REGION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston wins Urban Renewal Project of the Year
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
I
n 2017, the opening of a new
Holiday Inn Express kicked
off a transformation of one of
Hermiston’s most visible inter-
sections, bridging the city’s east-
west divide.
On Monday, the city was
awarded Urban Renewal Project
of the Year by the Oregon Eco-
nomic Development Association
for its work in building a festival
street and supporting the $7 mil-
lion hotel and other private devel-
opment downtown.
“These projects have changed
the face of downtown Hermis-
ton for the better, combining pub-
lic planning and private invest-
ment to create a more attractive
and cohesive core,” Mayor Dave
Drotzmann said in a statement.
The hotel property on the cor-
Contributed photo by the city of Hermiston
Hermiston Avenue in 2016 and 2019.
ner of Hermiston Avenue and
Highway 395 was a former Tum-
a-Lum Lumber yard. Accord-
ing to a news release, the city
of Hermiston invested $80,000
in assisting the developer with
moving a sewer main and vacat-
ing an adjacent portion of West
Ridgeway Avenue. The Hermis-
ton Urban Renewal Agency then
awarded the hotel $36,000 in
facade grants.
Local developer Mitch Myers
sold the yard to Holiday Inn, and
after the hotel was built he devel-
oped properties around it, includ-
ing the Maxwell Event Center,
Maxwell Pavilion, landscaped
parking and the addition of a sec-
ond kitchen to the Hermiston
Brewing Company in order to
cater to the hotel and event center.
The city provided assistance to
some of those projects, according
to the release, including a $10,000
grant for parking development in
exchange for public use of the lot.
The city also constructed a
$1 million festival street a block
away, which has hosted events
this summer, such as MelonFest
and SpudFest. Next to the fes-
tival street, a private business
recently opened the Union Club
coffee shop and bar, assisted by
a $10,000 facade grant from the
urban renewal agency.
The projects fell in line with
results from a 2015 “Livable
Hermiston” community study,
which included the need for
more event space, restaurants and
hotels.
The Oregon Economic Devel-
opment Association is a statewide
nonprofi t that supports economic
development professionals. The
city of Hermiston was recognized
at its annual conference in Salem.
Council disagrees with planning commission over mini-storage project
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The Hermiston City Coun-
cil decided Monday that a bird
in the hand is worth two in the
bush, siding with a mini-stor-
age project on land that the
planning commission had
hoped might be preserved for
a restaurant or store.
The property in question is
a triangle-shaped 9-acre piece
of land stretching between
Highway 395 and Northeast
Fourth Street on the north side
of Rogers Toyota. The tip of
the triangle is 40 feet of access
off of the highway, which then
stretches to 600 feet on Fourth
Street.
Steve Richards, who
recently build Highland
Mini Storage in Hermis-
ton and owns storage facil-
ities in Pendleton and Stan-
fi eld, hopes to purchase the
property and create another
mini storage facility with a
live-in caretaker on the back 5
acres of the property, border-
ing Fourth Street. To do so, he
would need the city to approve
a Neighborhood Commercial
Overlay on the current com-
mercial zoning.
City Planner Clint Spencer
told the council that the plan-
ning commission thought the
property — one of the few
undeveloped pieces left along
Highway 395 in town — could
someday attract a restaurant or
other retail operation that will
only build on roads with high
traffi c counts. The city has dis-
cussed the possibility of cre-
ating an urban renewal dis-
trict and placing a road on the
north side of the property to
help make it more attractive to
such a business.
“They felt mini-storage
was not the highest and best
use of the property,” he said.
City Manager Byron Smith
said he hears all the time from
residents who want the city to
attract more restaurants and
retail, and while Hermiston
also needs storage units, he
felt many people would prefer
to see that particular space go
to something else.
Richards, however, said
that the property has several
limitations he felt will continue
to keep retailers out, includ-
ing a 100-foot-wide Bureau
of Reclamation easement run-
ning through the property and
the narrow 40-foot access off
of Highway 395.
“There’s not a lot of visibil-
ity there,” he said.
He said other properties
zoned for mini-storage were
too small, and pointed out
that he only planned to pur-
chase 5 of the 9 acres, leaving
the land closest to Highway
395 open. And even if the city
kept the current zoning, he
said, he could still build other
non-restaurant options such as
a car wash, RV park or laun-
dromat without needing the
city’s permission.
He said area storage units
currently have a 93% occu-
pancy rate and many Herm-
iston residents are spending
their money outside of Herm-
iston for their storage needs.
Out of 112 doors he knocked
on, he said, 107 residents
signed a petition in favor of
the project.
City councilors were not
all in agreement about the
idea. Roy Barron said he
didn’t want to be hasty about
allowing mini-storage there
when city staff were still look-
ing at running a road through
the property that would make
it more attractive for retail.
“I don’t want us to be
short-sighted in jumping on an
opportunity, when we do have
other plans,” he said.
Councilor Rod Hardin,
who lives near Richards’
Highland project, said those
facilities were attractive and
improved the neighborhood,
and he thought the proposed
project would do the same.
Mayor David Drotzmann
and several other councilors
said the land had been sitting
vacant for many years and no
one had wanted it so far. They
noted that creating an urban
renewal district and building
a road there would be years in
the future and was no guaran-
tee that someone would build
there afterward.
“I’ve never seen anyone
interested in that property,”
Manuel Gutierrez said.
In the end, Gutierrez, Har-
din, Doug Primmer and Doug
Smith voted in favor of chang-
ing the zoning, while Barron
and Jackie Myers voted no.
Spencer said he would bring
the proper resolution before
the council at their next meet-
ing for offi cial adoption.
The council also voted
Monday to vacate an undevel-
oped right-of-way in its South
Hermiston Industrial Park
to clear the way for a major
developer.
The portion of Southeast
10th Street between Penney
Avenue and Feedville Road
exists only on paper right now,
and the city’s transportation
master plan does not note a
need to create an actual road
there in the future.
Spencer said the right of
way runs straight down the
middle of a property slated for
major development through
Hermiston’s long-term enter-
prise zone, and giving up the
right of way to the devel-
oper would not landlock any
properties.
Join us for a retirement open house
Phyllis (Gilbert) Bracher
Saturday, Nov. 2nd
3-5:30pm
Phyllis attended Pendleton College of
Beauty in 1971 & ‘72 and received
her license in January of 1973.
She worked 6 months at The
Personality Coffures, 10 1/2 years at
Carol’s Carousel and then moved
to Buttercreek Salon, where
she has been for 37 years.
315 SW 11th Street
Hermiston, OR
541-567-2911
THE BEST VALUE
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Good Shepherd Health Care System’s
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Flu Shots available
from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Limited Supply, First-Come,
First-Served
Wednesday,
October 30, 2019
5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
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600 S 1st St
Hermiston, OR, 97838
RSVP 541.667.3509
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1565 N. 1st St., Hermiston, 541-289-8722
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