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143rd Year, No. 176
REGONIAN
REGONIA
THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
STANFIELD
Tensions
linger in
Salem
Stanfi eld considers options to slim down Highway 395 through community
GOP threatens to stop
proceedings over
landmark environmental
policy
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE,
AUBREY WIEBER AND MARK
MILLER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon Legisla-
ture is mere days away from having
to close up shop.
But uncertainty has permeated the
Capitol for the past couple of days as
Senate Republicans threaten to stop
proceedings over a landmark envi-
ronmental policy.
If the 11 Republican senators
decide not to show Thursday morn-
ing, when a bill to limit the state’s
industrial polluters is up for a vote,
that would mean the Senate won’t
See Tensions, Page A6
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The Oregon Department of Transportation is considering implementing a “road diet” plan to reduce traffi c speeds through
downtown Stanfi eld.
Umatilla,
Morrow
counties seek
own workforce
group
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
TANFIELD — Stanfi eld might put
Highway 395 on a diet, but it has noth-
ing to do with counting calories.
The “road diet” is a solution the
Oregon Department of Transportation
has begun implementing for some cit-
ies where a major highway sends traffi c
speeding through the center of town.
To force more drivers to go the speed limit, the
department narrows down the lanes of travel —
in Stanfi eld’s case, from fi ve lanes to three.
ODOT is planning a major repaving project
along Highway 395 through downtown Stanfi eld,
adding traffi c-calming features such as stamped
concrete crosswalks, wheel chair ramps and
“bulb-outs” extending the sidewalk further into
intersections, in an effort to signal to drivers that
they are crossing through a town and should slow
down accordingly.
“A common problem, as you guys are aware
of, is when you have a fi ve-lane highway through
a town people speed,” ODOT engineer Bryan
Strasser told the Stanfi eld City Council during
a presentation on Tuesday. “When we think of
traffi c calming, we think of things that signal to
S
the driver that they can’t just go ripping down the
highway.”
He told the council he believed Stanfi eld would
benefi t from a road diet as well, keeping the cen-
ter turn lane but going down from two lanes of
travel on either side to just one in each direction.
The city council was on board with the other
improvements, but wanted more information and
input from the public before committing to the
road diet part of the plan.
Strasser said he was skeptical of the road diet
method at fi rst, but after seeing it work in Mil-
ton-Freewater he was a fan.
ODOT worked with Milton-Freewater last
summer to take the section of Highway 11 that
makes up South Main Street from two lanes in
each direction to one lane in each direction plus a
center turn lane. The city turned the extra space
See Diet, Page A6
Inside
The Stanfi eld city council was presented with
options for raising water rates on Tuesday, but
decided to delay their decision until after a new
city manager is hired. See Page A3
PENDLETON — Umatilla and
Morrow counties are joining forces
to ask the state to set up a workforce
development board
covering only the two
counties.
The state in 2015
grouped
Umatilla,
Morrow plus six
more counties in
Eastern Oregon into
Murdock
one regional work-
force board. Umatilla County Com-
missioner George Murdock said the
confi guration is the problem.
“Right now, our regional work-
force board covers a third of Ore-
gon,” he said, and that wide swath
from Washington to Nevada fails to
refl ect the issues unique to Umatilla
and Morrow counties. During the
board of commissioners meeting on
Wednesday, he said the county’s rep-
resentatives grow so frustrated they
resign from the workforce board.
The state has nine regional work-
force boards. While the Eastern Ore-
gon Works covers eight counties, the
See Workforce, Page A6
Council approves contentious airport lease language
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — After discuss-
ing the Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport’s past and present, the
Pendleton City Council made three
decisions that will affect its future.
At a meeting Tuesday, the coun-
cil voted to create new lease lan-
guage for airport businesses, enter
into a contract for an Unmanned
Aerial Systems economic impact
study, and sell off the city’s interest
in a piece of Airport Road industrial
land.
The council’s decision ended
months of public contention between
airport business owners, who own
their own buildings but must lease
the land the buildings stand on from
the city, and airport administration.
The heart of the confl ict involved
the “reversionary clause,” contract
language that allows the city to take
ownership of buildings that are not
removed at the end of a lease.
The business community said the
clause would devalue its investment
and dissuade new entrepreneurs
from setting up shop at the airport
while aiport offi cials said the clause
was a necessary piece to comply
with Federal Aviation Administra-
tion rules.
The Pendleton Airport Com-
mission eventually came up with
compromise language — the rever-
sionary clause would remain, but
business owners could work around
it and negotiate new leases with the
city.
Under the commission’s pro-
posal, all businesses could negotiate
up to a maximum lease term of 50
years. To avoid reversion to the city
See Airport, Page A6
EO File Photo
At a meeting Tuesday, the Pendleton City Council made three decisions
that will aff ect the future of Eastern Oregon Regional Airport. The coun-
cil voted to create new lease language for airport businesses, enter into
a contract for an Unmanned Aerial Systems economic impact study, and
sell off the city’s interest in a piece of Airport Road industrial land.