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Saturday, March 19, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
Drone testing becoming more integrated into Pendleton
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Pendle-
ton’s drone testing program is
starting to come off the hill.
I n Fe b r u a r y, t h e
unmanned aerial systems
company Spright announced
it was starting a proof-of-con-
cept program with Interpath
Laboratory and Yellowhawk
Tribal Health Center to
transport medical tests from
Interpath facilities at 2640
S.W. Perkins Ave., Pendle-
ton, to Yellowhawk’s clinic
in Mission.
Spright ran its fi rst test in
mid-February, but it was a
long time in the making.
Pendleton Economic
Development Director Steve
Chrisman said the origins of
Spright in Pendleton can be
traced back to a conference
sponsored by the Associa-
tion for Unmanned Aerial
Systems International last
year.
“It was just kind of fortu-
itous, bumping into each
other,” he said.
Chrisman didn’t bump
into the people behind
Spright, an Arizona subsid-
iary of a medical trans-
port company, but instead
found himself at the booth
for Wingcopter, a German
aerospace company that was
situated across the way from
Pendleton’s booth. Chrisman
began chatting with a man
from Wingcopter, who told
Chrisman the company was
working with a customer who
specialized in unmanned
medical test delivery.
Chrisman connected the
Spright/Contributed Photo
The unmanned aerial systems company Spright in February 2022 tests a proof-of-concept
program to transport medical tests from Interpath Laboratory, 2640 S.W. Perkins Ave., Pend-
leton, to Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center in Mission.
VERIZON STARTS TESTING AT PENDLETON UAS RANGE
PENDLETON — The telecom giant Verizon is
now one of the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial
Systems Range’s newest customers.
Verizon Robotics announced on Tuesday,
March 15 that it is now running tests at the
Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range.
According to a press release, testing at the
range will focus on improving their research
and development eff orts, which will include
training range staff in how to use a mobile
command vehicle to communicate with its
drones.
“The operations we are deploying at Pendle-
ton Range will help advance R&D initiatives for
customers,” Verizon Robotics President Mariah
dots between Interpath’s
presence in Pendleton and
Spright, which eventu-
ally led to Spright renting a
hangar from the Pendleton
UAS Range.
Scott said in a statement.“The range’s location
helps create a local innovation testbed that
can emulate real-life conditions, helping to
bring products and services to market faster.”
In the press release, Verizon touted its eff orts
at developing UAS software that will help
integrate drones into the national airspace,
which is the main reason the Federal Aviation
Administration designated Pendleton and
other communities around the country as
designated test sites.
Verizon is just the latest large corporation
to take an interest in Pendleton. Amazon
recently confi rmed that it was testing drones
at the range.
In an email, Justin
Steinke, Spright’s vice presi-
dent of operations, explained
what drew the company to
Pendleton. While Spright’s
unmanned vehicles are
undergoing the Federal Avia-
tion Administration certifi -
cation process, Steinke said
Interpath and Pendleton
off ered the right conditions
for it to test its product.
“Interpath Laboratory is
located inside the current
test range, which allows us
to accelerate the testing of
the aircraft and the business
case,” he wrote. “Having
usable airspace to test and
validate our operations in
Pendleton is enabling Spright
to accelerate the development
of our solutions and more
rapidly help people around
the globe. Most importantly,
Spright intends to continue to
operate with Interpath after
the testing phase is complete,
making it an innovative win
for the community of Pend-
leton.”
Steinke said Spright
intends to test for the next six
to nine months in locations
around Pendleton before
making its product fully
available next year.
Inter path CEO Tom
Kennedy did not return a
request for comment, but in
a press release, he explained
why the lab testing company
would be interested in invest-
ing in drones.
“Medical laborator y
services in rural areas
frequently must invest inten-
sive time and resources into
sample pick-up,” Kennedy
said in a statement. “We
anticipate Spright’s drone
delivery service will alleviate
many of the drawbacks and
costs associated with auto-
mobile-based delivery. This
initiative represents an exam-
ple of our embrace of inno-
vative solutions that provide
more effi cient and eff ective
services to our clients.”
Yellowhawk became the
third partner in the group
through Interpath, which
processes the medical tests
conducted at the Mission
clinic.
Yellowhawk CEO Aaron
Hines said the medical center
was attracted to the test
program because it could
mean faster test results for
their patients. As it stands
now, an Interpath vehicle
picks up tests at Yellow-
hawk once per day. But if
UAS took over test delivery,
Yellowhawk could deliver
and receive tests multiple
times per day, meaning their
patients could be treated
more quickly.
While Hines likes the
idea, he said he would want
to study a drone delivery
system for a longer period of
time before moving forward
with it. He said he wants to
know how test specimens
might be aff ected should one
of the drones fail and crash.
And while drones might be
more effi cient, conventional
vehicular transportation has
a much longer track record.
To Chrisman, Spright’s
partnership with two well-
known local entities is
evidence UAS are closer
to integrating into people’s
everyday lives.
In UAS range’s earlier
times, drone companies
tended to conduct most of
their testing at the Pendleton
airport or in a secluded area
far from public view. While
many operations at the drone
company still are opaque,
Verizon and Amazon have
recently confi rmed, or even
announced, their presence in
Pendleton.
BMCC president orders
‘full institutional review’
become more candid and
have included feedback that
the college doesn’t always
PENDLETON — In the feel like a welcoming envi-
wake of negative feedback ronment.
from students and with
But student sentiments
budget cuts on the horizon, aren’t the only reason
Blue Mountain Commu- Browning wants a review.
nity College President Mark With enrollment continu-
Browning is planning a “full ing to erode, Blue Moun-
institutional review” of the tain expects to make more
college.
budget cuts following two
Browning made
previous rounds of
his announcement
staff reductions.
in a March 2 presi-
While BMCC
dent’s report to the
gets audited each
BMCC Board of
year like every other
Education.
public agency in the
“We need to hear
state, Browning said
from those who we
the review will take
strive to serve that
Browning
a wider look at the
school’s operations
in some ways, we
are not meeting our own and programs and provide
standards, we are not deliv- recommendations on how
ering on our promise to be to improve them. Browning
Students First,” he wrote. said all of these measures
“This is a stark wake up are taken with the idea of
call. We must do better. And setting BMCC back on the
improvement starts with the path of growth.
difficult work of internal
“We can make budget
examination and review, adjustments so that we
each of us individually, as balance our budget, but we
departments, as buildings, have to make sure we are
as a campus.”
making those adjustments
Since starting in the such that we have resources
position last year, Brown- available to be proactive and
ing said he’s been speak- grow versus just hanging
ing with students to gauge on,” he said. ”I’m not inter-
their thoughts on the college ested in hanging on. I’m
and its staff . As time went interested in growing and
on their comments have being vital and thriving.”
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
MonteVista Homes/Contributed Image
The Hermiston City Council, in its role as the Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency, during its
meeting Monday, March 14, 2022, approved a resolution directing staff to prepare a plan for
a new urban renewal district along Feedville Road to develop The Hayfi elds, a development
that would add more than 1,300 homes to Hermiston.
Hayfi eld development could
bring Hermiston more homes
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — The
Hayf ields development
would add more than 1,300
homes to Hermiston.
The 353-acre site is in
the city limits near the inter-
section of Highway 207
and Feedville Road with
Community Park to the
east. The Hermiston Urban
Renewal Agency — which
also is the Hermiston City
Council — during its meet-
ing Monday, March 14,
approved a resolution direct-
ing staff to prepare a plan for
a new urban renewal district
along Feedville Road.
The move came after
presentation from Monte-
Vista Homes. Luke Pickerill,
MonteVista Homes owner,
said this is a major step for
the city.
“At full buildout, we will
have 1,300 housing units,
which represents about 15%
of the total population in
today’s numbers of the city
of Hermiston,” he said.
He d e s c r i b e d T he
Hayfields as a “master
planned community,” which
means that it is “designed to
off er the very best in home
life, from the design of open
spaces and the architectural
fi t within the city to environ-
mentally-friendly technology
and sophisticated amenities.”
These are “not like old
neighborhoods where houses
popped up here and there
with less or no regard for the
overall community design,”
his presentation slide stated.
Instead, the MPC provides
amenities such as parks and
gathering spaces for the
enjoyment of the neighbor-
hood and the city.
Pickerill gave the coun-
cil some history of the
area. Around 20 years ago,
the land was annexed into
Hermiston, he said. Plans at
the time were to develop the
property into a golf course
community. This plan hit a
snag during the Great Reces-
sion of 2008.
Nearly a decade after
the recession, Pickerill said,
landowners attempted to
start a new housing devel-
opment, but they lacked the
infrastructure and available
services.
“They found it wasn’t
possible without a public/
private partnership,” he said.
Between 2017 and 2021,
landowners and the city of
Hermiston explored several
options to make the best
possible use out of the site.
They sought to use this land
to help address Hermiston’s
housing supply problems,
Pickerill said.
“In early 2021, I was intro-
duced to the landowners,” he
said.
MonteVista and the land-
owners worked together
to create a master plan for
the community, which they
would call The Hayfi elds.
Getting into the details
of the plan, Pickerill said the
housing units would consist
of single family detached
housing, single family work-
force housing, apartment
sites, a senior manufactured
facility and commercial sites,
he said. School and fi re sites
also are part of the plan, as
shown on a layout Pickerill
presented.
“Our community will
unlock the value of this land,”
Pickerill said. “It will also
elevate Hermiston to a new
position in the region.”
After his presentation and
discussion, the city coun-
cil voted unanimously to
approve the resolution autho-
rizing staff to begin an urban
renewal planning eff ort and
get the ball rolling on The
Hayfi elds.
Although Browning said
the college is planning on
moving forward with the
review, it’s still in the early
stages. He said the review
will be conducted by a
third party and he’s already
talking with a few potential
companies about taking
on the task. He doesn’t yet
have a timeline for when
the review will begin and
end, and whether it will be
completed by the time the
college approves a budget
for the next fi scal year.
While the review comes
at a tough time for the
college, Browning still
struck an optimistic tone
about the future of BMCC.
“I don’t want to paint a
picture that everything is
doom and gloom, because
it’s certainly not that,” he
said. “We’re doing a number
of really good things. We’re
going to be coming up
here in a couple of months
on a time of graduation,
where students are going
to be walking across the
stage, getting their degree
and certifi cate, and they’re
gonna have a whole new
world out in front of them.
So let’s make sure we cele-
brate that for the good that
we’re doing, with a recog-
nition that there’s always
room for improvement.”
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