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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2019)
NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2019 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9 Public divided on ‘road diet’ in Stanfi eld By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR STANFIELD — Oregon Department of Transportation employees worked hard on Thurs- day to convince Stanfi eld resi- dents they would benefi t from hav- ing fewer lanes on Highway 395 through town, but there were still skeptics in the crowd. One man argued with engineers for several minutes in the middle of the presentation before storm- ing out of the meeting. “If nothing’s broken why are you trying to fi x it?” he asked before leaving. During 2021 ODOT plans to grind the top 2 inches off of High- way 395 from Hermiston through Stanfi eld and replace it with new pavement. As part of the project, funded through ODOT’s general fund, they will be adding bulb- outs at crosswalks, ADA-compli- ant wheelchair ramps and other improvements through Stanfi eld. The department has proposed a “road diet” through downtown Stanfi eld as well, taking Highway 395 down from fi ve lanes to three. The curb-to-curb width of the highway would remain the same, but the road would be re-striped to include a center turn lane and one travel lane in each direction instead of two. The extra space would turn into bike lanes and wider parking. Project manager Bryan Strasser said ultimately the decision was up to the city — ODOT wouldn’t force it on the community if the city council voted no. But he said Conceptual drawing by ODOT This conceptual drawing on display at a Stanfi eld community meeting shows how three lanes in downtown Stanfi eld might look. they felt a responsibility to share what the engineering and research showed was the best option. “If we lived here we would want it done,” he said. He and engineer Kevin Haas described benefi ts ODOT had seen in other road diets, including Mil- ton-Freewater, Cave Junction, Port Orford and Ashland. Haas said there had been a 19% to 47% reduction in crashes where the number of lanes had been reduced. People weren’t trying to make lefthand turns over so many lanes, they weren’t sideswiping each other and pedestrians weren’t in as much danger of being hit when one vehicle stopped for them but another tried to pass because they didn’t see the pedestrian. He said other cities had been skeptical too, but found traffi c actually fl owed better with the sin- gle lane in each direction and now people were thanking ODOT for the change. A couple of attendees voiced their support of the proposal, refer- encing the safety of their children walking to school and the oppor- tunities for drivers to notice local businesses if they slow down. Others, including city council- ors and the mayor, asked detailed questions during the two-hour meeting and expressed concerns that the proposed change would create a bottleneck and make it more diffi cult for residents pull- ing out onto the highway. Coun- cilor Scott Challis asked whether the other communities has as short of city blocks on their highway as Stanfi eld, or as much truck traffi c. “With the short blocks and heavy trucks we’re going to have some backup. ... Not trying to bring you down, but I think we have a different scenario here,” he said. Others said much of the traf- fi c through Stanfi eld was com- muter traffi c, and they didn’t want to unnecessarily delay people on the way to their jobs. Mayor Tom McCaan also said he wasn’t sure two lanes would actually slow people down, and referenced his days on the police force decades ago when Highway 395 was only two lanes. “We’d catch people going through at 70 miles per hour in the middle of the day,” he said. Haas said the brief road diet through the center of Stanfi eld would be a much different scenario than the old two-lane days. The center turn lane would keep peo- ple from getting backed up behind someone trying to turn, and he said people should get less impatient when the three-lane confi guration was only for about a mile instead of “making people wait 20 miles to pass a truck.” ODOT is leaving the choice of a road diet up to the city of Stan- fi eld — a decision city council- ors have yet to make. Challis said he was asking so many questions because he was trying to make an informed decision. “I want to commend you guys — the council, staff and general public — because you’re asking the right questions,” Haas said. He encouraged them to speak with Milton-Freewater city offi - cials about how they liked their new road diet, and also reminded the council that the striping would be relatively easy to undo if the new confi guration didn’t work out. Greater Hermiston Community Foundation looks forward to giving By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR W hen the Greater Hermiston Com- munity Founda- tion started a little more than a year ago, its found- ers weren’t sure how long it would take before they could start the fun part: giv- ing away money. That part is almost here. The foundation plans to take applications this fall and award its fi rst grants in early 2020 after hitting the $200,000 mark earlier this year. “That was a huge mile- stone,” vice-chair Nate Rivera said. “We were thrilled to reach that goal in that timeline.” The Greater Hermiston Community Foundation is a 501©3 charity started by Hermiston residents who wanted to help people give back to the community in a lasting way. The founda- tion’s main component is an endowment fund, where money will be held in trust and the interest earned from the fund will perpetually generate money for commu- nity projects. The GHCF will also be able to open separate accounts to collect direct donations for specifi c proj- ects. For example, once the city of Hermiston is ready to actively solicit donations for the rebuild of Funland Play- ground, the foundation will collect tax-exempt dona- tions and pass 100% of the money on to the city. The account will be an option for large corporations and others that have policies against giving directly to cities to avoid a confl ict of interest. Board treasurer Dennis Barnett said those involved in the foundation made the commitment to donate time, website costs, printing and all other overhead costs in-kind instead of using money from donations. “There’s not a dollar of administration in this,” he said. “No overhead.” Barnett said in addition to donations the foundation has in hand, a few of Herm- iston’s more well-off current and former residents have also written the foundation into their will. He said the time for a bequeathment opportunity like the GHCF is ripe, given the timeline of how the city has grown. “We will have a lot of wealth that will be transi- tioning for the fi rst time in Hermiston,” he said. While there are local foundations that focus on specifi c areas, such as health or education, the Greater Hermiston Foundation will be more broad in scope. Rivera said they will be looking more toward brick- and-mortar projects than events to make the most impact in the greater Herm- iston area. “We have a lot of fl exi- bility in what we can fund,” he said. The board will come up with an application form and list of criteria this fall, then award its fi rst grant in early 2020. Their next fundraising goal is to take the endowment fund up to $500,000. 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