MAY 5, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A9
Gates may get
reopened at MHS
before. And it’s going to take a relatively large
By ERIC A. HOWALD
communication campaign to let students know
Of the Keizertimes
After numerous appeals to the Keizer City about it,” Reid said.
Reid added that even if the other gates were
council, there may be some light at the end of
the tunnel for neighbors on the west side of the opened on a limited basis, it might not curtail
the parking issues on Newberg, only the traffi c
McNary High School campus.
Three nearby residents, Charles Anderson, congestion.
In an display of his frustration with the situ-
Jeff Weekly and Michael Catlow, spoke with
council members at a meeting Monday, May ation, Weekly confessed to having put a lock on
1. Anderson and Weekly have made regular the Newberg gate in mid-March. School offi -
appeals to the council during the past several cials responded by cutting the gate off entirely.
The action drew sharp
months hoping to fi nd some
rebuke from Mayor Cathy
sort of relief from overfl ow
Clark.
traffi c and parking problems
“You locked a gate to keep
during the peak drop-off and
our students out of our high
pick-up hours at McNary.
school? Is that what you just
“It’s a convenience for the
told us? Words fail,” Clark
students, but you are doing
said. “There have been a lot
it on our backs. Please wrap
of things that we have worked
your head around that. (The
together on like allowing po-
students using Newberg) get
lice to tow vehicles blocking
out of paying the parking fees
driveways. There are things
and get out of parking in that
— Mayor Cathy Clark that can be done like side-
school lot. I wouldn’t want
walks and lights that have
to park in that lot,” Anderson
been refused. Locking stu-
said.
One of Anderson’s main points of conten- dents out, it’s something that ... wow.”
Weekly retorted, “I didn’t lock them out
tion is that when the school closed gates to the
campus on Sandy Drive and Robindale Drive of school. I kept them from using our street.
the problems associated with student traffi c all They can walk an extra block on Chemawa and
moved to Newberg Drive. He objects to the Lockhaven.”
City manager Chris Eppley, who has urged
school not taking similar action at the Newberg
gate, and wants the city to put pressure on the Anderson to take up the issue with the school
Salem-Keizer School District to make a change. district during meetings and in private corre-
Councilor Laura Reid, who is also a teacher spondence, did so again.
Anderson asked whether the city could block
at McNary, recently met with Principal Erik
Jespersen and said the school administration is off the side of the gate facing Newberg, which
looking into experimenting with reopening the is city-owned.
“It’s a public right-of-way allowed to be used
Sandy and Robindale gates during peak hours,
by citizens for driving and walking. The students
but no action is likely until this fall.
“We don’t want to open them permanently are members of the public. It’s not illegal,” Ep-
and invite the criminality that was happening pley said.
“You locked the
gate to keep
our students
out of our
high school?”
PARKS,
continued from Page A1
four seasonal workers hired
each year for the busy season
from March to October. One
of the full-time employees
spends half of his time dealing
with maintenance issues at the
Keizer Civic Center.
In the past year alone, issues
at Keizer parks have caused no
small amount of consternation
for parks employees and the
members of the parks advisory
board.
“Too many people think you
can buy something for a park
and not touch it for 20 years,”
said Robert Johnson, Keizer's
parks supervisor. “Parks are no
different than a car, you have
to get tires rotated, you have to
change the oil, you have to do
the things that keep it running
and usable.”
When a play structure at
Wallace House Park was van-
dalized, the city struggled to
fi nd $3,500 to repair it. Sec-
tions of the structure had to be
blocked off for about a week. A
planned repair to the parking
lot on the south end of Claggett
Creek Park cost nearly twice as
much as originally estimated
because the work was deferred
for a year. At Carlson Skate
Park, cracks are becoming so
prominent that it is becoming
a safety issue for park users. Pri-
oritizing fi xes at the skate park
meant that the parks board will
not offer a matching grant pro-
gram for parks improvements
during the next fi scal year.
Without additional funding,
Keizer Public Works Director
Bill Lawyer has said that even
things like mowing and garbage
removal will suffer and that
some amenities will be closed
or removed as they reach the
end of their life cycle.
What options were consid-
ered before settling on fees?
Bonds and establishing a
parks taxing district were con-
sidered. Both were rejected for
different reasons. Bonds cannot
pay for operational costs and
those are the heart of the parks'
woes. A bond could pay for a
new tennis court, but not the
staff time needed to maintain it.
The taxing district was rejected
because of the additional over-
head it would create that would
add to the cost.
Why doesn't the city just
raise taxes?
It can't. Bond measures
passed in the mid-1990s locked
in property tax rates (in Keizer's
case, $2.08 per thousand dol-
lars of assessed value) and the
amounts at which property
values can increase on an an-
nual basis (3 percent). Recently,
additional payments to PERS
have eaten up the lion's share of
the annual property value in-
creases that Keizer receives.
Wouldn't residents get to
vote on whether the city
can charge fees?
Not necessarily. The city
council has the power to enact
fees within its jurisdiction. The
council could choose to seek
an advisory vote, but the results
would not be binding. An advi-
sory vote would also add to the
city's expenses.
How would the fees be col-
lected?
That remains to be deter-
mined. Adding the fee to util-
ity bills the city already issues
for water would save process-
ing, postage and printing costs.
However, the city council could
also set it up as a separate bill.
Will my water be cut off if I
don't pay the fee?
City staff has assured the
council that no one would have
their water cut off for failure to
pay a parks fee.
What fee amounts are being
discussed?
Amounts discussed range
from no fee to $8 per month.
What were the results of the
survey sent to residents?
Residents returned 1,102
surveys, which amounts to
about 8 percent of Keizer's
roughly 14,300 households.
Most survey respondents (23.8
percent) said they supported
a $4 fee, but the results were
fairly close across the board. An
$8 fee was supported by 21.9
percent of respondents; a $2 fee
garnered 21.6 percent of the
votes; 17.2 percent wanted no
fee; and a $6 fee had the low-
est level of support (15.9 per-
cent). Maintenance tasks in
general took a higher priority
than even the most popular
new amenity requested by re-
sponders.
Did the Parks Advisory
Board make a recommen-
dation on the fee?
After much discussion, the
board unanimously recom-
mended a staggered rollout of
a fee. If the city council were
to accept the recommendation
unaltered, the fee would start
at $4 per month, increase to $6
the following year and top out
at $8 per month ($96 per year)
the year after that.
While the vote was unani-
mous, at least one parks board
member, Scott Klug, had seri-
ous reservations about maxing
out the fee at $8.
“It bothers me that we don't
have a consensus of (survey re-
sponders) wanting to pay $8,”
Klug said. “More than half of
the survey, almost four-fi fths,
came back saying they don't
want to pay $8.”
What would the fee allow
the city to do for Keizer
parks?
• $4 per month/$48 per
year. At that level, the dedicated
fund would be $686,000 per
year. The additional funding
would permit the maintenance,
repair or replacement of most
play structures, restrooms, pic-
nic shelter, paths, sports courts
and parking areas. Most safety
issues could be mitigated, and
older equipment could be re-
placed. Perhaps most impor-
tantly, a separate dedicated
fund would be established for
the sole purpose of unlocking
system development charges
(SDCs) collected when new
residential construction proj-
ects are started.
• $6 per month/$72 per year
would generate a dedicated
fund just north of $1 million
per year. All current amenities
would be maintained, repaired
or replaced; all safety-related
issues would be addressed; the
fee would maintain all current
equipment and replace older
equipment as needed; allow for
removal of most invasive spe-
cies and installation of many of
the amenities already planned
for Keizer parks.
• At $8 per month, $96 per
year, the dedicated fund grows
to $1.3 million per year. In ad-
dition to all of the work made
possible with the smaller fees,
the fi nal option would: support
completion of most projects in
the parks master plan within
the next 10 years; allow for
additional land purchases and
increased trail options; and be
used to develop environmental,
nature and wildlife programs.
What comes next?
The next steps will largely
depend on what happens at the
public forum on Monday, May
8. Check next week's edition of
the Keizertimes for a full recap
and the plan moving forward.
Let’s Hustle to Prevent Heart Disease!
3rd Annual
8k, 5k, 1k • Aug
12 • State Capitol Start/Finish
Benefits Salem Health Foundation’s High Street Hustle for Heart Fund
COSTUMES ENCOURAGED!
REGISTER AT: ActiveSalem.com/high
WorshipDirectory
These Salem-Keizer
houses of worship
invite you to visit.
Call to list your church
in our Worship Directory:
(503) 390-1051
John Knox Presbyterian Church
JOIN US FOR
SUNDAY WORSHIP
452 Cummings Lane North • 393-0404
8:30 am • 10 am • 11:30 am • 6 pm
PEOPLESCHURCH
4500 LANCASTER DR NE | SALEM
503.304.4000 • www.peopleschurch.com
Celebration
Services
Saturday Evening
6:00 pm
Children’s Programs, Student and Adult Ministries
1755 Lockhaven Dr. NE Keizer
503-390-3900
www.dayspringfellowship.com
Sunday Morning
9:00 am
and
10:45 am
Father Gary L. Zerr, Pastor
Saturday Vigil Liturgy: 5:30 p.m.
Sundays: 8:15 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.
La Misa en Español: 12:30 p.m.
Rev. Dr. John Neal, Pastor
Worship - 10:30 a.m.
Education Hour - 9:15 a.m.
Nursery Care Available
www.keizerjkpres.org