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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 2020)
NEWS A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 County approves Stanfi eld-Echo enterprise zone By ALEX CASTLE STAFF WRITER A pair of western Uma- tilla County communities are getting their own enter- prise zone. Once included in a joint zone with Umatilla, the cit- ies of Echo and Stanfi eld will have their own tool to stimulate business growth in the area starting Feb. 5 after the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners approved the designation last Wednesday. “This zone is looking down the road for future development,” Echo City Administrator David Slaght said. “It’s some enticement and encouragement for investors. We’re right along I-84. We’ve got access to interstate commerce right at our front door.” Enterprise zones allow certain industrial and man- ufacturing construction projects to be granted a three- to fi ve-year property tax exemption. The Stan- fi eld-Echo zone will span a total of 4.44 square miles and include the city limits and urban growth boundar- ies of both cities. Language in the designation permits hotels, motels and destina- tion resorts to be included in the potential tax exemptions as well. Both cities were previ- ously included in an enter- prise zone with Umatilla, which was revised in 2019 to add areas along Umatil- la’s urban growth boundary and excluded Stanfi eld and Echo. Shortly after Umatilla redrew the zone, Slaght was hired by the city of Echo in May and Ben Bur- gener was brought in as the city manager of Stanfi eld in September. “Both of us were brand new to our jobs, and when we stepped in we real- ized they had essentially excluded us and left us out here alone,” Slaght said of the previous enterprise zone. Slaght said it made sense Staff photo by Ben Lonergan The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners approved the creation of a Stanfi eld-Echo enterprise zone during a meeting last week. and was more feasible for the cities to work together in applying for the zone designation. In Echo, Slaght said the city council is working with potential local investors and are in the process of devel- oping strategies and goals for the new zone. However, Slaght said the language allowing hotel, motel or destination resort projects to be eligible for tax exemptions could be crucial for a future development along the interstate led by Kent Madison. In 2017, Madison fi rst came to the city with an idea for a 132-acre development that would include doz- ens of homes, a hotel, RV park, commercial and indus- trial projects and even some greenery. According to Slaght, Madison has approached the city about continu- ing the project, but plenty remains to be done for it to materialize. “I don’t know where it’s going, but I didn’t want to leave that off the table,” Slaght said. The cities had to seek and eventually received consent from the Port of Umatilla for the designa- tion, and the zone was addi- tionally co-sponsored by the county. “I think it gives them fl exibility with it and own- ership of it,” Commissioner Bill Elfering said at Wednes- day’s meeting. No Airport Road hearing set yet despite neighbors’ request By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR Umatilla County has put an Airport Road construc- tion project out to bid, but no hearing date has been set regarding a petition by neighboring property owners to vacate 13 feet of right-of-way along the road. Engineering work for the project, which would widen and improve the road to better handle traf- fi c in and out of the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center, turned up a dis- crepancy between where property owners had previ- ously been told their prop- erty line was and where the true property lines run. Some owners have fences, trees or other assets sitting on the 13 feet that actually belongs to the county. County Commis- sioner Bill Elfering said he couldn’t say much on the issue, because neighbor Chris Waine has involved attorneys. But he said that the county previously met with each of the neighbors along the road about their concerns, and made offi cial offers of mitigation or tem- porary use licenses. In many cases, neigh- bors will be able to keep using the right-of-way, Elf- ering said. “We’re trying to disrupt their life as little as possi- ble,” he said. He said at the time, the NEW 2020 TACOMA TRD DBL CAB SR5 4X4 $ neighbors the county had talked to had seemed satis- fi ed with the compromises it worked out with each of them. Waine gathered signa- tures to support asking the county to vacate the 13 feet, however, and turn it over to the neighbors. He said he has been disappointed by the county’s handling of the issue, and the fact that they had not taken any action so far on the petition. “I think the county’s doing the wrong thing,” he said. He has also questioned whether the county’s sur- vey department is correct about property boundaries, and said there are discrep- ancies between the legal description of his property, physical measurements he has taken, county records and other elements. “The county says, ‘This is what we say and ulti- mately we’re right,’ but I think this is a situation where there could be mul- tiple truths,” Waine said, calling it “a mess.” Waine continues to gather as much information he can about past survey- ing and property lines in the area, but said he doesn’t know what he will do yet. In the meantime, the county is putting the proj- ect out to bid and plans to complete it before the 2020 Umatilla County Fair in August at EOTEC. During the board of commission- HH fi le photo Trucks make their way down Airport Road near the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center on May 1, 2019. ers’ Jan. 15 meeting, pub- lic works director Tom Fel- lows told commissioners he was confi dent that the $1 million from the Legisla- ture for the project would cover the work planned for Airport Road, but he isn’t sure how much money might be available to pave part of Ott Road on the other side of EOTEC. 329 PER MONTH WITH STANDARD SAFETY SENSE! Stk# 20H196. MSRP $43,163. Cap Cost $41,232. GFV $31,077. $2,950 down = $329 mo. Closed end 3yr/10,000 mile year lease. On approved credit. No security deposit required. Plus $650 lease acquisition fee. Plus tax, title, $75 doc fee & added dealer accessories. See dealer for details. Offer expires 01/31/20. 2 500 $ ALL 2019 HIGHLANDERS , IN STOCK! CUSTOMER CASH WHILE THEY LAST!! Stk# 19H1003. New 2019 Toyota Highlander XLE AWD. In stock vehicles only. On approved credit. 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