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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2015)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9 FROM PAGE A7 RULES: continued from page A7 amend the document before making a recommendation to the City Council for approval. City Planner Clint Spencer researched similar ordinanc- es in other cities to create the initial language for the pro- posal, which the Community Enhancement Committee re- viewed and revised to its cur- TOUR continued from page A7 and metal shops and other career and technical class- es with John Day School Board member Mike Cos- grove. At the end of their day, they visited the home students are building through the Columbia Ba- sin Student Homebuilders Program. During the tour of the stu- dent home site, a couple of students were working on the siding and showing Cai’an how they were connecting the wiring, heating and air condi- tioning systems and generally rent form, Morgan said. He said, although the current draft focuses mostly on com- mercial zones, multi-family residential developments, such as apartment complexes, will be included in the ordinance, whereas single-family homes would not be impacted. He said developments would be required to landscape 3 percent of the property in the downtown commercial zone and 6 percent in the outlying commercial zone. ¿QLVKLQJWKHUHVWRIWKHKRXVH Cai’an said he thought the project was a great opportuni- ty for students. “This is really good,” he said. Cai’an also asked Curt Berger, the teacher oversee- ing the project, a number of questions. Berger explained to Cai’an the students were involved in every step of the project, even some of the el- ements they are not able to do themselves, such as the URR¿QJ DQG FRQQHFWLRQV RI gas pipes, which are done by licensed contractors and work crews. “They practice on their own, or they are right there Businesses in the downtown zone that cannot install traditional land- scaping can satisfy requirements by using other features, such as hanging baskets, fountains, dec- orative lighting, planter boxes or outdoor seating, according to the draft ordinance. “There will be some credits for all of these,” Morgan said. “Based on the site, it may be impossible to put in additional landscaping. Obviously, there isn’t that much space in the downtown for putting watching as it all happens,” he said. 6WDQ¿HOG MXQLRU 1DWKDQ +XUW\RQHRIWKHWZR6WDQ¿HOG students working on the proj- ect, guided Cai’an through the house and showed him the different rooms and what the students and Berger liked to call the “wow factors” of the house. Cai’an said he was im- in a lawn.” Morgan said the proposed or- dinance would also require land- scaping on 3 percent or 10,000 square feet of industrial devel- opment property, whichever is smaller. He said the visual impact of the ordinance on the city will be determined when new develop- ment takes place in the city. “This was all a direction from the (City) Council to the Commu- nity Enhancement Committee to pressed the house includes all the special amenities it does, from a spot in the living room for an 80-inch television, an RV hook-up on the side of the house, a place for a hot tub on the back deck and exposed wooden beams that line the 17-foot ceilings in the living room. Cai’an said one thing he liked, in particular, was get- address aesthetics and curb ap- peal of the community,” he said. “The direction that we got was not to make this any kind of ret- roactive requirement or anything like that, but putting this in place pretty much creates the stand- point of ‘Yeah, we may not be able to go back in and get some properties cleaned up with this ordinance, but you’ve got to start somewhere.’ If this is approved, it would likely have a big impact in the long run.” ting to see not only see how students are building, but also how homes are built in the United States in general. In China, he said, families live in apartments, which are built primarily with con- crete and brick. He said he has never seen wood used in a home’s construction be- fore. “We don’t have houses built out of wood where I live,” he said. Cai’an said he will share his experiences with his staff in China so they can learn about having programs like this in a school setting. He said he was impressed by what is happening in Herm- iston. “There are so many career opportunities here,” he said. MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO )URPOHIW&KLQHVH3ULQFLSDO'RQJ&DL·DQ6WDQÀHOGMXQLRU Nathan Hurty, Hermiston High School Principal Jocelyn Jones and Hermiston School District Executive Director of Special of Programs Jon Mishra look at one of the Columbia Basin Student Homebuilders Program’s list of building requirements IRUVWXGHQWV7KXUVGD\LQ+HUPLVWRQ ANIMALS: plaints against the shelter from several people at a re- cent City Council meeting. continued from page A7 City Manager Byron make a special trip for Smith said he met with four us, and they’re going to people after the meeting to take about five to 10 dogs obtain further details. for us,” he said. “I’m to- “They provided us with tally excited. One of the a lot of notes and some biggest stresses is large people that we could con- breeds that they weren’t tact to get further informa- willing to take in the past, tion about different things,” and they’re willing to take Smith said. “We’re just go- them now, so it’s kind of a ing to continue to do some game-changer. Sometimes research and looking into you just run out of room in VRPH RI WKH VSHFL¿F FRP- your shelter, and if they’re plaints. They have some willing to take them and VSHFL¿F VLWXDWLRQV ZKHUH put them up for adoption they think abuse has tak- in another facility, that’s en place. They have some super awesome.” VSHFL¿F VLWXDWLRQV ZKHUH Putnam said OHS uses they feel like an animal was a van to pick up the ani- euthanized before it should mals for free, and he is have been. They had a num- grateful for the opportu- ber of contacts of people nity. (and) suggestions of other He said pit bulls and ways that could be used to dogs that have been de- advertise the pets for adop- termined to be aggressive tion, those kinds of things. will not be accepted in the They feel like there’s not Second Chance Program, being enough done on that but he believes many ca- part.” QLQHV WKDW FRXOG QRW ¿QG Assistant City Man- a new home in Hermiston ager Mark Morgan said will ultimately be adopted city officials met with Pet elsewhere. Rescue officials but are “The least-adoptable still gathering informa- dogs are large mixed tion and are not ready to breeds, and they’re going report to the City Council to be taking them now, so yet. He anticipated the re- that’s really going to re- port will be presented at duce euthanasia rates (at the Feb. 9 meeting. Pet Rescue),” he said. Suzanne Phillips, who voiced her concerns to the council earlier this COMPLAINTS month and later met with AGAINST PET city officials, said she has “probably talked to RESCUE 100 people” who have Pet Rescue’s announced had bad experiences with participation in the Second Pet Rescue, and she has a Chance Program comes as long list of recommenda- +HUPLVWRQ FLW\ RI¿FLDOV tions. continue to research com- “The bottom line is MAEGAN MURRAY PHOTO Chinese Principal Dong Cai’an and John Day School Board member Mike Cosgrove get a tour of the Columbia Basin Student +RPHEXLOGHUVSURJUDP·VÀUVWVWXGHQWEXLOWKRPHIURP6WDQÀHOG6HFRQGDU\6FKRROMXQLRU1DWKDQ+XUW\ODVWZHHN they are killing animals, killing our pets, in spite of life-saving alterna- tives,” she said. “When they’re full, they just kill the animals. They don’t ask around to see if any- one can take them.” She said the animals available for adoption should be better adver- tised, all of the animals should be spayed or neu- tered, basic comforts should be provided, the shelter should accept more volunteers and an- imals should be trans- ferred to other shelters in- stead of being euthanized. Putnam said Pet Res- cue tries to list animals on PetFinder.com and spays and neuters ani- mals as funds allow. He said the shelter created a PayPal account to accept online donations, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be used to spay and neuter animals. Dona- tions can also be made at the shelter, 1844 N.W. Geer Road, Hermiston, between noon and 5 p.m. Mondays through Satur- days. He said the animals are warm and fed, and people can fill out appli- cations for the volunteer program at the shelter. People also have com- plained about the adop- tion and owner surrender prices, the annual rent the shelter pays and the condition of the kennels in the past. Some also re- ported they were turned down as volunteers, and some animals with micro- chips had been adopted out from the shelter. To prevent the micro- chip problem, Putnam said Pet Rescue recently purchased a new univer- sal microchip scanner that should detect all types of microchips, unlike a scanner previously used. 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