NEWS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Oregon Trail advocates
disagree with depot proposal
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
The
programmatic
agreement to protect his-
torical assets at the former
Umatilla Chemical Depot
will be up for public com-
ment in “very short order,”
according to Columbia
Development Authority
director Greg Smith.
Getting the U.S. Army
to sign off on the agree-
ment is the fi nal hurdle for
the depot to transfer from
the Army to local con-
trol. Smith told the CDA
board on Thursday that the
30-day comment period
should begin in roughly
two weeks.
Some Oregon Trail
advocates have already
expressed
disapproval.
Wendell Baskins of the
Oregon Historic Trails
Advisory Council said he
and other advocates sent
the Army an alternate pro-
posal for consideration,
which would preserve a
much larger portion of the
Oregon Trail ruts running
through land the CDA
has slated for industrial
development.
“I’m
presenting
a
minority report,” he told
the board.
The CDA — a partner-
ship of several local gov-
ernments — negotiated for
months with the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation
to come up with the offi -
cial programmatic agree-
ment submitted to the
Army. The agreement to
protect or mitigate cultur-
ally signifi cant sites must
be signed by the Army, the
federal Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation
and the Oregon State His-
toric Preservation Offi ce.
The CDA’s plan is to
preserve the branch of
the Oregon Trail that runs
through the northern part
of the depot as part of the
wildlife preserve that will
be run by the tribes. For
the fork on the southern
side, a 200-yard section
would be preserved and
a parking lot, picnic area,
restrooms and educational
kiosks would be added to
encourage the public to
visit and learn about the
trail.
Baskins said the Ore-
gon Historic Trails Advi-
sory Council’s proposal
would be to place kiosks
on a small section in a dif-
ferent area of the depot,
and then to preserve just
shy of a mile of the south-
ern trail.
“We ask that you do not
expend money on parking
lots, restrooms or a picnic
area,” he said. “Protect it
by covenant and simply let
it be.”
He said there could be
an option to bring school
children out on scheduled
fi eld trips, but not allow-
ing general public access
would help with security
Contributed photo
Oregon Trail ruts can be seen on the southern portion of
the former Umatilla Chemical Depot.
issues with the trail being
so close to National Guard
facilities.
Don Russell, chair of
the CDA board, said he
hasn’t been able to see any
visible signs of the trail
when he has gone out and
looked at it. He questioned
why it was so important to
save so much of the trail
that settlers of European
decent walked on, when
there probably wasn’t a
single portion of the depot
that hadn’t been crossed
by ancestors of area tribes.
“What makes this piece
of history more valuable?”
he said.
Board member Kim
Puzey said regardless of
his personal opinions on
trail preservation, port
authorities have a leg-
islative mandate to use
their land for economic
development.
Smith said the CDA had
gone “above and beyond”
what was expected in
planning to preserve as
much of the trail ruts as it
plans to.
Baskins said he under-
stood the importance of
the jobs that major indus-
trial development on the
site would bring, but he
felt “honor bound” to do
what he could to persuade
the Army to require more
preservation, and to require
a binding covenant that
would apply to any future
owners of the land as well.
During
Thursday’s
2-1/2-hour meeting, board
members also discussed
a variety of other topics
in preparation for receiv-
ing the depot land after a
programmatic agreement
is approved. An engineer
from Anderson Perry &
Associates presented pos-
sible road confi gurations
along the industrial part
of the depot, which could
be paid for using the $9
million the CDA has been
given by the Legislature
using funds from the 2017
transportation package.
The money is only
available for transporta-
tion uses, however. Smith
reminded the board that
they will need to fi nd alter-
native sources of funding
for water, sewer and elec-
tricity installed under the
new roads.
He said they also need
to have further discussions
on how to develop the
water rights and wells that
will transfer to the CDA
along with the property.
J.R. Cook, of Northeast
Oregon Water Association,
said he was glad to hear
Smith acknowledge the
issue was “complicated.”
Area farmers didn’t want
to stand in the way of the
transfer of the depot, he
said, but they were con-
cerned about what pull-
ing more groundwater out
of the aquifers would do to
the depot’s neighbors.
“I do get concerned
about paper rights, and
people thinking that paper
rights mean the water’s
there,” he said.
When the CDA receives
the depot it will also
inherit a large cache of
equipment, from tools to
construction vehicles.
Smith said unfortu-
nately the Army has just
let the vehicles sit for
years, so he is not sure
how usable they would
be, but noted that Uma-
tilla County Fire District
1 had asked for a back-
hoe, forklift and fl atbed
trailer for training pur-
poses. The Port of Morrow
is also interested in a large
generator in exchange for
in-kind services to the
CDA. And other equip-
ment could possibly be
used to set up a career
technical education center
for area students.
Board member Bill Elf-
ering said he would like
a professional to appraise
the vehicles and genera-
tors before the CDA con-
siders making any deals to
give them away — some-
thing other board mem-
bers agreed with and
Smith said he would do.
The board wrapped up
its meeting with an exec-
utive session to discuss
real estate negotiations,
after which they approved
a motion directing Smith
to work with the CTUIR
and Innergex Renew-
able Energy on a potential
agreement related to the
depot.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Developer Tanner Wideriksen, his wife, Sandra Wideriksen, and children Galilea and Ezekiel
cut the ribbon for the Cimmaron Terrace townhouse development in Northeast Hermiston on
Friday afternoon.
VestCapital breaks ground on
second phase of Cimmaron Terrace
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Thirty eight new homes
will go up in early 2020 in
northeast Hermiston, just in
time for a new elementary
school to be built across the
street.
“The timing was really,
really phenomenal,” devel-
oper Tanner Wideriksen of
VestCapital said.
VestCapital broke ground
on a second phase of the
Cimmaron Terrace subdivi-
sion off East Theater Lane
and Eighth Street on Friday.
The new development will
start with 38 single family
homes on separate lots, with
another 61 lots graded and
available for reservations.
The fi rst phase of the proj-
ect — 78 townhomes — is
nearly complete.
Hermiston School Dis-
trict, meanwhile, just passed
a bond that will include con-
struction of a new 600-stu-
dent elementary school on
that same stretch of East
Theater Lane.
The Cimmaron Terrace
developers are also working
with the city of Hermiston to
create a new 7-acre city park
in the vicinity. They have yet
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Galilea Wideriksen, the daughter of Cimmaron Terrace
developer Tanner Wideriksen, helps break ground on the
Cimmaron Terrace townhome development .
to decide exactly what ame-
nities will be included there,
but the city has been look-
ing for an opportunity to add
another park to its east side.
Assistant City Manager
Mark Morgan said VestCap-
ital, the city of Hermiston,
Umatilla County and Herm-
iston School District have
worked together in differ-
ent partnerships on several
aspects of the project, pitch-
ing in for water and sewer
infrastructure and paving
part of Theater Lane, to ben-
efi t all involved.
“The entire process has
really been a private-public
partnership to a ‘T’ from the
start,” he said.
Wideriksen said Vest-
Capital is still deciding on
the price point for the new
homes, looking to the mar-
ket to determine that and
the timeline on the other 61
homes. According to a news
release, the vision for the
entire Cimmaron Terrace
Planned Unit Development
project, approved by the city
in 2010, includes 114 single
family homes, 229 townho-
mes, seven multi-family lots
and the 7-acre park.
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