City Beat — 5A
School Zone — 10A
Faith Page — 8A
Kennedy's
coaching legacy
Longtime hoops coach to hang it up
after fi ve decades, page 1B
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 35
Council holds hearing on Main Street Refi nement Plan Also
Close to 20 citizens weigh
in; public hearing extended
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
M
uch has already been said of Cot-
tage Grove’s Main Street Refi ne-
ment Plan, a document that aims to guide
the construction of a new Main Street
corridor between its historic buildings.
And much more would be said Monday
evening during a public hearing before
the City Council, which heard impas-
sioned opinion on many of the key as-
pects of the plan before ultimately decid-
ing to allow the public a little more time
to weigh in.
The Refi nement Plan includes recom-
mendations for a complete redesign of
Main Street between River Road and
Highway 99 and on some side streets.
The City of Cottage Grove’s Planning
Department has stated goals for the plan
of reducing the “crown” or pronounced
hump of Main Street itself; fi xing dam-
aged sidewalks; improving access for
those with disabilities and adding outside
utilities in the area. Grant funding has
been used to hire an outside consultant to
aid the planning process, which has now
included several public meetings and
hours of testimony. The plan came to the
Council after it was recommended for
adoption by Cottage Grove’s Planning
width of travel lanes and whether bike
lanes would be feasible.
Dupuy stated that Main Street’s 16-foot
width is much wider than comparable
streets. He said studies show that wider
lanes increase speeds, safe crossing dis-
tances and the severity of auto accidents.
He said 10-11 foot travel lanes are rec-
ommended for streets such as Main.
Dupey said there isn’t much room to
include bike lanes in Main Street’s 65-
foot right-of-way, adding that an alterna-
tive route for bike traffi c is being sought
and the plan includes “sharrows” that
indicate bicyclists and motorists should
share the roadway.
Commission after the Commission’s
own public process.
Key issues that have dominated dis-
cussion of the plan have been the fate of
the current trees on Main Street, a plan
to widen the sidewalks and reduce the
width of travel lanes from 16 to 12 feet
and whether or not to include bike lanes
in the plan. These issues again held sway
Monday night, when close to 20 commu-
nity members including downtown busi-
ness owners addressed the Council to air
their concerns.
Before the hearing, Alex Dupey of the
consultant assigned to the Refi nement
Plan addressed the process for estimat-
ing the project’s $9 or so million price
tag, in addition to the plan to reduce the
inside:
Please see PLAN, Page 10A
Local E-cig
regulations approved
H ELPFUL HABIT
Calendar 2015
Several notable events
not to be found,
page 3A
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
photo by Jon Stinnett
Marie Longfellow donates blood in a mobile bus operated by the Lane Blood Center Monday
morning with the assistance of Jodi Stephens. The Center's Raena Wood said that Longfel-
low is usually the fi rst to donate at each blood drive in Cottage Grove. Drives are held every
eight weeks, the minimum time of eligibility between donations for one person. "Cottage
Grove is a powerhouse with donations and volunteers," Wood said. The next drive at the
Cottage Grove Community Center will be held Monday, April 20.
he Cottage Grove City Council approved an or-
dinance Monday night that outlaws the sale of
electronic smoking devices to minors, restricts the dis-
tribution of free samples of e-cig products and subjects
e-cigarette use to the same restrictions of the Clean In-
door Air Act that govern other types of smoking. The
ordinance also included an amendment that increases
the smoke-free zone outside business entrances from
10 to 25 feet.
Monday's vote was the second 5-1 tally in favor of
the ordinance; the Council previously considered the
issue at its Feb. 9 meeting, and each time, Councilor
Jake Boone was the lone vote in opposition.
Boone said he sought to minimize the infringement
of the ordinance on those it is not intended to target. He
specifi cally addressed the unintended impact the new
e-cig rules could have on users of medical marijuana,
referencing practices at the local dispensary where he
serves as manager.
Between the Council's two discussions on the mat-
ter, attorney Carrie Connelly examined revisions to the
ordinance sought by Boone, specifi cally exemptions
for medical use of e-smoking devices and allowances
for the ability of parents to oversee the use of e-ciga-
rettes by their minor children. Connelly said their were
no "easy changes that could be made" to address many
of Boone's concerns, saying that parts of the ordinance
could be left to "prosecutorial discretion," or the dis-
Taste of Creswell
Business showcase
draws a crowd,
page 6A
Please see ORDINANCE, Page 10A
Local economic indicators pointing to a strong 2015
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
I
t’s not always easy to gauge
the health of the economy
in Cottage Grove, but those in-
terested in such local trends say
that, while hard and fast stats
pointing to an economic recov-
ery are hard to come by, anec-
dotal evidence certainly show-
cases recent progress.
Evidence of recovery is am-
ple at the state level. Statewide,
reports compiled at the end of
January by Oregon’s Employ-
ment Department show that
in November of last year, the
number of payroll jobs in the
state reached the peak attained
in 2007 prior to the economic
slowdown. Oregon’s economy
added 50,300 jobs last year, the
largest November to Novem-
ber jobs gain since 1996, and
the unemployment rate also
dropped in that time frame.
The summary of a report on
Oregon’s economy by the Of-
fi ce of Economic Analysis was
also released last week, stating
that “with each passing month,
it is becoming more evident
that the U.S. economy is fi nally
emerging from the aftermath of
the Great Recession and fi nan-
cial crisis.” Job growth is reach-
ing near-boom levels, the report
stated:
The combination of job
growth acceleration, solid eco-
nomic output and the impact
from substantially lower energy
prices has the typical economic
forecaster more optimistic to-
day than any other time in re-
cent years.”
The report called 2014 a “sur-
prisingly solid economic year,”
with 2015 expected to be even
better.
Economic statistics specifi c to
the Cottage Grove area, though,
can be hard to come by, accord-
ing to City Manager Richard
Meyers.
“The statistics we get are
mostly for Lane County as a
whole,” Meyers said. “We get
the stats and we have to think
to ourselves, ‘Is that really our
number?’ If we were a big-
ger community, those numbers
would be there.”
Many of these numbers are
calculated every two or three
years and are thus largely un-
reliable in pointing out recent
trends.
Still, Meyers said there is
plenty of anecdotal evidence
that showcases a local economic
recovery. While there is no sales
tax in Oregon that could gauge
retail activity, Meyers said the
City’s take of hotel room and gas
tax receipts indicate a stronger
2014 than the past several years.
These receipts are expected to
rise during the warmer months,
and a bigger-than-average rise
could point to more people will-
ing to spend their disposable in-
come in Cottage Grove.
The housing market can also
provide a glimpse of the health
of the local economy, and activ-
ities there appear to be returning
to pre-recession levels.
“From what I’ve seen, there’s
more activity in the market now
than there has been in probably
the last fi ve years,” said Remax
Realtor Ron O’Keefe, who’s
plied the local market for 25
years. “Some of that growth is
people listing properties be-
cause the market keeps getting
better, but we’ll see if that trans-
lates into sales. People still have
to price properties right.”
Lane County lost an esti-
mated 30 percent of its home
values during the recession, but
O’Keefe said values are “creep-
ing back to near the pre-reces-
sion rates.” Historically low in-
terest rates also favor an active
market, and lenders are starting
to do so more frequently.
“There’s talk of loans loosen-
ing, though nothing like before
the recession,” O’Keefe said.
“Now, there are more stringent
guidelines. We’re also seeing
very few foreclosures right now,
which is of course positive.”
O’Keefe said commercial
properties in Cottage Grove are
also garnering renewed interest,
though he said that the City of
Cottage Grove’s Systems Devel-
opment Charges, which are lev-
ied against developers to cover
the added cost of their develop-
ments on city infrastructure, are
higher than those of comparable
communities.
Construction of new proper-
ties in Cottage Grove is also
Rain Country Realty Inc.
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Please see ECONOMY, Page 2A
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CONTACT US
www.cgsentinel.com
On the Internet
(541) 942-3325
By telephone
(541) 942-3328
By fax
cgnews@cgsentinel.com
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P.O. Box 35, Cottage Grove, OR 97424
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Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
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