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East Oregonian
EOTEC: Rodeo arena must
be completed by July 21, 2017
Continued from 1A
contractor.
On Friday, however,
Frew said that further
meetings with stakeholders
and a promising pre-bid
meeting had persuaded him
that the rodeo arena should
be carved out from that role,
allowing the bid process for
a general arena contractor
to continue. He said six
contractors showed up to the
meeting and allowing one of
them to get started on work
as soon as the bid is awarded
July 29 would be just as fast
as having Frew Develop-
ment Group put together its
own team of subcontractors.
He said it has been made
clear to bidders that the
arena needs to be completed
by July 21, 2017 at a cost of
$3.8 million.
“$3.8 million is the
budget, and if contractors
out there feel they can’t do
it then they’re wasting their
time,” he said.
On Friday the board
also voted to reject the
two bids for the barns after
neglecting to do so last
week. Both bids came in
more than $1 million over
the $2.6 million the EOTEC
authority has available,
necessitating changes to
the design. Frew said part
of the problem was that the
construction industry was
“very, very busy” in Eastern
Oregon right now.
During
the
public
comment section Richard
Meisner, who lives on
Ott Road near EOTEC,
said that events held at the
event center building since
it opened in May have
frequently violated the city’s
noise ordinance, running
until as late as 1 a.m. He also
complained about a delay
in getting dust suppressant
laid down on Ott Road,
and about trafic after the
events heading east instead
of going back up Airport
Road to Highway 395 as
was intended.
Byron Smith, the EOTEC
board chair and Hermiston
city manager, said the city
would investigate the noise
ordinance issue.
The board’s next meeting
will be July 15.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Brett Wegner Jr. installs batteries into a toy car for
his little brother Elliot on Wednesday in Pendleton.
ELLIOT: Speech delay not
uncommon in babies born so early
Continued from 1A
had all been born before
37 weeks. A third child,
Craig, died at 4 1/2 months
of SIDS. Removing Elliot
from life support was out of
the question for Sebrina and
her husband Brett.
Elliot was in the hospital
for four months. The family
spent Halloween, Thanks-
giving, Christmas and New
Year’s in Portland. When
Sebrina and Brett inally
brought their baby boy
home, he was on oxygen
and a heart monitor.
Almost eight years later,
Elliot has come a long way.
Now longer the size of an
ear of corn, he’ll be entering
second grade at Sunset
Elementary in Pendleton
and has a support team in
place to help him succeed.
His mom describes him
as energetic, happy and
lovable.
“He’s all boy. He likes
dirt, frogs and mud.”
He loves Legos, dirt
bikes, forklifts — practically
anything on wheels — and
his family. He’s especially
fond of his grandma, Shirley
Sagrero of Pendleton, whom
he likes to call “Grandpa”
just to tease her.
Elliot does have a
speech delay, which is not
uncommon in babies born
so early, according to the
U.S. Health and Medicine
Division. He still has luid
on his brain, which doctors
have told his parents can
affect his balance. But his
brother, Brett Jr., said Elliot
is strong and has an “iron
grip.”
The family looks back on
Elliot’s irst months of life
with an appreciation for the
support they received from
family, friends, the hospital
staff and the people at
Ronald McDonald House.
The family is still friends
with some of the people
they met at their home away
from home.
“They were like a second
family to us,” recalls Brett
Jr., who was a teenager at
the time.
The Wegners consider
Elliot’s life a miracle and are
hopeful for his future
“He’s strong,” Sebrina
said. “So I can see good
things for him.”
Saturday, July 2, 2016
TRANSPORTATION: Stanield wants to improve Main Street
Continued from 1A
pner) started out the meeting
by thanking his colleagues
for making the trip to
Umatilla County. He gave
examples of communities
in Eastern Oregon working
together and assured them
that his district was ready
and able to leverage any
dollars that came their way
into public projects that
would spur private invest-
ment.
“Often communities are
still ighting over what color
the dugouts on the Little
League ield are going to
be,” he said. “That is not the
case here.”
Later, port commissioner
Marv Padberg echoed those
sentiments after giving
the committee a tour. He
pointed out hundreds of
millions of dollars’ worth
of economic development,
creating thousands of jobs,
that have come to the Port of
Morrow in the past decade
in part because of the way
state and federal dollars
were leveraged.
“My point today, if I
don’t get anything else said,
is that we turn this money
around,” Padberg said. “...
Just 10 short years ago,
when you came up over the
overpass, none of this stuff
was here. None.”
As local leaders antic-
ipate the opportunity to
snag some of the hundreds
of millions of dollars that
will be up for grabs should
a transportation package
pass, here are a few projects
they proposed to the joint
committee on Wednesday:
• The city of Hermiston
would like overhaul North
First
Place,
including
re-pavement,
widening,
sidewalks and a redesign
of the intersection with
Orchard Avenue next to the
police station and ire depart-
ment. During Wednesday’s
hearing, Mayor Dave Drot-
zmann showed legislators a
picture of trafic backed up
at the intersection, creating
their own made-up turn lane
and blocking where a ire
truck or ambulance would
need to pass to respond to an
emergency.
The plan would take $7
million to complete, and
Drotzmann said it was just
one of $43 million worth
of needed road projects to
keep up with Hermiston’s
growth.
“We can’t fund it without
your help and support,”
he said. “If we were going
to go out and try to fund
these projects on our own, it
would take 143 years.”
• The city of Stanield
would like to change the feel
of its Main Street — which
also happens to be Highway
395 — by planting trees,
adding medians and creating
bulb-outs where there used
to be parking.
City manager Blair
Larsen told the committee
that the lanes of travel
would be just as wide as
before, but the visual cues
to the driver would help
prompt people to slow down
and look for pedestrians. He
said he watched recently
as a speeding car passed
an elderly woman inside a
crosswalk so close by that it
knocked the cane out of her
hand. Some people refuse to
cross the highway on foot at
all, he said.
“The economic impact
of having a real, walkable
Main Street would be huge,”
he said.
• The North Highway
395
committee,
made
up of business owners
and residents between
Hermiston’s urban growth
boundary and Umatilla’s,
would like to see a trafic
signal added to Baggett
Lane and the road improved.
The project would create a
safer route for trucks from
Villareal Trucking, Medelez
Trucking,
Reddaway
Trucking, Sanitary Disposal
and other companies to enter
and exit the highway.
“They’re
going
to
mandate that employees use
that route to get on and off
395,” committee member
Steve Watkinds said. “And
they’re going to want to use
it, because right now it’s so
dangerous to get on and off.”
• Jerry Imsland, a real
estate broker and state
appraiser in Pendleton,
would like to see access
from Interstate 84 to about
100 acres of property near
exit 210. Currently the only
access is a “little tiny street”
called Kirk Extension,
which does not meet state
standards or reach all of the
parcels.
“Here we have no access
to 100-and-some acres that
has frontage on the highway,
and we can’t get to it,”
he said, noting a general
shortage of privately owned,
develop-able commercial
property in Pendleton.
Real estate broker Patty
Glaze said she worked with
Costco for more than a
year before they ultimately
decided not to locate in
Pendleton. She said the
property in question was
one of their top choices until
it was clear that the access
problem would not be easily
solved.
• The Oregon Department
of Transportation would like
to move the Umatilla Port
of Entry, where semi-trucks
pull off to be weighed after
crossing into Oregon, from
Umatilla to a spot on I-82
just south of the Umatilla
River. The project, which
would cost an estimated $20
million, would allow trucks
to continue on the interstate
instead of pulling in and out
of heavy trafic in Umatilla,
which would reduce conges-
tion around the interchange.
Craig
Sipp,
ODOT
Region 5 manager, also told
legislators during their tour
that ODOT also wanted to
improve safety conditions
on Cabbage Hill, using
tactics that include more
chain-up areas, increased
lighting and variable speed
limits that adjust to the
weather conditions.
• The Columbia Devel-
opment Authority would
like to see a re-design of the
interchange where vehicles
can access the Umatilla
Chemical Depot from I-82.
The steep S-curve into the
depot was designed to slow
vehicles down for security
reasons, but will not be ideal
once the Army turns over the
land to the local authority
for industrial use.
• Anderson Perry & Asso-
ciates, an engineering irm
out of La Grande that acts
as city engineer for several
local cities, would like to see
money in the transportation
package made available for
general road maintenance.
Andy Perry told the legis-
lative committee that the
work his irm does with
municipalities shows the
cost savings in keeping up
with maintenance before
roads deteriorate too far.
“It isn’t a linear cost, it’s
exponential, and the longer
we wait, the more it will
cost,” he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
HOUSING: Home sales through June already eclipse 2015 total
Continued from 1A
was dificult to obtain.”
With the average Pend-
leton tenant contributing only
26 percent of their income to
rent, Sabino concluded that
there’s room for growth,
especially for three-bedroom
apartments.
The study states Pendleton
has the market capacity for at
least 100 moderately priced
units priced from $600-$900
and 25 professional-level
rental townhouses from
$1,000-$1,250.
Given that the Pendleton
Development Commission
is also interested in more
second story apartments in
the downtown area, Sabino
estimates the market could
support between 20 and 40
units.
The sales market is also
starting rebound.
Pendleton’s 204 home
sales through June has
already eclipsed 2015’s total
and is set to exceed the city’s
pre-recession peak in 2007.
Housing prices are also
up, averaging $163,798
per house and closing the
gap between Pendleton and
Hermiston.
Even with the gains in
the current sales market,
Sabino estimates Pendleton
has room for 90 entry and
mid-level houses priced up
to $210,000 with support
for high-end housing up to
$330,000.
The study spotlights
Pendleton Heights and the
12-unit addition to Village
Apartments as developments
that helped ease a tight rental
market.
The study notes that it’s
dificult to quantify Pend-
leton’s rental vacancy rate
since only 30 percent of the
city’s renters live in buildings
with ive or more apartments,
which tend to lack on-site
management. The vacancy
rate should be comparable
to Benton and Walla Walla
counties in Washington,
which have averaged 3.8
percent vacancy over the past
two years.
The study also refutes
an argument by some area
landlords that Pendleton
suffers more from a lack
of jobs rather than a lack of
inventory, adding that the
owners of ive, large, market-
rate apartment complexes
reported full occupancy.
Whether they’re for
sale or rentals, high-end
or government subsidized,
Pendleton’s housing issues
revolve around quality as
much as they do quantity.
Of the properties listed
for sale in mid-June, 1960
was the median year the
house was built and only 11
available houses were built
after 2000.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
FRIDAY, JULY 2
Music
on the
Lawn
Tyler Brooks
SATURDAY, JULY 3
Elwood
6:00-9:00 pm
H AMLEY S TEAK H ouse & S aloon
COURT & MAIN, PENDLETON • 541.278.1100
Need
Need more
more information?
information? Contact the Boardman Chamber at 481-3014 or
stop by the Chamber office, 101 Olson Road inside the SAGE Center.
You can also call Emily at (940) 781-0338.
Save 10 cents instantly
when you use your
Sinclair Green Card
Sunday evening, July 3 at 8:30 p.m.
Registration starts at 7:30 p.m.
Zumba warm-up
warm-up provided
provided before
before event
event by by 1 1 Hr.
Hr. Cardio
Cardio Crush
Crush
Zumba
• With 3 sites to serve you
• Sinclair Top Tier Gasoline with Dino Care
• Quality fuels at competitive prices
• Premium Non-Ethanol Gasoline now
available ONLY at Blue Mountain Express
4412 Westgate Pendleton location
$25 with shirt, $15 without a shirt.
$30 family rate without shirts. Shirts are $10.
Monday, July 4 at 11 a.m.
Lineup begins at 10 a.m.
on NE Front Street
Prizes for Mayor’s Award, Best of
Show, and Most Patriotic!
7 to 10 a.m.
Scout Breakfast at the Marina Park
11 a.m. Parade
After the parade
horseshoe, soccer, and 3-on-3
basketball tournaments begin!
If you are interested in being a vendor, call now as space is limited!
Starting at 5 p.m.
Kids’ games, vendors, and entertainment
at the Marina Park
Serving the
Community
for 36 Years
304 SE Nye, Pendleton
541-276-6111 • 800-Red-Lion
redlion.com
$3 each or 4/$10. One lucky button holder will win $100!
Get yours at The Chamber or buy one at the Marina Park on July 4th!
FIREWORKS at dusk!
PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC
Avista
Lamb-Weston/Con-Agra Foods
BBSI Columbia River Processing Subway Three Mile Canyon Farms Umatilla Electric Cooperative
Bank of Eastern Oregon
Boardman Foods
Cascade Specialties
Boardman Hardware
Ray and Carol Michael
High Performance Signs & Graphics
River Lodge and Grill
Oxford Suites Hermiston
And thanks to MCURD for their assistance in funding this event!
Port of Morrow