REGION
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Residents encouraged
Port, city nearing resolution on zoning to test for radon gas
UMATILLA
saying they are still addressing issues
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
The port and city of Umatilla have
reached an agreement to resolve their
year-old zoning dispute. Unless they
haven’t.
Port Manager Kim Puzey said there
is an agreement in principle, though cer-
tain “legal, jurisdictional and contractu-
al implications” still require additional
-
ment.
Until then, neither side is willing to
recently met with a moderator behind
closed doors, and made enough progress
to postpone a hearing that was sched-
uled for Dec. 23 before the Oregon Land
Use Board of Appeals.
The port commission met Tuesday
afternoon, and Puzey issued a statement
and future implications.” He did not pro-
vide further comment.
port property west of Bud Draper Road,
adjacent to the Big River Golf Course.
City maps show the land is zoned indus-
trial and the port planned to build a $1.5
million freight warehouse on the site.
But the city maintains the zoning
-
hensive plan map — the one that hangs
on display in City Hall — was the result
of an error more than 10 years ago, and
the property was always planned for res-
idential development.
The city planning commission denied
a site plan application for the warehouse,
which was upheld by the city council
upon appeal. The port then appealed to
LUBA in Salem, before sides agreed to
a series of meetings moderated by Joe
Franell of Eastern Oregon Telecom.
Franell attended the port meeting
Tuesday, and said both sides have been
easy and good to work with. City Man-
ager Bob Ward is also optimistic a deal
will get done soon, though he expects
one more meeting later this month to
iron out the details.
“Just the fact that everyone is singing
off the same sheet is cause for celebra-
tion,” Ward said.
The city previously offered for the
on the property, which would have
brought the issue back before city coun-
cilors. The port rejected that option,
insisting the city must acknowledge its
———
Contact George Plaven at gplaven@
eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4547.
Open house Jan. 8
on city charter
Area students will have an opportunity
-
cates to local businesses during a pair of
scholarship and FAFSA events this week-
end.
Sponsored by Eastern Promise, trained
volunteers will assist students in com-
pleting the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) form during events
-
the FAFSA form, as well as making plans
to earn college credits while still in high
school through Eastern Promise. College
credits through the program cost $10 per
credit.
The event for Mac-Hi and Weston-McE-
wen students is Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1
p.m. at McLoughlin High School, 120 S.
Photo courtesy of Oregon State Police
Crash leaked oil into creek
Sometime early Monday morning, a vehicle crashed off Interstate
84 about 10 miles east of Arlington, nearly ending up in Willow Creek.
About 10 a.m., believed to be hours after the vehicle crashed, Or-
egon State Police located a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer submerged in the
waters off the westbound lanes.
No one was inside the vehicle, but oil and gas was leaking into the
creek and a roughly 300-foot slick had formed atop the water.
Emergency and environmental cleanup crews were on scene for
approximately seven hours investigating the crash and cleaning up
the spill. The driver is unknown, but it is believed the person walked
away from the crash before emergency personnel arrived.
PENDLETON
School could start before Round-Up in 2015
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
This summer could be
among the shortest ever for
students and teachers in the
Pendleton School District.
At a special meeting Tues-
day, Superintendent Jon Peter-
son said the Pendleton School
Board will decide next week
whether to start the next school
year on Aug. 31, almost two
weeks before Round-Up. This
school year ends on June 16,
about 10 weeks before class
would start again.
Students would get nine
days of instruction before re-
ceiving a week-long break
for Round-Up. The rest of the
school year would proceed
with the usual holidays and
breaks before ending June 8.
participants in the district’s
calendar survey preferred
starting school before Round-
Up.
The survey comes several
years after the district delayed
after the rodeo. If the district
out of 10. Other Umatilla
County and Morrow Coun-
ty cities have been tested in
and have not been given a
score.
In an effort to get a better
understanding of the radon
potential across the state,
Oregon’s Radon Program is
offering a free radon test kit
to residents whose homes
are in ZIP codes with fewer
than 20 radon test results.
Pendleton
residents,
who are not eligible, can
still purchase the kits for
between $15 and $25 at
a hardware store. If dan-
gerous levels of radon are
found in a building, the
owner is advised to hire a
contractor to mitigate the
problem.
For more information,
or to order a test kit, visit
healthoregon.org/radon or
call 971-673-0440.
BRIEFLY
East Oregonian
Eastern Promise is growing a col-
lege-going culture and increasing access to
affordable college credits in high school for
all students. For more information about the
program, visit www.eastern-promise.org.
For questions regarding the Scholarship
and FAFSA Fairs, contact Eastern Promise
K-12 Director Kris Mulvihill at kmulvi-
hill@eou.edu or 541-571-5705.
Most Eastern Oregon
residents are eligible for
free radon test kits from
the state in recognition of
National Radon Action
Month.
Radon is an invisi-
ble, odorless radioactive
gas that can rise from the
ground and become trapped
in buildings. The Environ-
mental Protection Agency
estimates it is responsible
for 20,000 lung cancer
deaths a year in the United
States.
According to the Oregon
Radon Program, the risk of
having dangerous levels of
radon in a Pendleton home
The program tested 28 lo-
cations in Round-Up City.
Seven locations in Hermis-
ton have been tested, result-
ing in a risk rating of four
Scholarships
available during
FAFSA fairs
and Echo students, the event is Saturday
-
ary School, 1120 N. Main St.
Trained volunteers recently assisted 25
percent of all seniors from Boardman’s
Riverside High School and Irrigon High
School in completing FAFSA forms during
an event held Jan. 3 in Boardman.
Irrigon High School student Von Groves
and Riverside High School students Alisha
Sorensen and Aristotle Rockwell each won
$500 scholarships at the FAFSA Fair in
Boardman. In addition, Darin Hauner, Er-
ica Goodwin and Alisha Sorensen all won
East Oregonian
maintained the current cal-
endar, the 2015-2016 school
year wouldn’t start until Sept.
21.
Dave Fishel of the Wenaha
Group was on hand to discuss
-
going changes to the district
— the projects related to the
$55 million capital improve-
ment plan.
Fishel said designs for new
Washington and Sherwood
Heights elementary schools
were “95 to 99 percent”
completed. He said contrac-
tors plan to break ground on
Washington in March and
Sherwood Heights in April.
As construction gears up,
Fishel said Wenaha will hold
another slew of public meet-
ings for neighborhoods sur-
rounding the schools. Fishel
said he’s also interested in
setting up opportunities to
explain the process to school
staff and students.
While crews get ready
to start work on two major
projects, Fishel delivered a
progress report on another
centerpiece of the bond that’s
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already ongoing.
Fishel said the Pendleton
Early Learning Center, for-
merly known as Hawthorne
School, is still on-budget and
on-schedule and may have
just avoided a large obstacle to
keeping it that way. At a meet-
ing last month, Fishel said
workers found a 20,000-gal-
lon tank buried on the cen-
ter’s campus. Given the tank’s
proximity to the structure,
extracting it would have been
costly and time-consuming.
Since that meeting, Wen-
aha discussed the issue with
the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality, which
decided to allow the tank to
remain in the ground if crews
clean it properly.
Security upgrades at Pend-
leton High School and Sun-
ridge Middle School also went
off without a hitch, with con-
tractors installing a gate for the
high school and a staging area
for the middle school.
-
HERMISTON —
Hermiston residents
curious about the city’s
proposed charter are
invited to an informational
open house Thursday,
Jan. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the
Hermiston Conference
Center board room.
The charter, similar to
a constitution, lays out the
city’s form of government.
After 50 years without a
major revision, the city
council has been working
to update the charter and
put those updates in front
of voters during the May
election.
Many of the revisions
merely modernize the
charter’s wording and
close legal loopholes, but
two major changes are
being considered. The
new charter, if adopted,
would change the mayor’s
term from two years to
four years and would
change the municipal
judge from an elected
position to one appointed
by the city council.
The city is looking
for feedback on the
provisions before
measure.
New AA group
meets in Pendleton
PENDLETON — A
new meeting of Alcoholics
Anonymous will gather
weekly in Pendleton.
The meeting is
Thursdays from 5:15-
6:15 p.m. at St. Anthony
Hospital, 2801 St.
Anthony Way, Pendleton.
The group meets in the
conference room near the
cafeteria.
AA is a fellowship
of men and women
whose primary purpose
is to stay sober and help
other alcoholics achieve
sobriety. For more
information, visit www.
aa.org.
Local bird club
plans potluck
PENDLETON —
Raptor recovery and
education programs at
Blue Mountain Wildlife is
the topic of a presentation
for the Pendleton Bird
Club.
The public is invited to
the meeting, which starts
with a potluck Thursday
at 6:30 p.m. at the First
Christian Church, 215
N. Main St., Pendleton.
Those attending are
asked to bring food to
share, as well as their
own table service (plates,
silverware, cups, serving
utensils). Coffee will be
provided.
For more
information, contact
pendletonbirdclub@
gmail.com or visit www.
pendletonbirders.org.
———
Submit information
to: community@
eastoregonian.com or
drop off to the attention of
Tammy Malgesini at 333
E. Main St., Hermiston
or Renee Struthers at
211 S.E. Byers Ave.,
Pendleton. Call 541-564-
4539 or 541-966-0818
with questions.
I’ve told Mom the same thing three times
…but she seems to keep forgetting.
IT’S NOT LIKE HER.
come in the summer. That in-
cludes security cameras and a
key card system for the high
school, air conditioning for
Sunridge and a new telephone
and intercom system for the
entire school district.
STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Stacy Fitzpatrick
N IXYAAWII H IGH S CHOOL
Stacy Fitzpatrick is a sophomore, three sport
athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball.
She applies herself to her studies and has
maintained all A’s throughout this year. She
is a natural peer mentor who connects with
students in a helpful and friendly manner.
She has only missed a half day of school all
year, and that was to take her drivers test.
Nixyaawii is happy to have Stacy as a student
athlete.
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