Vernonia's voice., April 02, 2015, Page 7, Image 7

community news
Witt Visits Vernonia
On Friday, March 27, Oregon
State Representative Brad Witt stopped
by Vernonia for a visit with Vernonia’s
Voice, and updated us on the current leg-
islative session and some of the bills he’s
working on, and to talk about some other
topics of interest.
Representative Witt has been ex-
tremely busy, and is the primary sponsor
on over twenty bills this session, which
he said he thought was the, “second most
in the Oregon House this session.”
When asked about a current lo-
cal issue, the Oregon LNG and Oregon
Pipeline projects, Witt stated very clear-
ly and emphatically that he opposes the
projects. “I have been a long term oppo-
nent of Oregon LNG and their project,”
said Witt. “This is the wrong route and
the wrong project for so many reasons. I
hardly know where to begin.” Witt went
on to express concerns about the site of
the storage plant in Warrenton, about
safety and the potential environmental
damage, concerns about the financial
stability of the corporation and the sus-
tainability of the projects’ backers, and
the bad idea of exporting our resources.
“There is nothing good in this for the
average Oregonian, or the people in Co-
lumbia and Clatsop Counties. What this
is, is a profit motive on the backs of ev-
eryone else. The arrogance is reprehen-
sible and I’m continuing to oppose it.”
When asked about the upcoming
legalization of recreational marijuana in
Oregon beginning July 1, 2015 Witt ex-
pressed surprise and disappointment that
Vernonia Fire District Places
Two Measures on May Ballot
continued from front page
year old engine from the Banks Fire
District also provided an upgrade.
“This bond allows us to begin
to create a succession plan within our
apparatus portion of the District, which
we have to have,” says Smith. “We’ve
gotten well beyond where we should
be.”
Smith says that ideally the Dis-
trict would have just tried to renew the
2000 bond in 2010, but circumstances
in the community didn’t make that pru-
dent. “We were still recovering from
the flood,” says Smith.
“We’ve consistently waited
over the years,” said Smith. “We held
off because the City needed to do sewer
upgrades. We held off because of the
flood. We held off because the com-
munity needed to build new schools.
We’ve consistently taken a back seat
and waited to ask for funds because
we know the community is tight. I feel
the community gets a lot from us. But
we’re at a point where we don’t have a
choice.”
Legal Notice
This is to notify you that
the Columbia County Board of
Commissioners has proposed a land
use Moratorium that may affect the
permissible uses of your land.
On April 8, 2015, at 10:00
a.m., the Columbia County Board
of Commissioners will hold a public
hearing regarding the adoption of
Ordinance No. 2015-03. The hearing
will be held in the Commissioners’s
meeting room, Room 308 on the
Third Floor of the Columbia County
Courthouse, 230 Strand Street, St.
Helens, Oregon.
The Columbia County Board
of Commissioners has determined
that adoption of this Ordinance will
affect the permissible uses of your
property, on an interim basis, and may
reduce the value of your property. The
proposed Ordinance would adopt a
temporary moratorium on the operation
of recreational and medical marijuana
dispensaries and grow operations,
pursuant to ORS 197.520, for a period
120 days to allow the County time to
develop Zoning Ordinance provisions
compatible with changing Oregon
State rule and statute.
The proposed ordinance
will be available for inspection at the
Columbia County Courthouse located
in St. Helens, Oregon in the Land
Development Services Department,
230 Strand Street, St. Helens, Oregon,
on March 26, 2015. A copy of the
proposed ordinance will be available
for purchase at a reasonable cost.
For additional information
concerning Ordinance No. 2015-03,
you may call Todd Dugdale or Glen
Higgins, at the Columbia County
Department of Land Development
Services, at (503) 397-1501.
PUBLIC NOTICE
PUBLIC HEARING IN ACCORDANCE WITH ORS 271.735(2)
PUBLIC NOTICE. In accordance with
ORS 271.735, the city council of the City
of Vernonia will hold a public hearing
on May 4 th , 2015 on the acquisition of
a CONSERVATION EASEMENT for
the property located at 1462 Bridge
Street in Vernonia, county of Columbia,
Oregon, commonly known as the
“Lincoln Elementary School Property”,
whose real property description is Tax
Lot 03000 of Map 4N4W05 Section AC,
approximately 1.14 acres. The acquisition
of this conservation easement is a condition
imposed by the city of Vernonia on the
approval of land use application PAZC 14-
01. The city of Vernonia will hold a public
hearing on the question of acquiring the
conservation easement on May 4 th , 2015
for the purpose of providing interested
parties with a meaningful opportunity to
comment on the conservation easement.
A copy of the proposed conservation
easement may be obtained from the City
of Vernonia representative identified
below. Questions or comments about
the conservation easement, or the public
hearing, are to be directed to the city of
Vernonia representative identified below.
Requests for special accommodations in
order to participate in the public hearing
should be made seven (7) days in advance
of the public hearing. Written comments
concerning the conservation easement must
be received by the city of Vernonia no later
than 5:00 p.m. on May 4 th , 2015. Hearing
location: City Hall Council Chambers,
1001 Bridge Street, Vernonia, Oregon,
97064. Hearing time: 7:00 p.m. City of
Vernonia contact: Josette Mitchell, City
Recorder, 1001 Bridge Street, Vernonia,
Oregon, 97064, jmitchell@vernonia-or.
gov.
april2
2015
Columbia County Commissioners are
just now proposing a temporary morato-
rium on all marijuana businesses for 120
days after they have had so much time to
figure out how they want to handle the
new law. Witt did express that he sees
value in the use of marijuana for medi-
cal purposes and also agrees with the le-
galization of recreational use in private
settings. “I think we’re finally going
to see a situation where it’s controlled,
because, let’s face it, people have been
recreating with it for tens of thousands
of years,” said Witt. “The vast majority
of people who use alcohol use it respon-
sibly and there’s no problem. Certainly
there are those few who abuse it and the
law needs to step in when that happens.
And I’m sure the same thing will be true
of marijuana as well.” When asked if he
sees the legalization of marijuana as an
economic benefit for the state, Witt re-
sponded, “Absolutely. I don’t see how
we cannot view it that way.”
Witt also discussed the state
budget for education. The rate of fund-
ing proposed by the state for education
is $7.235 billion, which the Vernonia
School District and other advocates for
school funding says will be inadequate
and will lead to cuts in programs. Witt’s
most recent newsletter to constituents
states that he believed the state’s plan
for the $7.235 amount was adequate
and explained that 95% of the state’s
General Fund goes to education, hu-
man services, and public safety. Educa-
tion already takes 52% of the General
Fund. “With a finite amount of money
available, we must be mindful that giv-
ing larger amounts to one segment will
likely cause another to have less,” said
Witt in his newsletter.
7
In our face-to-face conversation
Witt reiterated these sentiments. “I can’t
go to DHS and tell them they need to
cut back on elderly or housing projects,”
said Witt. “I can’t go to the State Police
and tell them they need to cut back on
the number of troopers. The problem is
we do not have enough revenue in this
state, pure and simple. There’s a host
of reasons, not the least of which is the
great recession we just came through.”
Witt also expressed concern that if the
state kicker is triggered that will present
another round of problems and cuts. “I
don’t have an answer. We may need to
start taking a serious look at some alter-
native tax structures in this state.”
Witt took time to discuss and
explain some of the current bills he is
sponsoring.
Education
2524 Requires Higher Education Co-
ordinating Commission to establish for
every entering undergraduate class at
each public university a minimum per-
centage of students who must be Oregon
residents. “A lot of students from foreign
countries are sending students to our uni-
versities here because it’s a good deal,”
said Witt. “We’re beginning to make it
difficult for some Oregonian students to
go to school here, so we’re trying to ad-
dress that.”
2525 Directs Higher Education Coordi-
nating Commission to develop standards
related to transferability of credits and
acceptance of test scores for community
colleges and public universities. “This
would guarantee that any credits you
take at an Oregon college will be trans-
ferable to another Oregon higher educa-
tion system.”
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