Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1978)
The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, February i6, 1978 ELEVEN ppmer has choice flood "plain 9(1 ,81 :i:tf c 114 am proposal E ' .He W7 1978 D , " "ft ' , . -i -V -"I. - - v J3 aired if. "When you start in 1937 and vget two authorizations and 3i still there is no project, it goes j beyond being a bad joke it's -i-not even funny anymore." ;,;; With that statement behind Jiim, Steve Hickok, field representative for Sen. Mark ..Hatfield, opened the latest i chapter in the long -running i story of the Willow Creek sidam a public meeting aimed at gauging the most recent -community response to the j controversial and emotional issue. And after some two hours of information, discus sion and speculation on the 'j project's impact, it was clear that this time, the 'joke' had taken on a new. punchline. Flood plain is the ingredient that has been added this time around and it packs the wallop of threatening the economic livelihood of the entire down town Heppner business dis trict. , , "I haven't seen any com munity in Oregon faced with ; as heavy an impact due to the flood plain changes as Hepp ner is," Hickok said. "Quite simply, the Willow Creek dam would take off the straight jacket that would be put on the conomic community." Backing up Hickok's assess ment of the seriousness of the proposed flood plain were two representatives of the Army Corp of Engineers. Both Ron Barrett and Jerry Roediger made it clear that they What does flood plain mean for Heppner? What effect would the con struction of Willow Creek Dam have on Heppner's flood plain and could residents of the area be assured that if the dam were constructed, the flood plain would be elimi nated? Chuck Steele, who admini """""sters the flood insurance program for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), had some answers for The Gazette-Times this week. "Generally, I'd never advo 'cate building a dam," said .Steele, "but in Heppner's case it is the best possible way to ' " alleviate the flood plain prob lem." "The flood plain as it "stands now will have a serious effect on Heppner," said 'Steele, referring to future construction of residential and commercial buildings in the (Mill Ellri 1 II . The Flood Insurance Admi nistration requires the city adopt an ordinance showing a flood plain that extends about five feet above Main Street. v TThe provisions in that ordi nance would require that any buildings constructed within that flood plain be elevated five feet off the ground like on stilts or that it be flood proofed to that level. Flood proofing a building would mean making the building water-tight, such as installing hatch-covers for "doors and windows among i "n, c oiucr tilings, inc cuai ui flood-proofing can increase the cost of construction by 30-60 per cent. "We will require that the city enforce these measures and quite frankly, it will be extremely difficult to build," said Steele. Can residents of at public meeting "weren't trying to sell the project to anybody" but were interested in clearing up any questions or misconceptions concerning the project. "The flood plain delineation is a quick, fast and dirty process," Barrett said. "It's done by an engineer in Harrisburg, Pa., who over a five to seven year period will determine flood plains for every community in the nation they make a lot of errors." Barrett said from the infor mation now available for Heppner, "you're talking about five feet of water on Main Street as being included in the flood plain". If that should be the case when the final flood plain information is completed, it would virtually put a lid on any future building or major remodeling in the downtown area as well as a good portion of the residential community. When asked if there were any recourse for getting around the flood plain restrictions if the dam is not built, Hickok said, "I really don't see any." Still, for some residents, the threat of economic stagnation is tempered by another threat on an emotional level of living beneath an earth-filled dam. The Corp representa tives came to '.the meeting armed with the technical . information and assurances that the project was sound. Roediger described the pro the area be assured that if the dam were constructed, the flood plain would be elimi nated? , Steele said he thought a firm committment in that regards could be made. Corp of Engineers studies have shown that Willow Creek is able to handle the waters of Shobe Canyon in the event of a flood since extensive work in the drainage has been done. The flood plain as it stands now will ham a serious effect on Heppner The flood problem for down town Heppner comes after waters from Willow Creek, Balm Fork and Shobe Canyon come together. Steele said construction of the dam would control the waters of Balm Fork and Willow Creek, thereby limit ing the flood plain to within a few feet of the channel through town. What if the City of Heppner refused to pass the ordinance required by the flood insur ance program. "Simply, the City of Hepp ner wouldn't be in compliance with the flood insurance program and flood insurance would not be available to residents or businessmen," said Steele. Without flood insurance pro tection, individuals would not be able to borrow money from commercial lending institu tions for construction of busi- ject as "essentially for flood control" and added it would provide protection for a dis charge of the 500 to 700 year frequency. The dam would be capable of containing 11,500 acre-feet of water although most of the time a 2,000 acre-foot pool would be main tained. The project has been classi fied as a multi-purpose facili ty, rather than strictly a flood control project, which makes it eligible for increased fed eral funding. Roediger said without the multi-purpose tag, approximately $500,000 to $600,000 for real estate pur chases and roadway reloca tion would have to be acquired from sources other than the federal government. Roediger estimated the total cost of the project at $22.4 million up $7.1 million from the 1974 estimate but added that only $138,000 would be non-federal costs. He said the financial responsibilities of local residents would be limited to the recreational aspects of the project which could include a park area and boat ramps. Several funding options are open to preclude the need of any of the dam money coming directly from city or county coffers. With the dam holding poten tial benefits from both recrea tional and irrigation stand points,' the thrust of the issue still is wrapped up in the flood nesses or homes within the flood plain, because those institutions are federally in sured. HUD officials are currently "blinking their eyes" as new construction goes on in Hepp ner but under the law they could be enforcing some provisions of the ordinance at this time. Because a study of the flood Stories by Jim Summers & Terry Hager plain. Barrett said the dam, as proposed, would completely controll the flow from both Willow Creek and Balm Fork, thereby "shrinking the flood plain from those two to zero". Heppner would still be faced with possible restrictions from Shobe Canyon and Hinton Crek but Barratt said there was "a strong possibility that flood waters would be con tained in the creek channel". "What you saw coming out of Shobe Creek in 1971 was equivalent to a 100-year dis charge and with the addition of drainage ditches up the canyon since then, I think it's safe to say that the overflow would be minimal," Barrett said. After the presentations were made and questions were answered, a show of hands from the 60 persons in attendance showed nearly a two-to-one preference for pro ceeding with the project. "It's an effort we (Sen. Hatfield's office) would under take only if you wanted us to," Hickok said. "Mark Hatfield is not in the business of ramming projects down peo ple's throats the best thing to do would be not to touch it with a ten-foot pole." Hickok said there are no assurances of success, "but there is an assurance that the effort will be put forth" if a strong enough mandate dem- j onstrated. plain is being conducted at this time by the Corp of Engineers, the City of Hepp ner and HUD are forestalling passage of the ordinance. Asked if the new flood plain study would lower the existing flood plain, Steele indicated the effect would be minimal. w c f , ' It The area within the white lines on the above photograph show the approximate flood plain for Heppner those portions of the city in which construction or extensive remodeling will be restricted under an ordinance the City Council will be required to adopt within the next year. The line drawing below shows the exact flood plain as used by commercial lending institutions and the Flood Insurance Administration. The flood plain and ordinance are required before the federal government will provide flood insurance for businesses and homes. If the City of Heppner does not pass the ordinance, flood insurance will not be available in Heppner and consequently, individuals would not be able to ZONE A ""VHf(Z0NE AlKLlmlF- 121975 pt pyjt 112373 ? 0? I O Ji. a. V S - it '!!! u c" 'r n V '':V''- - zone a Tu.ft bstFr5 L-'-' hX T n rJ i ? :Us V A vjyjj fciij ' fi" 'ft' ' m ZONE SjV 0 .Z.,97A8 121975 irTtaivm "rn r 1 I I 'A ZONE A v-?N 'A- m Mil iii niiff - ' -tj hat is the flood plain ? ; . v t3 -i' V .-f.:W' Iilii-n hi frrnr-m-i . . ii VllHi ikt)m borrow money from commercial lending institutions without meeting rigid construction requirements. Federal officials have stated that about the only way for Heppner to eliminate the flood plain would be with the construction of the Willow Creek Dam, a controversial and emotional issue that is once again before the residents of Heppner. Senator Mark Hatfield's office has said funding of the Willow Creek Dam project could be included in this year's Public Works Appropriation Bill and indications are that funds would probably be made available for construction. In order for funds to be appropriated, city and county officials would have to indicate their support to the Senator by mid-March, about 30 days from now. A public meeting, sponsored by the Heppner-Morrow County Chamber of Commerce, is tentatively planned for the last week in February from which city and couty officials will make their decision. At a meeting last week there was talk of putting the issue before voters on an "advisory ballot" but legal requirements in publicizing the "advisory ballot" do not allow enough time. 1 , jA .9 j0
