PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 24, 2017
FUEL, continued from Page A1
Seth King, a land use attorney, spoke on behalf of Safeway say-
ing that the staff-proposed amendment to the zone was largely
acceptable except for a prohibition on sales of other merchan-
dise. If approved, fueling center plans call for a convenience stand
where items like soda, coffee, cigarettes and other convenience
fare would be sold.
“This is not a workable business model. It wouldn’t be a full-
service convenience store, but some ancillary sales are expected
and a necessary part of these fueling stations,” King said.
King said Safeway would either like to have the prohibition on
such sales removed or have the hearing continued at a later date.
Safeway had looked into building a gas station on the site as
early as 2013, but the plan never moved forward internally, said
Chris Miles, a construction project manager for Albertsons, the
company that acquired Safeway in 2014.
“This is something our customers have requested over and
over. Our nearest fueling center is in Salem,” Miles said. “We’ll
survive without a fueling center, but we will most likely do some-
thing with the property because it is a dirt lot and ugly right
now.”
Miles said the additional merchandise sales were an essential
part of the package.
“That sale doesn’t do much for us overall, but if we don’t offer
it, we lose the fuel sale,” Miles said.
A main point of contention in the conceptual plans is an in-
crease in traffi c to the shopping center that would result from
adding a gas station.
Keizer Fire District Chief Jeff Cowan said the district would
not support a change to the overlay zone.
“Don’t change it. It’s there for a reason,” Cowan said. “We have
to go into oncoming traffi c to reach River Road or the other side
of Chemawa every day,” Cowan said.
Miles walked commissioners through some of the changes
Safeway is proposing to help alleviate clogs on Chemawa if a fuel
center gains approval. The main entrance would be widened by
12 feet to allow for easier fl ow into the parking lot, especially
for those turning left from westbound lanes. However, the draft
plans also included a reworking of the parking lot near the main
entrance. At least three of the parking spaces on both sides of the
fi rst aisle of parking spaces would be removed and some hand-
icapped parking added to force customers further into the lot
rather than allowing them to wait for the closest parking spaces
to open up and creating congestion on Chemawa.
“I don’t think we addressed the fi re district, but we addressed
the fl ow,” Miles said.
Chris Brehmer, an engineer with Portland’s Kittleson & As-
sociates, said additional mitigation might be possible with some
linking of the signals on River Road North.
“The development will increase traffi c and we are trying to
understand what they will be, but this is a chance to improve the
entrance issues,” Brehmer said.
Commissioners didn’t show much of their hand with their
questions on the proposed changes, but said they wanted to get
more input from the other entities that might be impacted like
the Keizer Fire District and Salem-Keizer Transit District.
“This is a big investor in our community and I don’t want to
slow them down, but if we are going to continue this, I want the
other interested parties to be here,” said Commissioner Garry
Whelan.
Other code limitations take fi re
during Safeway fuel hearing
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
If politics makes for strange
bedfellows, the same might be
said for business.
While the Keizer Planning
Commission was taking testi-
mony on a proposed fueling
center at Safeway on River
Road North, the proposed re-
moval of an overlay zone drew
support from a connected pair
of individuals. They supported
the Safeway proposal, but had
other vested interests in hav-
ing the overlay zone removed.
While Safeway wants a pro-
hibition on gas stations in area
between Claggett and James
streets on River Road North
and Elizabeth Street and Bai-
ley Road on Chemawa Road
lifted, the same part of the de-
velopment code also prohibits
auto dealers, auto rental and
auto repair businesses, recre-
ational vehicle parks, public
utility structures and building
and drive-thru windows asso-
ciated with eating and drink-
ing establishments.
That last provision is what
brought out Adam Wittenberg
and Coldwell Bank Commer-
cial realtor Pam Rushing.
Wittenberg recently ac-
quired the old Bank of the
Cascades building at 5120
River Road N. and has had
some interest from a restaurant
looking to locate there. The
drive-thru prohibition stands
in the way.
Wittenberg did not say
who was interested in the site,
but said “great businesses like
Burgerville, Chick-Fil-A and
Del Taco” aren’t looking at
Keizer, and implied that the
drive-thru window prohibi-
tion is snarling the deal for a
potential tenant at the Bank of
the Cascades location.
“We’re excited about rein-
vesting in Keizer,” Wittenberg
said. “When companies want
to invest, we have to make sure
we’re not prohibiting (it).”
He said he fi elds multiple
offers each week to set up a
marijuana dispensary, but it
sits within 1,000 feet of Mc-
Nary High School.
Rushing said that it is get-
ting easier to attract busi-
nesses to River Road, but that
prohibitions like the ones set
forth in this specifi c section of
the development code make it
diffi cult.
“The Bank of Cascades has
a drive-thru and we have a
tenant that would like to make
it a food drive-thru, but it can
only been used for a bank,”
Rushing said. “I’ve been for-
tunate to work a lot in Keizer
and represent a lot of property
owners and tenants. It’s been
hard to attract national tenants
to River Road and it hurt the
(other) business owners on
River Road, but the trend is
starting to change now.”
While there is a prohibition
on new food drive-thrus, old
ones – like the ones at the old
Pucker up!
Roth’s location – are grand-
fathered in. Because those
windows are now inactive, the
property owner was able to
shift them to the new build-
ing that will be home to The
Human Bean, a coffee com-
pany. When Starbucks reps
selected its new site south of
Chemawa Road, they chose
the fi rst property in the im-
mediate vicinity not included
in the drive-thru prohibition
zone.
BURGLAR,
continued from Page A1
At the time of the One
Stop burglary call, Keizer’s
night shift offi cers had just
begun their investigation
at Smoker Friendly. The
investigation including taking
statements from eight people
present during the incident.
The suspect later admitted to
police that he had not drawn
a knife but a screwdriver that
had been sharpened.
When SPD offi cers arrived
at One Stop Smoke Shop, the
suspect was still trapped and
found to be bleeding from
lacerations suffered while
trying to enter the business.
A door to the business
Fire chief on fuel
restriction code:
‘Don’t change it’
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
There was only one voice of
dissent during a public hearing
on a proposed fueling center
at the Safeway on River Road,
but it came from a powerful
local entity.
Keizer Fire District Chief
Jeff Cowan said the district
would not support a change to
the overlay zone.
“We have to go into on-
coming traffi c to reach River
Road or the other side of Che-
mawa every day,” Cowan said.
Cowan spoke to the Keizer
Planning Commission at its
meeting Wednesday, March 15.
Cowan called to mind one
relatively recent incident – a
traffi c crash involving a Keizer
Police Department motorcycle
– near the intersection of Che-
mawa Road Northeast and
River Road North as reason
for denying the change.
“Even one of our Keizer
police offi cers was hit as some-
one was turning left out of the
parking lot (and couldn’t see
the offi cer) as another custom-
er was turning in,” Cowan said.
Moreover, the lack of con-
sideration for the impact of in-
creased traffi c around the Keiz-
er Fire Station was a glaring
omission, Cowan suggested.
“The analysis only comes
halfway across the street, and
it’s based on traffi c standard set
in the year 2000 and a trans-
portation plan from 2007,” he
said.
Cowan said KFD offi cials
had not spent any time analyz-
ing the site-specifi c plans, but
that the impact to congestion
around the fi re station was
worrisome on its face.
On average, KFD crews re-
spond out of the fi re station
about 15 times a day and must
return at least once for each of
those calls. It’s not uncommon
for emergency response vehi-
cles to get caught in the snarls
around the Chemawa-River
intersection.
“Safeway itself generates 20
calls a year. Add Shari’s and it’s
26 times a year, so a couple of
times a month we are going to
need emergency vehicles into
that parking lot,” Cowan said.
“Our concern is emergency
response.”
The center entrance in the
north side of the parking lot
also already exceeds the ex-
pected critical crash rate for a
driveway of its type. More traf-
fi c, Cowan said, would create
additional problems. Safeway
representatives said they are ex-
ploring options at that entrance
to pull traffi c off of Chemawa
and reduce the number of in-
cidents.
Citing Cowan’s concerns,
and others raised at the meet-
ing, planning commissioners
continued a public hearing
on the matter. It will return to
the commission at its April 10
meeting.
needed to be breached by
offi cers so they could enter to
detain the suspect and provide
medical treatment for his
injuries, a process that took
about 40 minutes.
Jose Manual Alvarado was
then transported to Salem
Health for treatment of the
injuries. He was released from
Salem Health about 9:30 a.m.
the following morning after
receiving treatment for his
injuries. He was transported
to the Marion County
Correctional Facility.
At
Smoker
Friendly,
32-year-old David Anthony
Kellum was arrested and
taken to the Marion County
Correctional
Facility
where he was charged with
disorderly conduct.
Keizer police offi cials
would like the city to add fi ve
offi cers to the current roster
of 37 offi cers. Two of those
new hires would become part
of night shift patrols, which
would mean four offi cers on
duty each night instead of
three.
If the city were to create a
dedicated fund, through a fee,
the cost is $44 per year for
each residence and business.
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