Planning commission says no
to lot division
HEPPNER
G T
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azette
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VOL. 139
NO. 24 8 Pages
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
No dog park for Willow View Drive
By David Sykes
The Heppner city
Planning Commission last
Monday turned down a
request from city manager
Kraig Cutsforth to parti-
tion a county-owned lot
on Willow View Drive in
preparation for turning the
property into a city dog
park. Twenty-eight people
signed a petition against the
partition and about a dozen
came to the public hearing.
No one spoke in favor of the
proposal.
“As residents and prop-
erty owners in this neigh-
HES staff and teachers give students a
summer send off
Teachers and staff line up with their vehicles getting ready to make the first trip to visit the homes of all 188 of their students.
-Photo by David Sykes.
The staff and teachers of Heppner Elementary School (HES) gave their students a special summer send off last
week when they took to the road and visited the homes of each and every one of them. Of course because of the
Covid-19 shutdown students and teachers have been physically separated from each other, but that didn’t stop staff
and teachers from wishing their students a happy summer.
With signs reading “Have a Great Summer!” and “We love You” they piled in their cars and took off to visit
each student’s home. It took two days to visit all 188 students.
borhood we object to this
proposal to partition this
property as it would violate
the spirit and intent of the
original agreement with
the county for the use of
this property,” the petition
said. Other residents who
testified in person said they
did not want the lot divided,
saying it may open up the
area for other development
unfavorable to the neigh-
borhood.
The reason for the par-
tition request and dog park
proposal can be traced back
to other property located
at the former Kinzua Mill
site. The sheriff’s office
has been leasing a build-
ing on the Port of Morrow
owned site for quite some
time, using it for emergen-
cy services equipment and
storage. The sheriff’s office
uses a metal building on the
property to park vehicles
and other uses. As part of
its lease with the port, the
county has an agreement
that if the property were to
receive an offer to purchase,
the county would have what
is called “first right of re-
fusal.” If the port receives
an offer to purchase the
property, then the county
would be able to buy the
land at that same agreed
upon price.
Morrow County Com-
missioner Melissa Lindsay
and Port of Morrow Com-
missioner John Murray
indicated, at an earlier com-
mission meeting, that there
is an opportunity for a new
business to locate at the
Heppner considers donation of Riverside property
to county
Land next to fire hall would go towards new Emergency Management facilities
By David Sykes
The Heppner City
Council is looking favor-
ably on a proposal to donate
a lot next to the firehall on
Riverside to the county for
use as its new Emergency
Management facility. The
proposal to donate the land
came after a plan to trade it
for a county owned parcel
in the Lott Addition fizzled
out. The county wants the
Riverside land on which to
move its Emergency Man-
agement facility from the
old mill site. The county
is currently leasing that
building from the Port of
Morrow, which owns the
mill site, but has been told
there is an offer to purchase
that building so the county
must find a new location.
Originally the city had
planned to swap the Riv-
erside land for the Lott’s
Addition property and then
turn that property into a dog
park. However, the idea met
with such formidable op-
position from homeowners
in the area it was dropped.
(See related planning com-
mission story).
At Monday’s coun-
cil meeting, City Manag-
er Kraig Cutsforth said
the Riverside property is
“prime for the building
structure the county is
wanting to construct.” He
said the current firehall
takes about one third of
the lot leaving more than
enough room to build a new
structure for the county. He
said the land was a donation
to the city from the Morrow
County Grain Growers for
this type of use. “I would
suggest that the city donate
a portion of the lot that
meets the county’s needs.
This would be less than
one third of the lot, leaving
plenty of space for any
future expansion of either
structure,” he said in his
report to the council. Cuts-
forth also said the donation
would make “a small ges-
ture” toward the $250,000
that the city has received
from the county in helping
with infrastructure needs
over the past four years. He
estimated the value of the
city lot in the $10 to $15
thousand range.
Mayor Jim Kindle sug-
gested that when the city
makes its final deal for the
property transfer a clause
might be added that in the
future if the county moves
off the property for some
reason, ownership would
revert back to the city. Fire
Chief Steve Rhea said he
did not have a problem
with the land donation and
that the fire department
would still “have more than
enough room to expand the
fire hall if we needed to.”
The council agreed it
was a good thing and voted
unanimously to make the
100 X 100-ft parcel “avail-
able” to the county.
In a related matter,
Cutsforth announced that
because of public opposi-
tion the planned dog park
in the Lott’s addition should
be dropped. “This oppo-
sition leads me to believe
the dog park proposal is a
NIMBY (not in my back
yard) and should not be pur-
sued by the council at this
time,” he said. Following
the announcement Heppner
The city of Heppner is considering donating a piece of city-owned property next to the firehall
to Morrow County as a site for a new Emergency Management facility.
resident Sally Walker said
she thinks Heppner still
needs a dog park but says
a better location would be
by the old swimming pool
at Cannon and S. Main
Streets. Walker said she is
prepared to raise money and
recruit people for the work
necessary to make it “a nice
place people can take their
dogs.” She said there would
be upcoming articles in the
newspaper explaining her
ideas and plans for the park.
In other business the
council heard from Barb
Orwick of the Neighbor-
hood Center, who said be-
cause of the Coronavirus
lockdown there have been
fewer donations coming
in and no opportunity
for the center to have its
doors open to the public to
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sell items. She said at the
same time because there
are more people recently
unemployed there is an in-
crease in need for food from
the center. She asked the
council and people in the
audience to remember now
that pandemic restrictions
are lifting to continue to
support the Neighborhood
Center.
In other action Cuts-
forth announced that city
hall would be re-opening
its doors to the public Tues-
day morning following
the pandemic lock down.
“I’ll be opening up tomor-
row morning,” he told the
council.
industrial park, but the new
businesses needs the land
on which the emergency
building sits. The business
apparently has a pending
sale with the port. Rath-
er than lose an economic
development opportunity,
the county has decided not
to purchase the property
with its first right of refusal
option, and instead seek
another property to move
its emergency management
facilities.
The county has deter-
mined a piece of property
owned by the city located
next to the fire hall on Riv-
erside behind Devin Oil
would work for its emer-
gency management facility.
The city, however, had
planned to use that property
for a dog park. To free up
the property, the county
proposed a swap of the
city-owned Riverside prop-
erty for the county-owned
lot next to the sheriff ’s
office. That lot could then
be turned into the dog park.
To make this swap hap-
pen, however, the coun-
ty-owned property on Wil-
low View Drive had to
first be divided, since it is
included in one tax lot with
the existing sheriff’s office.
Cutsforth agreed to be the
petitioner on behalf of the
county to request the lot
division from the city.
People at the public
hearing last Monday night
said they did not want a
dog park there, saying the
land was fine the way it has
been for many years. They
also learned that funding
for the dog park had been
withdrawn following the
public opposition.
With the dog park idea
dead, residents of the neigh-
borhood still wondered,
however, if the land could
be divided in the future
and other developments
placed there. Cutsforth said
there was actually no legal
basis for the denial of his
land partition request, and
that the denial could be
construed as a “taking”
by the city. Cutsforth said
according to city ordinance
the county could have a
basis for appeal to the city
council of the planning
commission decision. He
did not say the county had
instructed him or given him
any indication to appeal the
decision. He added that he
brought the request to the
planning commission only
because he wanted a forum
to gauge public consent for
the dog park. “I found out,”
he said, adding that he was
receiving “three phone calls
a day” in opposition to the
park.
It was pointed out that
the lot is zoned residential
and approved only for sin-
gle family homes. If it were
to eventually be divided
Cutsforth said any other
use, such as multi-family or
commercial, would need to
come to the planning com-
mission for approval.
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