april26 2011
V E R N O N I A’ S
reflecting the spirit of our community
free
volume5 issue8
Rebuilding Vernonia, Part II:
County Has Chance to
Exploring the EPA Brownfields Program Provide Stable Funding for
Sheriff’s Office Levy Would
By Scott Laird
The community of Vernonia is
currently in the process of rebuilding
significant pieces of its infrastructure.
Major projects are currently under
construction or in the planning stages and
several redevelopment projects are being
considered. Over the next few months,
Vernonia’s Voice will be taking an in-depth
look at some of these projects with the intent
of informing and educating the public.
Recently, you may have heard the
words “Brownfields” and “Cleanup” in
relation to Vernonia and wondered what
this meant and how it might impact local
property owners.
The City of Vernonia has began
the process of seeking funding to clean
up what are known as “Brownfields”--
properties within the community on which
development or re-use is complicated by the
presence of hazardous substances.
The word brownfields and the idea
of hazardous materials being found on
properties may make you think of large,
inside
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abandoned industrial sites with dangerous
pollution. Some brownfields are old
industrial sites, but others are commercial
buildings with little or no known
environmental contamination problems.
Nearly every community has brownfields
sites; in fact, it is estimated that there are
more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.
Some of the most common
brownfields sites are: former gas stations,
lots where heavy machinery was stored or
repaired, abandoned railroads, junk or scrap
yards, and landfills. Vernonia has
its share of these; the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has
identified several properties in
Vernonia that already qualify as
brownfields sites.
“The City of Vernonia is informed
that there are properties throughout
the community that were formerly
used for business purposes that, as a
byproduct of their business and the
way they ran their business, have
contaminents that may have gotten
into the soil,” explains Vernonia Interim
City Administrator Bill Haack. “So we are
aware of approximately twelve sites that are
on EPA’s watch list right now, and there may
be other sites, like private homes that had
underground storage tanks for oil. There is
a significant unknown of what we will find
on the site of the old O-A Mill and whether
there are still any hazardous materials in the
soil as we begin to create the new wetland
feature out there.”
In October of 2010, the City of
Vernonia submitted an application to the EPA
for a Brownfields Assessment Grant which
would provide funding to inventory
and asses the various and potential
sites throughout the community. The
grant also provides for developing
and conducting community planning
around brownfields properties.
“The monies we have asked
for, $400,000, can do two things,”
explains Haack. “Half the money
would be used for Phase I and Phase
II assessments for petroleum-based
problems, and half the money is for
mixed hazard assessments— batteries,
paint and other pollutants, as well as
petroleum-based products.”
According to Haack, a Phase I
and Phase II involves the science of
documenting the problem— research
about past use of properties, and actual
core samples of soil. A Phase I and
Phase II would cost about $30,000.
“In the event that an underground
tank is discovered, these Assessment
Grant funds would also pay for the
extraction of the tank,” says Haack.
The city expects notification
about the grant award in late May of
2011.
Started in 1995, the EPA’s
vhs
spring sports
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easter egg
hunt
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sportsman’s
banquet
continued on page 18
Provide for Six Additional Patrol
Deputies, Three Investigators, and More
By Scott Laird
down with Columbia County Sheriff
Jeff Dickerson to talk about the levy
and what Dickerson hopes will be
accomplished if voters choose to
approve it.
“The number-one thing
that people are concerned about in
Columbia County is back-up and
assistance for local law enforcement,
Columbia County voters will
have a chance on May 17th to pass
Measure 5-210, the Stable Funding
Levy for the Sheriff’s Office,
providing expanded protection and
services for residents county-wide.
The Columbia County Board
of
Commissioners
placed Measure 5-210
on the ballot on January
3rd, asking voters to
approve the four-year
levy that would assess
62 cents per thousand
on property values.
According to campaign
literature, that equates
to $124 in taxes each
year for a property
valued at $200,000.
The levy would
fund an additional six
patrol deputies, three
investigators, two sworn Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson talks about
Measure 5-210 which would provide stable funding
supervisors, a support for his office for the next four years. Measure 5-210
clerk, and equipment will appear on the ballot for the May 17th election.
and fuel for those
added positions. In addition, two and this levy will provide for that,”
corrections deputies and a jail mental says Dickerson. “It will also reduce
health program will be retained from response times to emergencies in our
an expiring federal grant program. county and provide law enforcement
The Columbia County detectives who will take the criminal
Sheriff’s Office has faced layoffs and target off the back of our citizens in
staffing cuts over recent years and Columbia County.”
lacks a specific allocated operations
According to Dickerson, the
budget. Patrols have had to be Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is
reduced, personnel levels are what currently responsible for operation
many people consider dangerously of the 258-bed county jail as well
low, and follow-up to crimes and as patrol and response to 657 square
response times to emergencies is miles of territory. Right now, there
slow.
are only six deputies who work patrol
Vernonia’s Voice recently sat
continued on page 8
Make Vernonia Shine
Almost seventy
citizens turned
out on April
16th to pull
weeds, pick up
trash, sweep
sidewalks and
help Make
Vernonia Shine.
The annual
clean-up day
was once again
sponsored by
Vernonia Pride.
