Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2006)
97403 Bessie Wetzell Newspaper Library University o f Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Speedway developers begin push for ‘activity tax’ in North Morrow County Steve Brucker, Sr. V ice President of Oregon International Speedway, gives a presentation to the Willow Creek Valley Economic Development Croup and members of the public on March l.OIS is proposing to build a NASCAR style speedway near Boardman. VOL. 125 NO. 12 8 Pages Wednesday, March 22,2006 On May 16 Morrow County voters will be asked to approve a sales tax that will be used to pay for road and utility improvements at a proposed speedway to be built near Boardman. O nly p eople a tte n d in g ev en ts at the speedway would pay the tax, which would be levied on g oods and serv ices p u rc h a se d w ithin the speedway activity district, a 4,000-acre parcel west of Boardman adjacent to the Tower Road exit on 1-84 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon where the racetrack would be built. Developers say the speedway will be a motor sports complex designed to accommodate major league racing, including NASCAR, drag racing, truck and other types of motor racing. The tax would be 8 percent levied on certain goods and services, with .5 percent of the tax going to Morrow County to pay for collection costs, and the other 7.5 percent being used to pay off bonds sold by the developm ent com pany to construct roads and other infrastructure. Neither the taxing area or the amount of the tax could be changed without voter approval. M orrow C ounty C o m m issio n e r John Wenholz said several weeks ago that if voters turn down the tax, the speedway would not be built, however Bill Gardner of DiGard Racing, an investor in the racetrack, said it would “make it more d iffic u lt" to lo cate the speedw ay in M orrow County if the tax were not ap p ro v ed . G a rd n er said o th e r sites are under c o n sid e ra tio n for the speedway, and incentives are being o ffered by those locations. Oregon International Speedw ay (O IS ) is the corporation building the speedw ay, and representatives have been atte n d in g m eetin g s in Morrow County to explain the speedway and proposed tax. Steve Brucker, sr. vice John Ballard announces DA candidacy Leprechauns were everywhere in Heppner over the weekend during the 24th Annual St. Patrick’s Day in Heppner Celebration. More pictures and stories inside. City defers log truck decision to committee The Heppner City Council put off a vote on an amendment to an ordinance which would officially allow truck owners to park their trucks at their residences and instead opted to form a com m ittee to attem pt to settle a dispute between log truck ow ners and th eir neighbors. The city had a ttem p ted to rev ise the ordinance to bring it in line with current practice. Law enforcement had declined to take action b ecause the ordinance had been routinely ignored. Differences between the truck drivers and some neighbors became apparent when Mike Bergstrom of 20 Canyon Drive in Heppner complained to the city about early morning noise in his neighborhood caused by a log truck owner who parks his vehicle at his home in the v icinity. B ergstrom presented a letter to the council asking that the city not change the ordinance reg ard in g tru ck s in residential neighborhoods. He said that the noise c re a te d by the tru ck s “disrupts the quality of life as well as the sleep o f residents” and added that m any stre ets are “substandard” or in "poor repair” and many are too narrow for tru ck s. He suggested that the truck owners park their vehicles in other areas, such as the grain elevator on Riverside Street. He also said that his property has had some landscaping damage as a result o f the truck. B ergstrom 's letter was signed by around 20 people, however, according to Heppner Mayor Tim Van C leave, several called to have their names removed from the list prior to the meeting. Bergstrom said that his complaint was "never meant to be personal" and added, "I'm sorry it's gotten this far out of hand." Truck owner Donna Ball. 240 Summit Drive, said that she had asked numerous families in her neighborhood prior to estab lish in g the trucking business that she and her husband, Gary, own. She said that they try to be c o n sid e ra te of th eir neighbors and most of their neighbors told her that they John Ballard John L. B allard, Attorney at Law, has entered the three-way political race for the position of Morrow County District Attorney. Ballard has been an attorney since 1997, bringing with him nine years of experience. Ballard presently is in private practice in the firm of Ballard and Gushwa. LLP. He has experience in criminal and family law. Ballard received his Ju ris D octor (w ith distinction) from University of North Dakota School of Law and his bachelor of arts (summa cum laude) from POLARIS DARE TO COMPARE U P TO $ 5 0 0 R E B A T E (or wlnoh credit) on select Polaris ATV models continued page two ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE: MONDAYS AT 5:00 P.M. Buena Vista College, Iowa. Ballard is seeking the position of District Attorney for Morrow County because he feels there is a desperately needed change of administration. Ballard has seen the last eight years increase in problems with M etham phetam ine in the sm aller E astern O regon towns. He feels the police are do in g the jo b , the prosecutors there were not. Ballard wants the citizens of M orrow C ounty treated equally and fairly, bringing strength back to the district attorney's office. Ballard is known in the legal community for his straight talk, down to earth presence. He will stand up for the com m unity and citizens of Morrow County. If elected d istrict attorney, Ballard stated he plans to work closely with schools and senior citizens to help protect the county's most vulnerable citizens. "I will place a special emphasis upon vigorous prosecution of drug crimes, burglaries, id e n tity th efts and w ill protect the rights of crime victims. My work in the legal field has ranged from traffic violations to M easure 11 crimes,” said Ballard. president of OIS, along with Bill G ard n er o f D iG ard Racing, both principals in OIS, attended the Willow C reek V alley E conom ic D evelopm ent G ro u p meeting March 1, putting on a program and answering questions about the raceway and the proposed tax. Oregon International Speedw ay is a group o f m otor sp o rts in d u stry investors led by Gardner, form er N A SC A R team owner and owner of DiGard R acing. G a rd n e r’s NASCAR career include his 1983 NASCAR W inston Cup C ham pion win with Bobby Allison as his driver, his 43 NASCAR Cup Series wins and his 1982 Daytona 500 win. DiGard lists its offices at 4040 Galt Ocean Drive in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. OIS has entered into an agreement with the Port of Morrow for OIS to either purchase or lease several parcels of land in the Tower Road area of Boardman. The land w ould be used to d ev elo p not only the raceway, but other possible d ev elo p m en ts in clu d in g restaurants and hotels. D evelopers o f the race track say the facility will benefit Morrow County by providing new jobs. OIS says phase one of the project will add between 100 and 200 full time family wage jobs in the county area for operation of the facility, and w ill also c reate 750 construction jobs for three years w hen construction starts. OIS also says the speedw ay w ill a ttra c t a variety of related businesses, such as motor sport-related manufacturing, retail outlets, tourist attractions and motor sport-related entertainment. OIS says that phase one o f the p ro ject w ill include an 81,5 0 0 seat grandstand with 60 luxury suites, a 1.2 mile banked speedway, a 5/8 mile oval race track, 2.5 mile road course, drag strip, go kart track , RV park and campground, space for retail stores and restaurants, plus utilities, infrastructure and road development needed to support the speedway. They estimate that the facilities w ould be used approximately 200 days a year. OIS believes the first phase of the project would be completed in late 2008. LIP TO « 1 , 5 0 0 REBATE o n purchase o f n e w P o l a r i s s n o w m o b i l e s Morrow County Grain Growers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm equipm ent, visit our web (ite at w w w m egg net
