city/community news
At the September 17, 2012 City
Council Meeting:
Council Hears Planning Updates—
City Planner Carole Connell gave
Council updates on several issues the
Planning Commission is currently
working on. Connell gave brief updates
on proposed amendments to city parking
regulations, changes to RV Habitation
rules, and a Safe Routes to School
grant which has been funded to provide
outreach to research how the new city
transportation plan is working in regards
to students getting to the new school.
Connell also introduced a thirty-five
Vernonia City News...
page draft of an Economic Opportunity
Analysis (EOA) report which city staff
created as a requirement when changes
are made to the city Comprehensive
Plan. The City is currently considering
rezoning over 130 properties within city
limits. Many of the zoning designations
are being changed to a new designation
called Public Institution because they
sit in the flood zone. The City is also
considering changing the zoning from
Residential to Downtown for properties
along parts of Rose and Weed Avenues.
A hearing before Council has been
scheduled for October 1, 2012. The
draft of the EOA includes sections on
economic development objectives,
population and demographic trends,
information about the current Vernonia
land inventory, future housing needs and
an employments forecast.
Mayor Makes Appointment to
Airport Committee—Based on a
recommendation from the Airport
Committee and with approval from
Council, Mayor Josette Mitchell
appointed Dennis Peters to the Airport
Committee.
City Administrator Gives Council
Report—City Administrator Bill Haack
september25
2012
5
updated Council on several items he
has been working on with a written and
verbal report. Haack reported that the
City has hired Dan Kenoyer as part—
time Building and Grounds Maintenance
and that the City is currently in the
process of selecting a wintertime Park
Host for Anderson Park. Haack also
provided updates on work to detect
leaks within the city water distribution
system, meetings he had with the new
Banks City Manager, the new head park
ranger at Stub Stewart State Park, with
ODOT personnel and with professionals
working to provide medical services for
Vernonia.
Vernonia Geographic “National Taking Back Unwanted
By Ben Fousek
Prescription Drugs Day” is September 29
After a hiatus from contributing to Vernonia’s
Voice, I’m excited to be once again writing about Ver-
nonia from a geographic perspective. A lot has changed
here in Vernonia over the last year from a geographic
point of view; and with more change on the way, I’ll
have plenty to share with you in coming installments.
Today I’d like to let everyone know about the
City of Vernonia Geographic Information System’s
(GIS) new web site. The site features a parcel search,
which allows you to search for parcels by address or par-
cel ID (PID); and view parcel information. Official city
maps, including land use and flood zones are available
for download in PDF format. These include zoning and
flood zones, with more coming in the next few months.
The best feature of the site is an interactive web map
called Vernonia Explorer.
Vernonia Explorer is a great way to learn about
Vernonia, and gain a better geographic view of our town.
Vernonia Explorer allows you to view over 12 data lay-
ers, including parcels, zoning, flood zones, wetlands
and more. Parcel search and identify tools make finding
a parcel and its related information easy. Parcel infor-
mation links to Columbia County Assessment data are
included. Print a parcel information sheet for a specific
parcel or export a customized PDF map. More layers and
tools will be added in the coming months, so check back
again.
The City of Vernonia GIS can be accessed at
http://vernonia.trianglegis.com/. Vernonia Explorer is
also available on the city’s website by clicking on City
Info → Vernonia GIS.
Vernonia land use and zoning are in the news,
so in the next installment of Vernonia Geographic we’ll
check out Vernonia’s current land inventory, perhaps do
a little geo-analysis, and see what we might learn from it.
Vernonia GeoFact: Vernonia city limits has height to
width ratio of 0.53; being twice as wide as it is high.
This ratio is important for proper scaling and page size
when producing print maps.
Ben Fousek is the owner/operator of Triangle GIS.
Vernonia City
Council Meetings
and Closures
City Council Meetings are
scheduled for 7 PM:
Monday, October 1, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
City Closures are scheduled for:
Veterans Day, Mon. November 12
Dates and times subject to change
due to conflicts of schedules
New RX Depository is located at Vernonia City Hall
On September 29 from 10:00 AM to 2:00
PM the Vernonia Police Department and the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the
public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and
theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous
expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.
Bring your medications for disposal to City Hall at
1001 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR. The service is
free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last April, Americans turned in 552,161
pounds—276 tons—of prescription drugs at over
5,600 sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,300
state and local law enforcement partners. In its four
previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners
took in over 1.5 million pounds—nearly 775 tons—
of pills.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety
and public health issue. Medicines that languish in
home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion,
misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse
in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number
of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these
drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused pre-
scription drugs are obtained from family and friends,
including from the home medicine cabinet. In ad-
dition, Americans are now advised that their usual
methods for disposing of unused medicines—flush-
ing them down the toilet or throwing them in the
trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.
Four days after the first event, Congress
passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal
Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substanc-
es Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled sub-
stance medications to dispose of them by delivering
them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to
accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney Gen-
eral to authorize long term care facilities to dispose
of their residents’ controlled substances in certain in-
stances. DEA is drafting regulations to implement
the Act. Until new regulations are in place, local law
enforcement agencies like Vernonia Police Depart-
ment and the DEA will continue to hold prescription
drug take-back events every few months.
Great News! In partnership with the Verno-
nia Prevention Coalition, (VPC) the Vernonia Police
Department purchased an RX Depository. This de-
positary is provided in an effort to collect any un-
used RX and potentially harmful substances. “Much
like other communities, we have seen an increase of
prescription thefts and other related crimes affecting
our community,” states DeAnna Pearl, VPC Director.
“Like many others, we are taking a more proactive
step in reducing the access of prescription drugs in
our community.” Unlike other scheduled take back
programs hosted in Vernonia, citizens will be able to
deposit items during regular business hours, and dur-
ing City Council and other after hours meetings. No
waiting for an officer or a special date. City Hall
doors open at 8:00 AM and close at 5:00 PM.
Saving money on food purchases is more
critical today than ever. If you’d like to learn more
about how to maximize your use of grocery coupons,
plan to attend a special fundraiser for Vernonia Cares
and the Vernonia Grange on Thursday, October 4th at
6:00 PM.
Extreme-couponer Saretta will give a pre-
sentation on couponing with lots of tips and some
surprises to share. Bring paper and pencil to take
notes during this informative session. The class will
be held at the Vernonia Grange, 375 North Street.
Admission is $10 and two cans of food for Vernonia
Cares or its pet food partner, Bailey’s Pantry. Please
contact Carol Davis at 503.429.9671 if you have
questions.
Extreme Couponing Workshop in Vernonia
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