless we do
something to fix the city
processes, 50-to-75 per-
cent of the cost for street
and storm-water are
placed as a future burden
on the utility rate payers
in Silverton.”
That issue is expected
to emerge for discussion
in the near future.
“This is unacceptable
to me as a utility rate pay-
er and city councilor,
which is why I feel we
need to either look at our
SDC methodology or cre-
ating special assessment
districts like we did with
Steelhammer
Road,”
Freilinger said.
Who plans?
One growth question
that cropped up at the
Town Hall was the effica-
cy of the city’s compre-
hensive plan, which a new
resident to the area cited
as being 37 years old.
That’s not entirely true as
it’s been adjusted multi-
ple times over the dec-
ades.
Community Develop-
ment Director Jason Gott-
getreu said those adjust-
ments are ongoing, and
are patterned within state
stipulations that cities
and counties meet manda-
tory standards dealing
with land-use, develop-
ment, housing, transpor-
tation, and conservation
of natural resources.
“Silverton adopted its
first comprehensive plan
in 1979, and updated ele-
ments in 1980 and in 1989.
The recent element up-
dates were in 2000 and
2002 for housing and ur-
banization, respectively,”
Gottgetreu said.
Gottgetreu said devel-
opment within the city
limits must conform to es-
tablished zoning stan-
dards and criteria, while
and know your trigger points,” she said. “The winds
played a major role in the fire’s behavior."
ODF spokeswoman Bobbi Doan noted that a lack of
significant rainfall in the area since February provided
substantial dead and dry fuel that carried the fire deep
into the Los Padres National Forest as well as nearby
communities. That coupled with unusually prolonged
Santa Ana winds spread the fire through rugged terrain
in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
“With winds like that, it makes you realize just how
quickly a good situation can go bad,” Morlan said.
ODF officials said association firefighters from Ore-
gon engaged on the Thomas Fire northwest of Los An-
geles for almost two weeks. During that time, it grew to
more than 272,000 acres, approaching the size of 2003’s
Cedar Fire in San Diego, which to that point stood as the
largest wildfire in California in modern times.
The Thomas Fire eventually eclipsed the Cedar Fire.
ODF reported that Oregon sent the largest contin-
gent of fire engines and personnel from out of state to
help California with the blaze, which began on Dec. 4.
Just before Christmas some 300 Oregon firefighters
deployed through the Oregon Office of the State Fire
Marshal were demobilized.
"We're proud of the job our firefighters did helping
our neighbors to the south," said Oregon State Forester
Peter Daugherty. "Other states, including California,
were there when Oregon needed help over the past few
years and we're glad we're able to reciprocate.
"Wildfire is a common threat across the Western
states, and sharing resources when they can safely be
spared is a key way to meet the challenge."
Doan said Oregon’s mobilization was part of a mutu-
al-aid agreement that saw California firefighters travel
north this past summer to help during an especially in-
tense outbreak of wildfires in Oregon.
She noted that at its peak the Thomas Fire engaged
more than 8,400 firefighters. Wind-driven flames
forced the evacuation of thousands of area residents
and destroyed more than a thousand structures, ac-
cording to Cal Fire.
“It’s been an honor being able to work on the line with
these guys,” Morlan reflected. “Everyone stepped up to
help each other and worked hard every day. The con-
stant willingness to teach myself and my crew new tips
and tricks was amazing. I’ve never had a crew that per-
sistent with teaching others.
“Every day was an adventure and we did it with a
smile on our faces. Despite being the only engine not
from that area, it felt like home,” she added.
“I’m sincerely proud of the dedication these two
showed," Aumsville Chief Roy Hari said, "by taking this
dangerous, 14-day assignment nearly 1,000 miles from
home.”
jmuch@StatesmanJournal.com or cell 503-508-8157
or follow at twitter.com/justinmuch
development within the
urban growth boundary,
area that is anticipated be
annexed by the city in the
future, must conform to
the comprehensive plan
designation, which dic-
tates what the property
can be zoned upon annex-
ation.
Those developments
are potentially wide rang-
ing, including homes,
apartments, commercial
and industrial properties
and parks or public areas.
Portland State Popula-
tion Research Center co-
ordinates the 20-year pop-
ulation figure for the state
and estimates Silverton’s
annual growth rate to be
at 1.4 percent.
That 20-year popula-
tion number is used to
evaluate the improve-
ments and upgrades nec-
essary to serve the future
population.
“A cost estimate is gen-
erated for the improve-
ments which are then di-
vided by the future uses to
calculate a cost per-per-
son number,” Gottgetreu
said. “These numbers are
the basis of the (SDC
fees), which are intended
to collect the funds need-
ed for future improve-
ments to serve the future
population.”
Gottgetreu said public
facilities plans have re-
ceived significant up-
dates.
“The city took a more
individualized and de-
tailed approach during
the recent public facili-
ties updates,” he said.
“These include the follow-
ing master plans that have
a 20-year planning period
planning for a 2030 popu-
lation of 14,418.”
The updated plans are
more detailed than ones
they replaced. Gottgetreu
used traffic plans as an
example.
“When estimating the
amount of traffic antici-
pated to be generated
over the next 20 years, the
land inside the UGB was
divided into 35 different
areas which were then
looked at individually to
calculate the develop-
ment potential within
each area, which was then
estimated as a future traf-
fic estimate,” he said.
“Each area was then
forecasted as to where the
future cars may travel to
during the morning and
evening rush hour. This
was then put into a com-
puter model of the Silver-
with traffic complaints
and accidents, which
overrun that officer’s 40-
hour work week and re-
quires some additional as-
sistance from patrol offi-
cers.
“A big issue facing the
police department is… we
are out of space for any
additional personnel in
our current building,”
Fossholm said. “I current-
ly have three officers per
desk and we don’t have
any room for the officers
to store their extra equip-
ment or duty bags.
“The (code and park-
ing) officer has an office
upstairs in Public Works
because there is no extra
space in the police depart-
ment,” he added. “This
does not account for the
numerous and other prob-
lematic issues such as a
lack of evidence storage
space, inadequate book-
ing area with sight and
sound separate between
adult and juvenile offend-
ers, a formal (audio and
video recorded) inter-
view
room,
meeting
rooms for victims, weap-
ons and ammunition ar-
mory, department train-
ing room in which the en-
tire department can meet
and train together, locker
room space, area to proc-
ess evidence -- to name a
few from a long list of is-
sues.”
Fossholm said as the
town continues to grow he
anticipates requests for
additional officers and
staff will come with it.
“I’m not sure exactly
when or what year that
might occur, but once we
get there I’m sure it will
be readily apparent based
on the number of calls for
service, not being able to
provide full service or not
being able to handle calls
within a timely manner,”
he said. “The good news is
that we are not there yet,
but when it’s time we will
make the request and pro-
vide justification for such
a request.”
Public school popula-
tions
Silver Falls School Dis-
trict Superintendent An-
dy Bellando said enroll-
ment in the district’s 13
schools is tracked month-
ly, and the district’s large-
ly rural boundaries – 260
square miles – means that
only about 50 percent of
the elementary school en-
rollment hails from Sil-
verton.
Bellando said a few of
LOW COST CREMATION & BURIAL
Simple Cremation $595
NO Hidden Costs
TUALATIN
SALEM
8970 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd
412 Lancaster Drive NE
(503) 885-7800
(503) 581-6265
PORTLAND
TIGARD
832 NE Broadway
12995 SW Pacifi c Hwy
(503) 783-3393
(503) 783-6869
EASTSIDE
MILWAUKIE
1433 SE 122nd Ave
17064 SE McLoughlin Blvd
(503) 783-6865
(503) 653-7076
Privately owned cremation facility.
A Family Owned Oregon Business.
OR-SAL0007253-14
www.ANewTradition.com
ton Transportation net-
work to see which inter-
sections would need im-
provements to deal with
the increase in traffic in
the future.”
Who patrols?
Silverton Police has 16
sworn officers funded
through the city’s gener-
al-fund and 17 total.
“In 2015, we were able
to add an additional offi-
cer, in partnership with
the Silver Falls School
District,” Police Chief
Jeff Fossholm said, noting
that the school district
pays for 75-percent of
that officer. “They get a
full-time school resource
officer that is able to trav-
el and handle any issues
(in the district) … We get
the officer back during
the summer for regular
patrol at time when most
officers want to take va-
cation time, which greatly
helps with our staffing
levels.”
The size of the force
and the facilities can be
affected by growth, but
the department has ad-
justed to it.
“As the city has con-
tinued to grow over the
last several years, we
have been very fortunate
in that crimes occurring
within the city have re-
mained at or about the
same level as in previous
years,” Fossholm said.
“Silverton continues to
provide its residents full
police services. This is
something that has not oc-
curred in larger agencies
such as Salem Police or
Marion County Sheriff’s
Office, where they are no
longer able to respond to
traffic accidents unless
they are blocking or there
is injury, as an example.
“With the increase in
annexations and expan-
sion in Silverton’s bound-
aries, additional streets,
neighborhoods and the
park system, it does
spread us out and gives us
more overall acreage to
patrol and respond to
problems and handle calls
for service within,” Foss-
holm added. “This has
caused a slight reduction
in being able to patrol all
areas of town equally and
for some parts of town
have a little longer re-
sponse time on calls for
service.”
The chief said com-
plaints have been mini-
mal, but the department
has assigned a traffic offi-
cer to specifically deal
Silverton
Year
Population
1880
229
1890
511
1900
656
1910
1,588
1920
2,251
1930
2,462
1940
2,925
1950
3,146
1960
3,081
1970
4,301
1980
5,168
1990
5,635
1991
5,725
1992
6,050
1993
6,080
1994
6,170
1995
6,405
1996
6,565
1997
6,675
1998
6,740
1999
6,745
2000
7,414
2001
7,420
2002
7,680
2003
7,980
2004
8,060
2005
8,230
2006
8,915
2007
9,205
2008
9,540
2009
9,585
2010
9,222
2011
9,265
2012
9,290
2013
9,330
2014
9,460
2015
9,590
2016
9,725
2017
10,070
Data are compiled by Population
Research Center.
The source is U.S. Census Bureau
for decennial Census pop-
ulations; and for intercensal
population estimates, the source
is the Population Research
Center's Population Estimates
Program, Portland State Univer-
sity.
the district schools are at
capacity, but most are not.
The district can regulate
enrollment by adjusting
its allowed out-of-district
transfers.
“This will help address
enrollment growth in the
future,” Bellando said.
“School district enroll-
ment remained flat for
about 20 years – between
1994 and 2014,” Bellando
noted. “We experienced
an average of 1-percent
growth in total enrollment
each of the past three
years, which may indicate
that growth will con-
tinue."
jmuch@Statesman-
Journal.com or cell 503-
508-8157 or follow at twit-
ter.com/justinmuch