DECEMBER 1,2009
Smoke Signals 3
PDaira euwiisDODns Guramidl Roirodle m 25 years
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal member and Tribal Director of Develop
ment Pete Wakeland along with three staffers
from Portland-based Cardno WRG presided over
a community meeting on Nov. 17 to unveil the
Tribe's plans for Grand Ronde.
Cardno WRG was hired to strategize with
Tribal officials and produce a vision for the com
munity 25 years out.
The Grand Ronde Community Master Plan
aims to "create an area with a sense of connec
tivity," said Wakeland, "places where people
can get to without having to get in their cars."
It also intends to give the Tribe a sense of how
projects will unfold in the years ahead to better
budget for them.
Based on the idea that Grand Ronde can be "a
place to rebuild a Tribal community," the new
plan takes a close-up and long-term look at steps
that will give the Tribal community "a strong
sense of place," according to the draft.
Phasing in steps to make this goal happen
were not available at the time of the commu
nity meeting, but will be part of the document
that will go to Tribal Council before the end of
the year, according to Mimi Doukas, director of
Land Use Planning and a principal for Cardno,
and Wakeland.
To help the Tribe and Tribal community value
Tribal holdings, the plan defines "an assortment
of distinctive, interconnected districts that col
lectively create a dynamic community," accord
ing to the draft document.
Housing districts, for example, are divided
into Elders', central, northeast, Grand Mead
ows, gateway-Bunnsville and south neighbor
hoods. Short term, Cardno WRG has proposed to
Tribal Council that the primary focus should be
filling in the core areas: central neighborhood,
government center and the Elders' neighbor
hood. "The more you knit that together," said
Doukas, "the more you create a sense of com
munity." Long term, housing is being considered for
south of Highway 18 to serve casino and Tribal
staff, as well as businesses that also may be
developing according to the plan.
To housing, the draft adds an employment,
or business, district, a tourism district and a
heritage district. Each has a description and
strategy for future development.
The business district as currently proposed
would be located along Highway 18, west of
Grand Ronde Road, with a feeder road over the
railroad tracks just south of Bunnsville.
The draft calls for "economic diversity." Doukas
further defined that as manufacturing, distribu
tion and maybe incubator-type facilities.
The timing of each of these projects is critical
to the success of the development, and that will
be further considered as Tribal staff and the
Cardno team consider phasing and implement
ing the plan.
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Photo by Michelle Alaimo
W. Ryan Givens, a senior planner with Cardno WRG of Portland, explains the Grand Ronde Community
Master Plan to Tribal Elders and Grand Ronde residents Gladys Hobbs, left, and Violet Folden during an
open house in the Governance Center Atrium on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
"We'll be considering what tools we use and
what infrastructure will be needed," said Dou
kas. The draft document also calls for "a network
of open space and recreational facilities, expand
ing government services such as education and
safety, and providing support services such as
neighborhood retail that collectively create a
vibrant, functioning community."
The plan calls for building on existing invest
ments and responding to the natural environ
ment, by preserving streams and woodlands, and
building parks to develop a community that is
walkable for the majority of residents.
The plan was developed, according to Cardno's
Senior Community Planner W. Ryan Givens,
based on the Tribal vision for its future matched
with existing infrastructure, land ownership and
land use patterns in the area.
A challenge to the ongoing effort, according to
Tribal engineer Eric Scott, is the sheer number
of different government and land use regulations
that cover Tribal lands.
Wakeland sees a challenge in the vast in
frastructure needs of continued development.
"Nobody sees infrastructure or thinks about it,
but it's got to go in before anything else hap
pens," he said.
He points to areas needing water and sewer
hookups and new roads.
On the other hand, Cardno staffers say that
it is unusual to work with a group as motivated
as the Tribe.
"This is definitely a group thnt knows what it
wants," said Givens.
Where state highways often divide a commu
nity, Cardno has used state highways 18 and 22
as boundaries for the future Tribal community,
to keep its many districts closer together.
Wakeland described the document as a work
in process.
Although only a dozen attended the informal
meeting, they included Mark Jeffery, superin
tendent of the Willamina School District, who
will likely have input in any local school devel
opment project the Tribe proposes.
The group also included Karl Ekstrom, man
ager of the Grand Ronde Water District, who
will likely be involved in Tribal developments
needing local water supplies.
Tribal Elder Violet Folden, who grew up in
Grand Ronde, said that "what we're seeing here
is just amazing."
"I do miss the railroad tracks," she said. "My
aunt and uncle (Tribal Elders Buck and Laura
Riggs) used to live over by the river on the other
side of 18, and the only way I remember going
over there was on the railroad trestle across the
river."
As it turns out, the Oregon Department of
Transportation has plans in the next five or six
years to build an interchange at the intersection
of highways 18 and 22, and then some years later
at the intersection of Highway 18 and Grand
Ronde Road.
The early word is that there will again be an
overpass at Grand Ronde Road, this one over
the highway. D
DiratieDTODr seeks oiroipiinti on iraew policy
The Depart ment of the Interior will hold a meeting beginning nt 9 a.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the Portland Holiday Inn, 8139 N.E. Columbia
Blvd., in an effort to develop a department-wide policy on Tribal consul
tation. The new Tribal consultation policy, announced Nov. 21 by Interior
Secretary Ken Salnznr and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry
Echo Hawk, will be developed with input from the nation's &G I federally
recognized Tribes.
"President Obamn respects the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations
and believes that the federal government must honor its commitments to
American Indians and Alaska Native communities," Salazar said.
"On Nov. 6, President Obama issued his executive memorandum support'
ing Tribal consultation as 'a critical ingredient of a sound and productive
federal-Tribal relationship,'" Echo I lawk said. The effort we are undertak
ing to develop Interior's plan as called for by the President will begin a new
and positive chapter in the history of federal-Tribal relations."
Obama directed federal agency heads to submit to the Director of the
Office of Management and Itudget within 90 days a detailed plan of ac
tion to implement Tribal consultation. The Department of Interior is
seeking Tribal comments via e-mail, regular mail and meetings by Jan.
15. 2010.
The Portland meeting will run from 9 a.m. to noon and then 1 to 4
p.m.
The first Tribal consultation meeting was scheduled on Dec. 2 in Anchor
age, Alaska. Other meetings after Portland will be held in Washington,
D.C., Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Phoenix and Sacramento.