EASTERN OREGON SEES PROGRESS ON HOUSING, JOBS AND MORE, INSIDE
HermistonHerald.com
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2019
$1.00
INSIDE
BAG BAN
Local retailers are
preparing the switch to
paper bags and other
alternatives after the state
legislature banned single-
use plastic grocery bags.
PAGE A3
FIRST YEAR
Athletic director Larry
Usher looks back on the
Hermiston School District’s
fi rst year in the WIAA.
PAGE A8
PAVING THE WAY
FOR
NEW BUSINESS
Hermiston city council considers
funding strategies for new roads
JACKPOT
Community editor Tammy
Malgesini muses on the
moment she thought she
had won the lottery.
PAGE A10
BY THE WAY
Tickets
available for
Stars and
Stripes
Tickets for the Stars
and Stripes Pool Party,
which offers the best seat
in the house during Herm-
iston’s fi reworks dis-
play, must be purchased
by Wednesday, July 3 (or
until sold out). They are
$16 for ages 15 and older
or $12 for ages 2-14. The
July 4 pool party runs from
6-10:30 p.m. at Hermis-
ton Family Aquatic Cen-
ter. It includes swimming,
live music and a catered
barbecue meal. Purchase
tickets at www.hermis-
ton.or.us/parks-recreation/
home or the aquatic cen-
ter, 879 W. Elm Ave.
Also, Butte Park will
offer free activities during
the day/evening. Be sure
to see the July 3 Hermis-
ton Herald for informa-
tion about area Fourth of
July activities.
• • •
Several Echo stu-
dents, under the direction
of teacher Brandi Rus-
sell, were recognized for
their efforts in the Oregon
History Day contest. The
state qualifying contest,
which was open to stu-
dents in sixth through 12th
grade, was held April 27 at
Oregon Episcopal School
See BTW, Page A2
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
The site of a proposed road linking Northeast Fourth Street and
Highway 395 in Hermiston across the street from Home Depot.
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
H
ERMISTON — If you build it, will
they come?
That’s the question Hermiston
city councilors grappled with Mon-
day night as they discussed whether to go
after funding for two new roads leading to
commercial and industrial land.
Ready-made access to property makes it
more attractive to potential developers. But
there is no guarantee that once a new road is
built that the expense will pay off — some-
thing Pendleton knows well after spending
$9.5 million to construct Barnhart Road in
2009.
A decade later, the promised new devel-
opment there has yet to materialize.
“I think we need to be careful, because the
‘build it and they will come’ model hasn’t
worked well in Eastern Oregon,” Hermiston
city councilor John Kirwan said Monday.
The roads the council discussed Monday
would be smaller than Barnhart Road and not
be paid for by loans, however.
Commercial access
During a work session Monday, city staff
presented a plan that would increase access
to about 15 acres of undeveloped commer-
cial property on the north side of Walmart.
Currently the land has access off of North-
east Fourth Street, but staff are proposing a
new road that would run east-west along the
property, connecting Fourth Street to High-
way 395 just north of Roger’s Toyota and
giving potential businesses coveted access to
Hermiston’s busiest traffi c corridor.
“Our biggest challenge is 395 frontage,”
assistant city manager Mark Morgan said of
recruiting new retailers and restaurants to
Hermiston. “They want direct visibility and
frontage on 395.”
He said businesses often take into account
traffi c fl ow when deciding where to locate.
One popular restaurant chain told the city
it won’t locate anywhere where fewer than
25,000 vehicles pass per day, and Hermis-
ton’s busiest intersection (Elm Avenue and
Highway 395) only sees 22,000 trips per day.
The new intersection with Highway
395 would include a traffi c signal. A possi-
“Our biggest challenge is 395
frontage. They [new retailers
and restaurants] want direct
visibility and frontage on 395.”
Mark Morgan ,
Assistant city manager
ble second phase of the project would add
a road across from the traffi c signal running
in a north-south direction, connecting The-
ater Lane to Harper Road in front of Home
Depot.
The project could be paid for in two ways:
a local improvement district or an urban
renewal district.
With an LID, the city would come up with
a formula to split the cost of the new road
among the project’s neighbors and place
See BUSINESS, Page A14
Jail renovation among projects in capital construction bill
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
HH fi le photo
8
08805 93294
2
Jail uniforms sit out on a rack in the booking area at the Umatilla County Jail
in Pendleton.
Amid rapid developments in the
Oregon legislature Tuesday, several
Eastern Oregon counties got good
news out of the capital construction
committee.
Two capital construction bills,
headed for a vote in the House and
the Senate, contain several million
dollars for Eastern Oregon projects
— including $1.6 million for a ren-
ovation of the Umatilla County Jail.
“I’m elated,” Sheriff Terry
Rowan said.
He had lobbied for the funding
in 2017 but did not get it.
The project will help the jail bet-
ter accommodate inmates brought
in with a medical issue, drug addic-
tion or mental illnesses. Rowan said
that “volatile” population was land-
ing in jail more often these days
and the current setup inside the jail
isn’t equipped with an area where
inmates in crisis could be tem-
porarily housed while they were
stabilized.
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner,
said the jail funding was his “num-
ber one issue” going into the capital
construction funding process.
The jail in Pendleton lies outside
of District 57 but serves much of
Smith’s district. He said he worked
with Rep. Greg Barreto, R-Cove,
and Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, on
getting the jail and other priorities
for the region funded.
“I think folks are going to fi nd
we had a pretty successful session,”
See RENOVATION, Page A14