A10
Hood River News, Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Port of CL bans smoking at park playground
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
Smokers will be warned to
steer clear of the kids’ play
area at the Cascade Locks
marine park this summer.
The Cascade Locks Port
Commission passed a resolu-
tion at a work session Friday
that prohibits smoking, alco-
hol and vaping within a 50-
foot radius of the children’s
playground at the port’s ma-
rine park along the Colum-
bia River.
Cascade Locks Interim
General Manager Paul Koch
said the port’s “smoke free”
resolution began with a re-
quest from the county, and
conversations over the last
six months with Belinda Bal-
lah, Hood River County To-
bacco Prevention Specialist.
Because the resolution is
not an ordinance, county of-
ficers will most likely not en-
force the smoking ban, Koch
said. However, the county
will be putting up a no-smok-
ing sign at the site, produced
by Hood River County Pre-
vention Network. The sign
hasn’t been erected, but it is
authorized. Ballah said the
sign has not yet been created.
The port’s action against
smoking is part of a county-
wide push to curtail tobacco
in public areas. In 2013, Hood
River County commissioners
voted to make all properties
“smoke and tobacco free.”
The City of Hood River
passed a similar resolution
April 13, 2015, which pro-
hibits tobacco on all city
owned properties. The city
council noted in its resolu-
tion document that “tobacco
related chronic disease costs
Oregonians almost $2.5 bil-
lion each year in medical ex-
penses and lost productivity”
and “pose(s) a risk to tod-
dlers, pets and wildlife due to
ingestion.”
The Port of Cascade Locks
went as far as to include pro-
visions barring alcohol and
vaping at the park play area
in their May 8 resolution on
the grounds that “park pa-
trons who do not smoke,
vape or consume alcohol
should not be subjected to
second hand smoke or vap-
ing or the effects of alcohol
while enjoying the Chil-
dren’s Playground.”
Koch said making the play
area smoke free was the “log-
ical first step” in applying
the resolution to additional
port properties — possibly
all of them in the future. “We
may take the big jump as
many communities have,”
said Koch.
The port’s current resolu-
tion applies only to a small
circle drawn around the
park’s playground. The com-
mission considered other op-
tions, such as designating
smoking areas or making the
entire park smoke free. How-
ever, smoking areas had a
high projected maintenance
cost for cleaning up trash
and cigarette butts, and mak-
ing the entire park smoke
free could have conflicted
with neighboring businesses
who “may have a smoking
need,” Koch said.
However, Koch said the
port commission had “an in-
creasing number of con-
cerns” regarding campers
Photo courtesy of Port of Cascade Locks
THE CASCADE LOCKS Port Commission passed a resolution Friday banning smoking at the children’s playground area at the port’s ma-
rine park on the Columbia River.
and visitors who occupy the
park each summer, many of
whom smoke or drink. “We
begin to see people from
Portland and Seattle camp-
ing at the marine park and …
people staying in pickup
trucks.”
Another concern was the
state’s decision to approve
recreational marijuana. Ac-
cording to Oregon.gov, Ore-
gon Measure 91 will take ef-
fect July 1, allowing personal
possession of marijuana,
and the Oregon Liquor Con-
trol Commission will begin
taking applications for com-
mercial growers and sellers
in January of 2016.
In its resolution docu-
ment, the port commission
barred “smoking” and “vap-
ing” at the playground in
general, and did not specify a
tobacco-only limitation to
that ban.
In other action items at the
work session Friday, the Cas-
cade Locks Port Commission
appointed David Lipps,
owner of Thunder Island
Brewery, to the commission’s
budget committee and autho-
rized an application for a
$160,000 federal g rant
through the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security for
park security enhancements.
Koch described the grant
as necessary to get port
buildings and waterfront fa-
cilities “up to date.” The
funds would go toward hir-
ing a security consultant to
analyze port properties, and
replacing or enhancing cur-
rent smoke alarms, burglar
alarms, security cameras
and other technology. The
port owns several old build-
ings near the waterfront in-
cluding the pavilion and his-
tory museum that haven’t
seen major security up-
grades in decades.
BOOK SIGNING / EVENING LECTURE
COLUMBIA
RIVER GORGE
National Scenic Area
C OUNCIL
Continued from Page A1
Regarding utility fee in-
creases, city planner Stoner
Bell and consultant Ray
Bartlett, along with public
works director Mark Lago,
presented a lengthy and de-
tailed report on the state of
sewer and water facilities,
which will need a total of $12
million to $14 million in re-
pair and upgrade projects
over a five-year period.
“Improvements are up for
discussion, but these are the
ones we feel need to be done,”
said city manager Steve
Wheeler.
Bartlett and Bell identified
$43.7 million in potential
water projects, with $7 to $9
million to be dealt with in
the five year-plan and in
sewer, the figures are $29 mil-
lion and about $5 million.
Water rates were last in-
creased in 2012, up 15 percent
from $26.72 per month for
typical residences to the cur-
rent $32.30. Bartlett said
rates would likely need to go
up another 15 percent next
year for both sewer and
water, and about five percent
annually for the next four
years, to pay for projects
under the five-year plan.
For sewer, rates were set
lowered in 2013 by 15 percent,
to $41.75 in 2013, down from
the $48 approved by council
in 2010.
Bartlett urged the council
to consider doing away with
the residential 5,000 gallon
monthly base amount and
decreasing it gradually to as
low as 1,000 to encourage
conservation and reward
those who use less water.
This summer council will
be discussing the water and
projects to be done, and the
resulting increase in fees as
well as looking at other fund-
ing sources such as grants,
loans or bonds. Bartlett also
suggested the city look at
raising system development
charges (SDCs) for new con-
struction, 33 to 43 percent, to
help pay for projects.
Decisions on projects will
flow into an updated Com-
prehensive Plan (the city’s
first since 2001) and then go
through a public process be-
fore the council decides on
changes in rates.
Bell said that many water
projects were put on hold in
the past five years as the city
completed the $10 million
mainline replacement in
2010-13, done with city funds
and state grant money.
“That project absolutely
needed to be done and every-
thing else got put on hold,”
Bell said.
Critical issues come down
to three:
■ Lead pipes and joints
that leach into the water sup-
ply;
■ Clay pipes car rying
sewage that are in need of re-
pair or are at the end of their
intended life, and many are
used in high-pressure areas;
■ Water pressure that is
too high (areas of down-
town) or too low (throughout
the Heights and west Hood
River) in times of high use or
when water is used for fire
suppression.
Bell said the staff will rec-
ommend projects that can be
carried out in an affordable
five-year plan, and with cur-
rent personnel.
“The problem is that our
largest growth is to the west,
yet as you go west, the
g round rises slightly,”
adding to flow and pressure
challenges, Bell explained.
(The Indian Creek pump sta-
tion on the Heights was built
in the past year to serve the
Heights and the southwest
and southeast areas of the
city sewer system, and is
about to go on line.)
Critical factors are sewer
lines on flat slopes, con-
ducive to buildup of oils that
constrict the lines and re-
quire frequent maintenance;
in some areas, crews must
clean lines three or four
times a year.
“Surfacing” or surcharge
incidents affect peoples’
backyards and even base-
ments, and potential projects
involve easements or other
line relocation methods so
that sewer lines “go where
they belong, underneath the
street,” Lago said.
One current water pipe
project is going on now on
Fairview Drive, just off Bel-
mont, to increase pressure to
the
Fairview/Rock y
Court/West May neighbor-
hoods; a similar pipe project
is planned in 2016 just to the
north, off West Cascade.
Also on the books are
about $800,000 in improve-
ments at the wastewater
treatment plant at the water-
front; at least one project will
help abate odor from the fa-
cility, according to Lago.
Photography by Peter Marbach
Essay by Janet Cook
■
Council also gave official
support to a request council
Member Becky Brun will
make to Sustainable North-
west for the city host a work-
shop on developing sustain-
able energy projects
“I’ll be collecting ideas
from the community about
the things we want to com-
mit to getting further assis-
tance, including technical
help,” Brun said.
Because of the impending
application deadline, the
council agreed to pass a
“minute action” rather than
resolution, at city manager
Steve Wheeler’s suggestion.
That means the council goes
on record in the minutes of
the May 11 meeting as sup-
porting the application.
Join
photographer Peter Marbach and author
Janet Cook for the unveiling of their new book:
COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE
NATIONAL SCENIC AREA
May 27 at Columbia Center for the Arts
Book signing starts at 6:30,
public program “Wild at Heart in the
Columbia River Gorge” starts at 7PM
Event sponsored by Weinstein PR
PRINTED BY COLUMBIA GORGE PRESS
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Hood River News, Wednesday, May 21, 2014
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