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A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018 NEWS Northgate project still under consideration for Echo By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS The new addition for the Echo School cost $8 million, funded by a school bond and matching funds from the state. Echo School dedicates new space By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN STAFF WRITER A new addition to Echo schools will be enjoyed by all the city’s residents. About 150 people gathered on Aug. 22 to celebrate the school’s new facility, which includes new classrooms and a new gymnasium, art room, wood and welding shop, public workout room and community center. “This is meant to encompass what a small community is,” said Ray- mon Smith, superintendent of Echo School District. “To meet all the needs of the community, not just one aspect.” The project, on which construction began in July 2017, cost $8 million and was funded half by a school bond and half by a grant from the state. After the ribbon-cutting, students and their families toured the new facility and visited their new teachers and classrooms. Sophomore Zoe Rus- sell said she was excited STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS A group of Echo fifth- graders hang out in their new classroom on Wednesday during an open house for the new addition of the Echo School. to have a school and a gym that was on par with other districts. “It’s really cool and modern,” she said. “I just like the space.” Keith Holman, Echo School principal and shop teacher, said the new space will allow Echo students more opportunities. “It’s given us room to do the things we’ve always wanted to do,” he said. Holman added that the new rooms don’t accom- modate more students at the school, but the district has grown. “Right now, we have a NEW 2018 HIGHLANDER AWD LE 0 DOWN $ waiting list from kindergar- ten to eighth grade,” he said. “Not that we don’t want students, but our school board has been big that we keep small numbers.” He said Echo School currently has about 300 students. He said the new space will help accommodate other activities, where pre- viously teachers would have to conduct testing or reading activities with stu- dents in cramped spaces or busy areas. “Now, we have rooms for that,” he said. “It’s given us an upgrade.” He added that starting this year, every student from sixth to 12th grade will receive a Chromebook laptop computer. If they get through school and grad- uate, they get to keep the Chromebook. The entrance to the new building is a community center called Pioneer Hall. Smith said Echo’s senior citizens had been looking for a place to gather, and this will allow them to do so. 377 $ The city of Echo is still getting its ducks in a row to potentially welcome a major development on the north side of the city. The proposed 132-acre development could include as many as 48 homes, a hotel, RV park, commercial and industrial projects and ampitheater. Developer Kent Madi- son briefly shared a mas- ter plan for the Northgate project at a Thursday city council meeting, but said he doesn’t want to pull the trig- ger on it unless zoning, sys- tem development charges, annexation into the city and other issues are worked out and the project pencils out financially. The property — cur- rently dryland wheat — sits along Thielsen Street between the Interstate 84 interchange and the Echo Heights subdivision. Mad- ison is proposing the proj- ect be annexed into the city and zoning to be adjusted to allow for commercial and residential development on the west side and light industrial to the east. The zoning would be subject to approval by Oregon’s Land Conser- vation and Development Commission. “What I don’t want to do is have this master plan, purchase the property and then have LCDC say ‘No, you can’t have that,’” Mad- ison said. City administrator Diane Berry said they may have to do some trade-outs, or agree to higher-density res- idential development, but city staff could assist Mad- ison in putting together the application. Madison does not own the property yet, but said he has an agreement with the owner to buy it if the STAFF PHOTO BY JADE MCDOWELL. Property on either side of Thielsen Street, the main road leading from Stanfield to Echo, would be included in the Northgate Project. Northgate project is deemed feasible. He has already invested significant money into engineering reports and other due diligence and has been meeting with the Ore- gon Department of Trans- portation on what changes would be needed to Thiel- sen Street, which leads into Echo from Stanfield. During Thursday’s meet- ing Ed Hibbard of Ander- son Perry engineering firm presented a system devel- opment charge study that sets the groundwork for the city to be able to charge sys- tem development fees on new developments. System development charges on new developments can be used to pay for new infra- structure such as water lines or to reimburse cit- ies for infrastructure that was already built with extra capacity in anticipation of future growth. Based on complex calcu- lations about Echo’s current infrastructure and future needs, Hibbard said Echo could justifiably charge $13,060 per “equivalent res- idential unit,” or the amount of water and sewer capacity that one house would typ- ically use. The number of equivalent residential units that the Northgate project comes out to would depend on what type of commercial and industrial projects the development attracts. Berry said Echo was probably one of the last cities in Oregon to imple- ment system development charges because “nothing” has been happening in Echo development-wise so it wasn’t really needed. “Basically, your poten- tial development spurred the change,” she told Madison. The city council will vote at a future meeting on whether the city will charge the amount listed in the Anderson Perry report or, like most cities, reduce that number so it doesn’t pres- ent as much of a barrier to development. After the meeting Mad- ison said that Echo was “moving in the right direc- tion” as far as laying the groundwork for new devel- opment and even if in the end the Madisons decide not to go forward with the proj- ect they will feel like they helped the city prepare for other future development. “It’s moving slower than we’d like, but that’s OK,” he said. /MO On Approved Credit stk# 18H864. New 2018 Toyota Highlander AWD LE. MSRP $37,915. Sale $35,529. $500 Toyota Financial Service Rebate. 36month/12k miles per year lease with $0 down = $377/mo. On approved credit. Net cap cost: $36,055.25. GFV $23,128. Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. No security deposit required. Offer expires 8/31/18. NEW 2018 CAMRY SE 288 0 $ /MO On Approved Credit $ DOWN stk# 18H901. New 2018 Toyota Camry se. MSRP $26,524. $1,000 Toyota Financial Service Rebate. 12k miles per year lease with $0 cash down = $288/mo. On approved credit. Net cap cost: $24,684.20. Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. 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