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East Oregonian
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
SMOKE: Two councilors voted against the ban
Continued from 1A
Cook said he met with
Police Chief Stuart Roberts
about his previous concerns
about enforcing the ordi-
nance, which prompted
tobacco ban supporters
to propose a six-month
education program so the
ban could become more
self-enforcing.
Roberts said he wanted
the public to have realistic
expectations about the
ban, especially since some
members of the public
already get upset when an
ordinance violation doesn’t
end in a citation or arrest.
HOUSING: Hermiston changed its residential
standards to encourage more homebuilding
Continued from 1A
Equipment and Threemile
Farms, for stepping up to help
employees in the area find
housing.
“When I moved here in
1989 I couldn’t find a place
to live. ... We’ve had that
problem here continuously
ever since,” he said.
It’s a region-wide problem.
Stan Stradley, Umatilla
County Housing Authority
director, said vacancy rates for
apartments in Umatilla County
are at about 1.4 percent, and
waiting lists for subsidized
housing grow longer every
year. The housing authority
manages 364 low-income
units in Umatilla County and
also distributes Section 8
housing vouchers. Stradley
said as the quality of housing
stock gets worse and landlords
decline to fix problems, fewer
apartments in the area meet
HUD standards for vouchers.
New
apartments
in
Boardman will likely draw in
some people who have been
commuting, freeing up some
more rentals in places like
Hermiston.
“Any housing will help
relieve some of the over-
crowding,” Stradley said.
The housing authority
purchased a 12-acre piece
of land north of Stanfield
for a 40-unit rent-subsidized
housing project to help with
shortages there, but its grant
application to the state for
money to build the project has
been unsuccessful three times.
The authority plans to submit
another application in January,
but Stradley said it is hard to
get funding because much
of it goes to Portland-area
projects, and other cities
around the state are also low
on affordable housing.
“For the most part every-
one’s feeling the crunch,” he
said.
Last week the state and
county hosted a joint meeting
in Hermiston to get input on
an Oregon Statewide Housing
Plan being put together.
Government
housing
assistance programs are based
on percentages of median
income, which in Umatilla
County is $58,100 for 2017.
Stradley said the data the
federal government uses to
calculate median income is
usually a few years old, so
minimum wage increases or
new family-wage jobs take
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A model home stands on property that is part of the
Virginia’s Place development in Umatilla.
a few years to affect housing
eligibility. The HUD website
states that Umatilla County’s
2017 median income was
calculated using U.S. Census
data from 2010 to 2014.
Mark Morgan, Hermis-
ton’s assistant city manager,
said he has worked with
apartment developers who
have looked at building more
units in Hermiston, but part of
the problem is that the land,
labor and material costs of
construction are so high that to
pay for it the complex would
have to charge more than most
people are willing to pay for a
rental in Hermiston. Home
prices have gone up in the last
couple of years, but for a long
time if rent went up by very
much people would realize
they could be putting that
money toward a mortgage
payment instead.
“You kind of bump up
against that threshold,” he
said.
It doesn’t cost developers
that much more to build a
complex in Portland or Bend
instead, but they can charge
hundreds of dollars more
per month for each unit after
it’s built. And while some
companies are focused on
benefits like cheap utilities,
Morgan said at least one
company in the last couple
of years decided to build in
Pasco instead of Hermiston
because it would be easier for
employees to find housing
there.
Even for those who can
afford to own a home, finding
something that’s open in
the right price range can be
difficult. Hermiston recently
changed its standards for
residential development —
allowing more lot coverage
and shorter setbacks — to
encourage more home-
building in the area.
City planner Clint Spencer
said developers are already
taking advantage of the new
rules, which allow more
homes to be placed in subdi-
visions and therefore increase
the profit margin on new
developments. He said Herm-
iston is seeing a “mini-surge”
of subdivisions, including a
new one just approved for
Gettman Road. Other nearby
cities are also adding new
housing.
“I’m actually fairly excited
for where, regionally, we will
be in another year,” he said.
Umatilla has had some
good luck in housing develop-
ment lately too, with construc-
tion work just beginning on
a 28-lot subdivision called
Virginia’s Place in McNary
across Willamette Avenue
from the Big River Golf
Course. Another 56-lot subdi-
vision on South Hill east of
Powerline Road plans to start
construction at the end of the
month, according to commu-
nity development director
Tamra Mabbott. She said in
the McNary subdivision 25
percent of the lots are already
spoken for, and there are a
couple more subdivisions in
the area that are in planning
stages.
Mabbott credited City
Manager Russ Pelleberg for
actively calling up contacts
in the Tri-Cities and finding
developers willing to put up
new homes in the Umatilla
area. She said it can be hard
to compete with the larger
profit margins that come from
building on the west side of
the state.
“The big challenge is to get
developers to come here and
build ... here in Umatilla we’re
just feeling fortunate that we
have a couple of developers
willing to come in and do
something,” she said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4536.
FORESTS: At the earliest the revised plans
may be signed and in place by August 2018
Continued from 1A
to re-evaluate stream condi-
tions on grazing allotments
within five years, or three
years if the waters are home
to threatened or endangered
fish. Roberts said that is not
a realistic goal, given the
agency’s staffing levels.
Tom Montoya, Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest
supervisor, said the forests
are considering a longer-
term implementation of the
guidelines, and emphasized
that
livestock
grazing
continues to be a priority on
the landscape.
“(It’s about) making
sure we still have a viable
industry out there that is
doing things continually
as they have in the past, in
a really responsible way,”
Montoya said.
Apart from grazing stan-
dards, the Eastern Oregon
Counties Association is
pushing to increase the pace
and scale of restoration proj-
ects to improve forest health
and fire resiliency. Arbitrary
rules — such as regulations
for cutting 21-inch-diameter
trees to protect old growth
forests — have “no basis in
science,” they argue.
The counties also do not
support any new wilderness
or wild and scenic river
designations, and aim to
maintain a road network of
at least 2.5 miles of road per
square mile of land, which
FOIA liaisons to discuss
the request or timeline for
fulfilling it, according to the
complaint.
The states sought the
information because the
federal government has
intensified
immigration
enforcement and expanded
“the scope of people
targeted for enforcement,”
according to the complaint.
For example, arrests of
immigrants have increased
nearly 40 percent in just the
first four months of 2017,
according to an ICE report.
“It is critical for … states
to understand the nature
of federal immigration
enforcement activities and
the effects of these activities
on the residents and law
enforcement agencies of
the respective states,” the
complaint states.
The other states joining
in the lawsuit are Massa-
chusetts, California, Hawaii,
Iowa, Illinois, Maryland,
New York, Washington and
the District of Columbia.
Forest Service decided to
step back and re-engage
with stakeholders and the
public to garner additional
input. That input, Peña said,
has led to two new plan
alternatives which are now
under consideration by the
Forest Service.
“We’re trying to get this
right,” he said. “I want this
to be an improvement over
what we’ve been managing
under for the last 20 years.
I think we’re getting there.”
Even after the final envi-
ronmental impact statement
is released, there is still
work left to do. From there,
the plans are subject to a
60-day objection period, and
a 90-day resolution period
to respond to objections. At
the earliest, Peña said the
revised plans may be signed
and in place by August
2018.
Walden, who serves as
Oregon’s lone Republican
member of Congress and has
vouched for forestry reform
in the House of Representa-
tives, said he feels the Forest
Plan revision is gaining
some positive momentum
after confronting some
deeply held concerns.
“We’d all like to get this
plan done. It’s a 10-year
plan that’s taken 14 years
to write,” Walden said. “We
have to live with it for the
next decade once it gets into
place. It’s essential we get it
right.”
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S
announced Sept. 5 that the
Trump Administration plans
to dismantle DACA in the
next several months, unless
Congress enacts it legisla-
tively.
Federal agents have
targeted
undocumented
immigrants at “sensitive
locations” such as court-
houses, schools, places
of worship and hospitals,
Massachusetts
Attorney
General Maura Healey wrote
in the June 29 request.
“The president’s execu-
tive orders and the steps taken
by the Department of Home-
land Security to implement
these orders have generated
new fears and uncertainties
in immigrant communities
across the country,” Healey
wrote. “Families are afraid
to send their children to
school. People are avoiding
necessary medical treatment.
Victims and witnesses are
not reporting crimes or
cooperating with state and
local law enforcement.”
The “chilling effect” of
the new policies “undercuts
public health, safety and
welfare,” and the Trump
Administration’s lack of
transparency surrounding
enforcement is “exacer-
bating the fear in immigrant
communities,” she wrote.
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration
Services
confirmed receipt of the
request July 6. The agency
noted that the statutory
time limits for fulfilling
the request could not be
met because of “unusual
circumstances,” and said
it would be necessary to
extend the deadline beyond
the 10 days allowed in law,
because authorities would
need to collect data from
field offices.
The lawsuit claims federal
agencies have not denied the
request but have withheld
details on circumstances that
prevent the disclosure. They
also have failed to provide
contact information for their
is the current standard in
the forests. Umatilla County
Commissioner
Larry
Givens said they need to
make sure local residents
“aren’t kept from viable
economic stability, whether
it’s ranching or logging.”
“We all realize we can’t
have it one way. But we’re
asking for some compro-
mise,” Givens said. “Let’s
be reasonable here, because
there is room for economic
stability in these communi-
ties involved.”
Givens said he was
pleased that Monday’s
meeting
included
the
National Marine Fish-
eries and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, so they
could discuss the science
driving the Forest Plan
revision. Both agencies are
responsible for providing a
biological assessment of the
plan to protect endangered
fish and wildlife.
Peña, who will ultimately
sign off on the revised plans,
said it was an opportunity to
ask questions and remove
some of the mystique of the
inter-agency consultation.
“I think there is the
perception they’re not out in
the field,” Peña said. “And I
think they were kind of able
to dispel that belief.”
After releasing a highly
controversial draft envi-
ronmental impact study for
the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision in 2014, the
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DACA: Arrests of immigrants have increased nearly
40 percent in just the first four months of this year
Continued from 1A
skeptical.
Councilor Neil Brown
worried that banning tobacco
would lead to a slippery
slope, where something like
cheeseburgers, which are
also unhealthy and can lead
to litter, would also become
the target of a ban.
Councilor Paul Chalmers
made a motion to approve
the ban with an initial
six-month grace period on
enforcement during the
educational campaign and
a two-year sunset provision.
Chalmers’ motion was
passed 6-2, with Brown and
Councilor Becky Marks
voting against it.
S
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Aspens Apartments in Hermiston consist of 48 family-sized apartment units that
are part of the Umatilla County Housing Authority’s 364 low-income units in the county.
George Cress, a former
director of light and power
for the city of Forest Grove
who now lives in Pendleton,
testified that he was a city
employee when Forest
Grove banned tobacco on
all municipal property.
Although there were
enforcement
concerns,
Cress said an educational
campaign does a lot of the leg
work. Additionally, health
insurance rates went down
as city workers stopped using
tobacco on the job.
Despite receiving no
public testimony in oppo-
sition to the ordinance,
some councilors were still
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