OFF PAGE ONE
HOUSING: Council retains conditional approval
Page 8A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
in the works for the empty
lots, but city planner Clint
Spencer said when a devel-
oper asked that mini-storage
be added to the zone, the
planning commission felt it
was a good opportunity to
also add multi-family dwell-
ings as an allowable use to
the area.
“That property has been
vacant for a very long time
with commercial zoning,” he
said.
Steve Richards of Eastern
Oregon Development, LLC
told the council if mini-
storage were added to the
allowable uses in the zone,
he plans to build a storage
facility with 300 to 370
units on a parcel just east of
the Gotta Stop Mini Mart.
Richards owns mini-storage
facilities in Pendleton and
Stanfield and said his Stan-
field facility has about 20
Hermiston customers who
could not find room at a
Hermiston facility.
Richards said a study
by appraiser Doug Barak
showed Hermiston’s storage
facilities are at about 95
percent capacity at any
given time. He also offered
up a 100-signature petition
from residents on the west
side of town supporting a
mini storage facility in his
proposed location.
“Of all of them I
approached, two of them
declined to sign the peti-
tion,” he said.
Spencer reported that
at the planning commis-
sion’s hearing, a neighbor
expressed concern about
increased
traffic
and
loitering, but other neigh-
bors said they would appre-
ciate any development that
reduced the dust and weeds.
The council unanimously
approved the overlay, noting
that since storage facilities
and apartment buildings were
approved as conditional uses,
the city would still have a
large amount of control over
approving proposed projects
based on their details.
Adding
multi-family
dwellings to the zone was
an example of the type
of changes the planning
department and commis-
sion hope to continue to
make after the city council
named promoting housing
development one of their top
priorities during a January
goal-setting session.
On Monday the council
also approved a recommen-
dation from the planning
commission to “direct city
staff to begin research and
preparation of residential
code amendments and
initiate changes to the
zoning ordinance to promote
residential development.”
Spencer said the plan-
ning commission recently
had a “very productive,
very open-ended” round-
table discussion with area
developers about what
their biggest barriers are in
keeping up with Hermis-
ton’s housing demand.
Developers at the meeting
named three main barriers:
High demand has pushed
buildable land in Hermiston
to such a high price that it
becomes difficult to make
a profit on new homes, a
contractor shortage in the
area has pushed labor costs
up and infrastructure can
also be cost prohibitive.
Spencer said the planning
commission has noted the
city has “very conservative”
requirements for easements
and setbacks that, if reduced,
could help developers turn
more of a profit on putting in
new housing developments.
If setbacks were changed
from seven feet to five feet,
for example, more houses
could be built in a single
development, giving more of
an incentive to start building.
Troy White, who owns
property near the Herm-
iston Cinema, testified
the changes Spencer was
talking about would help
make development of his
land more attractive because
he could fit 20 homes there
instead of 16.
Spencer also said the
planning
commission
wanted to start looking
on a case by case basis at
“infill” properties, which are
surrounded by residential
development but some
particular problem has held
back development of that
single empty lot or two.
Adding more overlays, like
the council approved earlier
in the night for the property
off Highland Avenue, could
be one tool for addressing
that, Spencer said.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Trump slaps tariff
on Canadian lumber
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Trump administration
moved Monday to impose a
20 percent tariff on softwood
lumber entering the United
States from Canada, esca-
lating an intensifying trade
dispute between the two
countries but giving hope in
the Northwest where lumber
sales have lagged.
The president announced
the decision during a gath-
ering with conservative media
outlets at the White House
Monday evening. Trump’s
initial comments were relayed
by four people who were in
the room and confirmed by an
administration official.
The Commerce Depart-
ment later announced it had
reached a preliminary deter-
mination and would impose
countervailing
duties
ranging from 3 percent to
24 percent on imported
softwood lumber, with an
average of about 20 percent.
One person in the room
said Trump threatened that
dairy could be next.
Sen.
Ron
Wyden
(D-Ore.) is the top Demo-
crat that oversees trade
policy and on the panel
that has delayed a vote on
Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s
nominee for the U.S. trade
representative.
“Today’s announcement
sends the message that help
is on the way,” Wyden said
in a statement Monday to
the Wall Street Journal.
“America needs continued
tough trade enforcement
and a durable solution to the
Canadian policies that distort
trade and hold American
lumber businesses back.”
The U.S. and Canada typi-
cally enjoy a friendly trading
relationship, but things have
soured in recent months.
Trump has been railing
against Canada’s decision to
change its policy on pricing
domestic milk to cover more
dairy ingredients, leading to
lower prices for products,
including ultra-filtered milk.
SCIENCE: 300 show up for fair in Roy Raley Park
SEARCH: Replacement
sought for Andy Kovach
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
That’s especially true in
agriculture, added Smiley,
who continues to do research
on behalf of wheat growers
at the Columbia Basin Agri-
cultural Research Station
near Adams.
Literally
everything on the farm, from
the tiniest soil microbes to
the final harvested crop, is
rooted in science, he said.
“The development of that
plant is totally dependent
on scientific information,”
Smiley said.
Back at the park, the
Community Science Fair
featured 19 different booths
and vendors, including
a table hosted by Blue
Mountain
Community
College where instructors
led a number of kid-friendly
science experiments —
perhaps most noticeably two
pig lungs attached to an air
pump, showing the capacity
of a pink healthy lung versus
a black smoker’s lung.
Kristen Oja, a biology and
general science instructor
at BMCC, said getting
involved in science allows
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hal McCune holds up a sign as he participates in the
March for Science on Saturday morning in Pendleton.
children to begin uncovering
mysteries all around them.
“It’s important for them
to
become
interested,
because there’s science is
our everyday lives,” Oja
said.
Casey Brown organized
the fair, and said they had
more than 300 people turn
out over the afternoon.
“This is what makes a
community stronger, when
you come together and do
things like this,” Brown said.
Representatives
from Pendleton Parks &
Recreation, the Pendleton
Tree Commission and the
Umatilla National Forest
also gave away free seedling
trees as part of the city’s
“Pendleton Plant 1,000
Trees Initiative” that started
back on Arbor Day in 2009.
Dave Powell, chairman of
the Pendleton Tree Commis-
sion and a retired Forest
Service silviculturist, said
they decided to do the tree
giveaway during the Science
Fair this year, anticipating
a larger crowd. Of the 500
sugar pine, ponderosa pine,
water birch and ninebark
seedlings on hand, they
gave out a total of 370 on
Saturday.
Planting trees comes with
a host of public benefits,
Powell said, providing shade
and improving the health of
communities. To date, Pend-
leton residents have planted
993 trees, just seven shy of
their goal.
While he did not get to
march, Powell, who also
serves on the Eastern Oregon
Climate Change Coalition,
said he was pleased by the
turnout at the event.
“This is something I
really support,” he said. “If
you think about just the full
gamut of things we take for
granted every day ... it’s
hard to look around and see
something where science
has not had some hand.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
CRACKDOWN: Job seekers must show documents
Continued from 1A
security but also mercy
toward laborers who are not
dangerous criminals.
Farming uses a higher
percentage of illegal labor
than any other U.S. industry,
according to a Pew Research
Center study.
Immigrants
working
illegally in this country
accounted for about 46
percent of America’s roughly
800,000 crop farmworkers
in recent years, according
to an Associated Press anal-
ysis of data from the U.S.
Departments of Labor and
Agriculture.
Stepped-up deportations
could carry “significant
economic implications,” a
2012 U.S. Department of
Agriculture study said. If
America’s
unauthorized
labor force shrank 40
percent, for example, vege-
table production could drop
by more than 4 percent, the
study said.
The American Farm
Bureau Federation says strict
immigration enforcement
would raise food prices 5 to
6 percent because of a drop
in supply and because of the
higher labor costs farmers
could face.
In addition to proposing a
wall at the Mexican border,
Trump wants to hire 10,000
more Immigration and
Customs Enforcement offi-
cers and has served notice
that he intends to be more
aggressive than the Obama
administration in deporting
immigrants.
ICE agents have arrested
hundreds of immigrants since
Trump took office, though
how much of a change from
the Obama administration
that represents is a matter of
debate.
Field hands have been
among those targeted, with
apple pickers detained
in upstate New York and
Guatemalans pulled over
in Oregon on their way to a
AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
In this March 30 photo, Moses Maldonado poses for a
photo in front of a statue depicting pioneers in front
of the Oregon Capitol in Salem.
forest to pick a plant used in
floral arrangements.
It doesn’t appear the
arrests themselves have put
a sizable dent in the agricul-
tural workforce yet, but the
fear is taking its toll.
Some workers in Oregon
are leaving for job sites as
early as 1 a.m. and staying
away from check-cashing
shops on payday to avoid
dragnets. Farm employers
are worried about losing
their workforces.
“They say, ‘Don’t go out,
don’t get drunk, don’t do
nothing illegal’ because they
need us too. They worry too,”
said Moses Maldonado, who
is in the U.S. illegally and
has worked for nearly four
decades tending wine grapes
and picking fruit in Oregon.
In Los Banos, California,
asparagus farmer Joe Del
Bosque said workers are so
afraid of being arrested in
the field that he struggled to
find enough hands in March
to pick his crop.
When
immigration
attorney Sarah Loftin held
a recent seminar in the
Oregon wine-region town of
Newberg to talk about immi-
grants’ legal rights, she was
surprised to see about half of
those present were winery
owners or farmers.
By law, job seekers
must provide documents
establishing their eligibility
to work in the U.S. But the
papers are often fake. Many
agricultural employers say
that it’s not their responsi-
bility — and that they lack
the expertise — to determine
if they’re genuine.
At the same time, they
say that U.S.-born workers
have little interest at laboring
in the dirt and the cold at the
crack of dawn.
As 18 Guatemalans in
hoodies and rubber boots
toiled in such conditions
recently
in
Oregon’s
Willamette Valley, their
boss expressed admiration
for their willingness to do
the back-breaking work he
said native-born Americans
won’t do.
“Homeless people are
camped in the fir forest
over there,” the farmer said,
pointing to a stand of trees.
“And they’re not looking for
work.”
He lamented that crack-
downs may force him to
retire because he won’t be
able to find workers. Fearing
reprisals from federal agents,
he spoke on condition of
anonymity and didn’t want
even his crop identified.
Some immigration hard-
liners say people who are in
the U.S. illegally steal jobs
from Americans. But a 2013
study by an economist at the
Center for Global Devel-
opment looked at farms in
North Carolina and found
that immigrant manual
laborers had “almost zero”
effect on the job prospects of
native-born U.S. workers.
“It appears that almost all
U.S. workers prefer almost
any labor-market outcome
— including long periods
of unemployment — to
carrying out manual harvest
and planting labor,” Michael
Clemens wrote.
While lobbying for visa
and immigration reforms,
agricultural
employers
are also looking into
contingency plans such as
mechanization or a switch
to less labor-intensive crops.
In Vermont, officials are
considering a vocational
program to train inmates in
dairy farming.
Dudley, the vineyard
owner, isn’t optimistic about
some of the alternatives.
“I don’t trust that temps
off the street, or jailhouse
labor, or whatever alter-
native they come up with
would work,” she said.
six years has been the
assistant superintendent at
Longview School District in
Washington. The district has
6,500 students.
He also was executive
director of leadership and
learning for three years
and high school principal
for six years in Longview.
Fritsch was a social studies
teacher for 15 years before
becoming an administrator.
During his tenure as a high
school teacher, he served as
the head football and head
wrestling coach.
Fritsch has a bachelor’s
degree in social sciences and
legal studies from Pacific
Lutheran University and a
master’s in school adminis-
tration from Portland State
University.
• James T. Stroder since
2012 has been superinten-
dent of Gardiner School
District in Montana, which
has an enrollment of 250
students. His previous
administrative experience
includes three years as
superintendent at Ingram
Independent
School
District, Texas, with 1,100
students, and five years as
superintendent/principal
at Camas County School
District, Idaho, which has
about 250 students.
His teaching experience
includes five years in a
self-contained classroom for
at-risk students. He has an
education specialist degree
in education leadership from
the University of Idaho and
both a bachelor’s degree in
earth science and a master’s
in education from Baylor
University. He is working
toward completion of a
doctorate in education lead-
ership from Montana State
University.
• James M. Wagner has
been the superintendent for
three years at Kimball Area
Schools in Montana, which
has an enrollment of 800
students.
Before Kimball, he was
a high school principal
in the Albert Lea School
District, Minnesota, with
3,200 students. Wagner
also served five years in
other leadership positions in
Minnesota.
Wagner’s teaching expe-
rience includes nine years as
a secondary science teacher.
He has an education specialist
degree for his superintendent
certification from St. Mary’s
University and a master’s in
education curriculum from
the College of St. Scholas-
tica, both in Minnesota.
The district is seeking
to replace Andy Kovach,
who was selected through
a similar process last spring
and started as superinten-
dent on July 1, 2016. He
resigned the position Feb.
13 but agreed to staying on
through June 30.
The district contracted
Windows to Leadership
LLC to recruit in candidates
for the position, the same
company it used in 2016.
The board and a
screening committee of staff
and community members
reviewed an applicant field
of 21 candidates, according
to the district’s statement,
and the board interviewed
several of them. The
school district will conduct
background and reference
checks for each of the
finalists before they come to
Pendleton next week.
McBee said the May
schedule for their visits is
not set, but she anticipated
the public period to talk to
the candidates and ask them
questions would be during
the afternoon. The school
board also will interview
with each candidate in
a closed-door executive
session to finish the visits
and expects to announce the
next steps in the superinten-
dent search in early May.
McBee had a meeting
Friday at the district office
with Kovach, which Pend-
leton police chief Stuart
Roberts also attended.
McBee said Roberts’
presence was related to the
meeting with Kovach, but
she could not talk about
why she asked Roberts to be
there. Roberts said he had
no interaction with Kovach,
and Kovach did not return a
call seeking comment.
Staff at the district office
said he was unavailable
Monday.
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