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
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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
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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.
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