city news
Vernonia City News...
At the November 19, 2012 City Coun-
cil Meeting:
Council Completes Re-Zoning Public
Hearing-At the scheduled continuance
of a Public Hearing regarding proposed
changes to zoning in the City of Verno-
nia, there was no new testimony against
the proposal. Proposed amendments
would rezone flood prone properties in
the city, expand the mixed-use Down-
town Zone into a currently residential
neighborhood, and rezone land on Cali-
fornia Avenue to Light Industrial. At the
October 1, 2012 Public Hearing, resi-
dents in the neighborhood that will be
changed from a Residential designation
to Downtown had requested that the City
Council continue the Hearing until ques-
tions they had raised could be adequate-
ly addressed; Council agreed, and sched-
uled the continuation for November 19.
City staff changed wording in the pro-
posal which states that a dwelling is a
permitted use in the zone and removed
several statements which limited how a
dwelling might be permitted. Resident
Donald Willard, who had previously
asked for the continuance, stated that he
was pleased with the changes and that
staff heard the concerns of the citizens
and responded to them. Staff will now
finalize the amendments before bringing
it back to Council for a final approval at
a future meeting.
Council Holds Public Hearing on
CDBG Projects-Council held a Public
Hearing to obtain input from citizens
on three projects that had been funded
through the Community Development
Block Grant program. Two of the proj-
ects involved flood recovery; one was
for Rehabilitations-Grant # D08017, the
other for Acquisitions-Grant #D08030.
The third project under review involved
planning for the city Wastewater Facili-
ties Update project-Grant #D08018.
Beverly Danner of Community
Action Team, which managed the Flood
Recovery Projects, gave a staff report
and told Council that a total of forty-
three households had been served in
Vernonia and eighty total in Columbia
County through the two projects-there
were a total of nine rehabilitations and
sixteen elevations In Vernonia with a to-
tal cost of $1.57 million and eighteen
acquisitions in Vernonia with a total cost
of $3.15 million.
Vernonia City Administrator
Bill Haack reported that the CDGB funds
were used for the Wastewater Project to
develop several alternatives early in the
planning process; City Council chose
not to use any of the alternatives devel-
oped through this program.
There was no public testimony
for or against any of the projects. Verno-
nia City Councilor Kim Tierney stated,
“I have seen Community Action Team
do amazing work. I think the fact that
eighty households were served and re-
ally improved the lives of those families
is pretty remarkable. I would like to say
thank you to all the staff who worked on
this.”
Council Approves “Food for Fines”
at Library-Council approved a recom-
mendation from the Library Board for
“Food for Fines,” a program that would
allow library patrons a chance to pay off
their library fines by a making a dona-
tion of food at the Library for Vernonia
Cares. For each item donated $1 will
be credited toward a patron’s account of
fines. The program will run from No-
vember 26-December 10, 2012.
Council Accepts Brownfields Fund-
ing-Council authorized the City Admin-
istrator to sign an Affirmation of Award
for a Brownfields Assessment Grant
awarded to the City of Vernonia from
the Environmental Protection Agency
for $200,000. The funds will be used
to inventory, characterize, assess and
conduct cleanup planning and commu-
nity outreach for Brownfield sites in the
Vernonia area including both hazard-
ous and petroleum impacted properties.
The EPA pays for 100% of the costs for
the project.
Council
Authorized
Contract
City Information and Updates Available by Email
At Meyer’s Auto Body
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16720 Noakes Rd. Vernonia
Vernonia
City Council
Meetings and
Closures
City Council Meetings are
scheduled for 7 PM:
Monday, December 3, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
City Closures are
scheduled for:
Monday, December 24 - Noon
Christmas Day, December 25
Dates and times subject to
change due to conflicts of
schedules
PaintCare thanks this local drop-off site for participating
in the Oregon Paint Stewardship Program. Since 2010 we’ve
recycled one million gallons of paint!
Thanks to our local drop-off site,
it’s easy to recycle our paint!
VERNONIA HARDWARE
AND SUPPLY
1026 Bridge Street
Vernonia, OR 97064
(503) 429-5651
JOIN
THE TEAM!
5
Amendment-Council approved a
contract amendment with Brown and
Caldwell to complete an EPA/DEQ En-
vironmental Assessment Report for the
Wastewater Facilities Update project.
THANK YOU!
Meyer’s Auto Body
493 Bridge Street,
Vernonia
503-429-0248
Terry’s
Gym
2012
Council Approves Additional Soil
Testing-Council approved an addendum
to the contract with Shannon and Wilson
Geotechnical and Environmental Con-
sultants for additional soil testing near
Council Approves GIS project for the wastewater facility headworks. The
Cemetery-Council approved a request work is not to exceed $10,000 and will
from the Cemetery Committee to spend be funded through an EPA STAG grant
$2,500 from contingency to compile, or- which has already been secured.
ganize and reconcile all available data
from past management of the city cem-
etery into a usable geographic database,
as well as associate individual plot in-
formation with a location for each plot.
Citizens who wish to receive meeting information and updates can request to be placed
on an email list at City Hall. Please contact Joann Glass at joann@vernonia-or.gov and
asked to be placed on the “Citizen Notification List.”
Need body work?
november27
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