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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2019)
NEWS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 Tax incentives available for housing developers By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR A housing report com- piled by city of Hermiston staff has found tax incen- tives for subsidized hous- ing but few options for incentivizing developers to build market rate homes. “All of those are really targeted toward affordable housing,” City Manager Byron Smith said, adding that the city needs housing “of all types.” One option in the report presented to the city coun- cil last week is the New Market Tax Credit, which offers a federal tax credit to investors for certain types of projects in low-income census tracks. The credit is mostly for commercial development, but is avail- able for mixed-used proj- ects where less than 80% of the gross rental income is from residential units. Another federal tax credit is the Opportunity Zone credit, which applies to one of Hermiston’s cen- sus tracts west of High- way 395 between Orchard Avenue and South Punkin Center. It allows develop- ers to defer capital gains taxes on certain devel- opments, including res- idential, in low-income neighborhoods. The city could declare a portion of town a Ver- tical Housing Develop- ment Zone, allowing a par- tial property tax abatement on multi-story, mixed- use projects in the zone, if all of the residential units in the project are for low-income residents. The report written by Herm- iston City Planner Clint Spencer stated the criteria involved made it a “chal- Staff photo by Jade McDowell Subsidized housing is under construction on Southeast Fifth Street in Hermiston. Most tax incentives for housing are for low-income options. lenge to think of a property that might benefi t from this designation.” The state also allows some property tax abate- ments for affordable apart- ment projects in places the city has declared a “tran- sit-oriented development” zone. Properties within one-quarter mile of one of the stops for Hermiston’s HART bus system would be eligible to be included in a zone. “This is an intriguing possibility for Hermiston,” Spencer wrote. “There is considerable residential land within a quarter-mile of a bus stop. It may be worth doing a targeted par- cel inventory to determine if/where parcels which are of suffi cient size, vacant, and properly zoned exist.” The city could also slowly increase property taxes to newly annexed properties over 10 years instead of asking prop- erty owners to pay the full rate starting their fi rst year inside city limits. That option could provide incen- tive to developers building just outside the city limits. The city council asked staff to compile the incen- tives report earlier this year as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to increase housing availability. Other efforts have included changes in zoning and reducing some requirements for rules, such as lot coverage. City Councilor Jackie Myers said the city’s efforts to build and improve infra- structure in town can also help incentivize develop- ers. For example, the new water tower and water mains the city is install- ing in the northeast part of the city will provide the water pressure develop- ers need to build housing on acres that were previ- ously too cost-prohibitive to develop. Several new hous- ing projects have been announced in Hermiston this year, including a sub- sidized apartment complex under construction off of Southeast Fifth and Sixth streets and subdivisions off of Theater Lane and Elm Avenue. Health educator coming to Umatilla County By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER The Umatilla County Pub- lic Health Department will start looking for applicants to fi ll a new health educator position. The full-time health edu- cator position was approved by county commissioners last week. The work will involve local health data analysis, communicable disease inves- tigations and education on the prevention of communi- cable diseases, such as sex- ually transmitted infections and measles. “We have a fair amount of communicable diseases in our community,” said Public Health Department Deputy Director Alisha Southwick. “We’ve had positions like this before, but it will be a lit- tle different. This is going to be a full-time person, whose focus is on education and epidemiology.” She said that in the past, nurses and environmental health staff have been respon- sible for disease investiga- tions in addition to regular duties, while it’s a primary focus for the health educator. The educational compo- nent of the job will initially focus on educating and pro- viding consultations to health care providers about dis- eases. But Southwick said that possibly over time, the person might be involved with schools or other public facilities. Southwick said the depart- ment plans on posting the job in the next few weeks, and hopes to hire someone as soon as possible. The position will be funded using modernization grant money from the Ore- gon Health Authority, which became available this month. “I think the most excit- ing thing about this is that it’s made possible through this modernization grant,” South- wick said. The funds total $202,425, and are part of a $15 million OHA investment approved by the Oregon Legislature this year. Of that money, $7 million was distributed among Ore- gon counties to help increase equity, leadership, epidemiol- ogy and communicable dis- ease control for the biennium. Legacy Financial opens Hermiston offi ce By JADE MCDOWELL STAFF WRITER Financial planning ser- vices are available at the newly opened Legacy Finan- cial offi ce in Hermiston. Legacy Financial is based in Woodburn, but brokers Robert Rhoades, Stan Milne and Laura Dix will take turns visiting the Hermiston branch four days a week to advise clients. They are independent brokers through LPL Finan- cial, and bought the Herm- iston business from former LPL brokers Bruce Jones and Tom Nichols, who are retiring. They purchased the building at 285 E. Hurl- burt Ave. from Jones and Nichols, and will also retain the same phone number at 541-567-3100. Rhoades said so far the transition has been going well as they meet with the former brokers’ clients. He said Woodburn and Herm- iston are similar in many ways, and they have expe- rience forming relationships in small towns. They’re not “downtown Portland” bro- kers, he said. “We want to get involved in the community,” he said. 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