2 — SANDY (O r» ) POST Thur»
August 13. I W
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The Sándy Post
Editorial & Opinion
Council wise
to accept comment
m A
ta W
The Sandy City Council showed the right spirit in accepting
additional comment on a new ordinance that would amend the
city code to permit light industry downtown.
. -91
• I t V
The councilors’ willingness to let the public speak once
again shows more interest in giving constituents one last say
than in hurrying a decision that could reshape the city for
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Scott Newton, editor
Karinda Hedlund,'advertising representative
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some time to come.
The council demonstrated its flexibility too in bending the
rules governing its meetings to let a concerned citizen speak
out of turn on the agenda, and weeks after the formal public
hearing.
Dale Nicholls was the citizen who asked if he could voice his
opposition to the ordinance, despite being out of order. Neither
Nicholls nor anyone else came forward during the meeting’s
public comment period.
Nicholls then had the gumption — admirable perhaps, risky
perhaps - to lecture the council on giving more thought to im
plications of the broadened zoning.
The council gave full attention to Nicholls arguments and
criticism before agreeing after some debate to hear even
more from him and others this Monday night. Anyone submit
ting letters by Aug. 11 can speak at the next meeting.
Despite a response of five letters, few can argue once the
council makes a decision that it discouraged public debate.
The council acted prudently, though, in deciding against
reopening the public hearing that could well drag out the pro
cess, possibly with the same result. That also might be unfair
to those citizens attending the first hearing who might be
unable to come to another.
Still, councilors Dick Harrison and Mort Spence deserve in
dividual praise for convincing their less-eager colleagues to
accept more public comment.
One letter — from the city ’s Planning Commission — to the
council opposing warehouse and storage facilities as condi
tional uses merits special consideration and a corresponding
vote to alter the proposed ordinance.
The commission is wise to recognize those facilities as in
compatible downtown uses that would hire few people. They
too easily conjure images of look-alike sanitized structures,
chainlink fences and tra ffic all hours of the day.
It makes more sense to combine storage with the light in
dustry permitted by the proposed ordinance.
Light industry that operates cleanly and quietly, and
research and development facilities, promise to bring the jobs
and paychecks that could revive Sandy’s increasingly vacant
downtown.
With a built-in stop gap requiring these new uses to be ap
proved by the commission and the council, Sandy smartly is
avoiding uncontrolled development.
The council should move ahead now with the new ordinance,
minus the provision for separate storage, so Sandy can get on
w ith its progress.
Letters to the editor
• W ill insurance rates increase
while property values decrease for
the current property owners in the
core area’’
• Can the streets tolerate the in
creased use by heavy trucks?
• W ill parking be sufficient for all
employees and retail custmers’’
I would like to propose a clause in
the amendment that would prohibit
new buildings to house m anufactur
ing or industry from being con
structed in the core area The change
is to help fill vacancies — not create
more
One fin a l th o u g h t. Can the
Chamber of Commerce and city do
anything to help promote the current
retailers' business in this area’’
Thank you for taking the tim e to
hear my concerns
Phyllis Rader
Accent H air
39110 Proctor Blvd
Sandy
Zoning proposal
raises questions
I have sent this letter to the city
and I wish to respond to the C-l Zon
ing Ordinance Amendment.
1 have mixed feelings No one
knows better than I the need to fill va
cant buildings in the c ity ’s core area
An increase in jobs for the people in
the community is also important But
would their dollars be spent in San
d y ’’
As a concerned citizen and proper
ty owner I would like to offer the
following questions for your con
sideration:
• W ill conditional use amendments
become common practice every tune
a new problem arises or a business
needs to be legitim ized’’
The S^ndy Post
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Sondy Pott Sondy Oregon »7035
No 33
»17 00
August 13 l»07
boxes (ilu'nys liiim ly
A collector of cardboard confesses
H ut
Some people collect antique banks
or Victorian hair receives or cats. I
collect boxes - empty boxes
I have had a lifelong insecurity
about cardboard containers 1 live
with the constant dread that some
day something w ill come along that I
don’t have a box for
About mid-December, I send this
box north My sister-in-law then emp
ties it, reloads it with gifts to us and
ships it back A good box is that hard
to find Should my box fa il for some
reason, or should the post office beat
it up more than usual, my sister-in-
law gets m iffed and my present suf
fers accordingly
I covet boxes 1 hoard boxes I
boast about boxes
■'That's a nice size." I'm apt to say
at my birthday party, setting aside
the gift and lunging for the box it
came in. Should I ever want to send
four egg coddlers to Aunt Maude in
Scappoose, it w ill be just the thing.
“ I would have bought you a nicer
g ift," she says, ’ but I had to spend
all my tune looking for a box."
know how she feels. One Christmas I
sat in the local general store
unloading 72 dozen candy canes to
get the box they came in.
"H m m m m .” I w ill say. eyeing a
p articularly sturdy box that once
housed a size 12 pair of Nikes That
box is good enough to make it to An
chorage and back."
That is no idle threat
It works this way. I ship Christmas
gifts to my fam ily to Alaska in the
ultim ate box — the one I hunt for all
Sharon Nesbrt
year. It must be big Its precise
dimensions are predicated on the size
of the biggest package that goes in
side (I try to buy rectangular gifts;
square boxes are almost impossible
to come by I But not too big. Nobody
wants to ship empty space to Alaska
Over the years, you tend to get at
tached to certain boxes. In my box
cupboard i the biggest and best cup
board iri the house i is a box that a set
of dishes came in 10 years ago The
dishes are all broken now The store
they came from is extinct But I've
s till got the box It may come in han
dy some day.
I have a box I can ship skis in, if 1
ever get a pair. I have clever, little
compartmentalized boxes suitable
for jams and jellies.
I have flo ra l boxes. And plaid
boxes and polka dot boxes. I have
plain brown wrapper boxes. Boxes
fu ll of little foam chips, boxes full of
cellophane packing stuff, boxes full
of tissue paper and boxes fu ll of
boxes.
“ What is th is’’ " Hubby thundered
one day when he stumbled on my
treasure trove. "T h is whole cup
board full of boxes — it ’s a waste of
space, a fire hazard."
I ’d get rid of them but I don’t have
a box big enough to throw them out.
Sharon Nesbit wrote this column in
1982. It became a favorite of box col
lectors everywhere, all of whom have
come out of the closet with their
habit. Nesbit. however, is still boxed
in by her collection.
(ílK’SÍ opiHIOH
Forestry bill brings major changes
By Gov. Nell Goldschmidt
One of the most important forestry
bills of the past two decades became
law on July 22. when I signed House
B ill 3396
This bill produces some of the most
sweeping changes in the regulation of
private forest land in Oregon since
the Oregon Forest Practices Act was
passed in 1971
House B ill 3396 clears up a long
standing issue between the Forest
Practices Act and Oregon's land use
law; charges the Oregon Board of
F o re s try w ith s ig n ific a n t new
responsibilities to protect specific
resources on forest land, including
threatened and endangered fish and
w ild life species, se nsitive b ird
roosting and nesting sites, significant
b iological sites, and s ig n ifica n t
wetlands; and changes the composi
tion of the Board of Forestry
This legislation is the final product
of hou rs of behind-the-scenes
negotiations among the forestry in
dustry, environmental organizations
and government, in an effort to
resolve a number of m ajor concerns
of the various parties.
Bobeats
At the invitation of my office,
representatives of the Oregon Forest
Industries Council, the Association of
Oregon Counties, a consortium of en
vironmental organizations led by
1000 Friends of Oregon, the State
Forester and the director of the
Department of I .and Conservation
their lands for comm ercial tim ber
production, knowing c le a rly the
regulatory authority that the state of
Oregon and its citizens have iden
tified as im portant to the protection
of all forest resources
The environmental organizations
‘I know that future generations will look buck
to this bill ns a significant step forward in pro
tecting all resourees while allow inti our state’s
major industry to effectively produce forest
goods and services.’
and Development, worked long and
hard hours to develop this bill.
Under the leadership of Senate
P re s id e n t John K itz h a b e r and
Speaker of the House Vera Katz, the
bill moved quickly through com m it
tees and onto the floor of both houses,
where it passed with only a few
m inor changes.
The result was a bill that allows
private forest landowners to manage
are confident that these resources
w ill be protected and that they w ill
have a specific route of appeal under
certain conditions to ensure that the
resources w ill be preserved for
future generations
Finally, the Board of Forestry that
has served Oregon well for the past
75 years, w ill now have seven
members, replacing the current
12-member board, with no more than
three members having ties to in
dustry The new board w ill take of
fice on Jan 1, 1988, and I expect it to
be a strong voice for the public in
terest in this vita l resource
To me, there are two m ajor "v ic
tories" for Oregonians F irst, I know
that future generations w ill look back
to this b ill as a significant step fo r
ward in protecting all resources
while allowing our state's m ajor in
dustry to effectively produce forest
goods and services Secondly, and
just as im portant, is the example of
conflict resolution set by the 25 in
dividuals who participated in the
long hours of negotiation in drafting
the final bill Perhaps this method
w ill help pave the way for resolving
other long-standing conflicts, rather
than through time-consuming and
costly legal battles and strugglescar-
ried on through the news media -
Oregonians can manage tjie ir
forests for comm ercial production
and protect our waters, fish, w ildlife
and other resources. House B ill 3396
marks a m ajor contribution to that
effort.
J
by Adam Kraft
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