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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2020)
NEWS Wednesday, september 16, 2020 HermIstOnHeraLd.COm • A3 Hermiston council bans shelters near parks By JADE MCDOWELL neWs edItOr An ordinance passed unani- mously by the Hermiston City Council on Monday, Sept. 14, would preclude the location for a proposed homeless shelter in Hermiston. The ordinance allows for tem- porary emergency housing, such as homeless shelters or camps for people who have been evac- uated from a natural disaster, as a conditional use in industrial zones. But a rule in the ordinance states that such shelters must be at least 1,000 feet from schools and parks. A group of Hermiston resi- dents formed a nonprofit called Stepping Stones in early 2020, and in April, presented a plan to the council to create a homeless shelter using 6 foot by 10 foot Conestoga huts placed on a 0.8- acre lot behind the Agape House food bank on Harper Road — less than 1,000 feet from Theater Sports Park. The huts would have no run- ning water or electricity, but would have access to a commu- nity building with restrooms, showers and a gathering space. Residents would only be allowed on-site in the evenings after being checked in by security, and would have to earn credits through volunteering, work or education in order to continue living at the site. Stepping Stones at the time asked the city to consider con- tributing $85,000 toward the cost of building the huts and $40,000 annually toward security and other operating costs for the site. City councilors in April said they felt the financial ask was too high and not enough details had been worked out, but they voted to direct the planning commission to come up with an ordinance that would at least allow that type of temporary emergency shelter inside city limits. City planner Clint Spencer told the council on Sept. 14 that after hearing input from residents concerned that having a home- less shelter near a park would cause problems with loitering, harassment and drug parapherna- lia at the park, the planning com- Staff photo by Ben Lonergan A fenced lot between the Agape House and the Theater Sports Park was the proposed site of the Stepping Stones project. “I THINK THEY FELT LIKE THEY WANTED TO TRY AND LET THE COM- MUNITY DISCUSS THIS AND THEN THEY WILL COME FORWARD WITH A PROPOSAL IF THEY CAN FIND A SITE THAT’S WORKABLE.” Byron Smith, Hermiston city manager mission decided to include the provision about shelters being 1,000 feet from parks and K-12 schools. Based on other feedback from the community, they also included a list of other require- ments. A few of those included requiring camps to have a com- munity building with restrooms and showers; requiring the site to be covered by a sight-obscuring fence at least 6 feet high; requir- ing applicants for a permit to submit a business plan and secu- rity plan; limiting residency for any occupant to 18 months; and requiring shelters to be co-lo- cated on a site with another existing industrial use already in place. “This has changed quite a bit from when you looked at it during a work session in June,” Spencer said. He noted the ordinance merely allows for emergency shelters to exist in industrial zones, and is not tied to approval of Step- ping Stones or any other specific projects. Mayor David Drotzmann said when looking at a map of where the ordinance would allow a shelter, there were “not a lot of options” left — mostly some lots along Elm Avenue or South Highway 395 near Denny’s, if organizers are able to find an existing industrial user willing to allow them to co-locate on their property. “I understand (the plan- ning commission’s) feedback and their long deliberation that they’ve taken along with all the public input; I just hope that we haven’t handcuffed them so much that it’s made unreason- able,” Drotzmann said. The Stepping Stones board has already made some improve- ments to the Agape House site, including leveling and the addi- tion of a fence, but city man- ager Byron Smith said the Step- ping Stones board had expressed to him that they didn’t want their project to trip up the city’s efforts to create rules for shelters. “They’re trying to separate the issue and often it has been clouded,” Smith said. “This whole discussion tonight is about amending the zoning code to allow (emergency shelter proj- ects) to happen, and I think it really got twisted up in their pro- posal to go on a certain location, and so I think they felt like they wanted to try and let the commu- nity discuss this, and then they will come forward with a pro- posal if they can find a site that’s workable.” On Sept. 14, the council also accepted the resignation of coun- cilor Doug Smith, who has rep- resented Ward IV on the council for just under six years. The city manager stated Smith had submitted a letter on Sept. 4 stating he was resigning effective Sept. 5 for “personal reasons.” Because Smith still has more than two years left in his four- year term, the city’s charter states the city must hold a spe- cial election to fill his seat. The council can choose whether to appoint someone to fill the seat in the interim, or leave it vacant until after the election. City manager Smith told the council that according to the city’s bylaws and election rules, that election will be held on March 9, 2021. The council has four at-large positions and four ward posi- tions, and the at-large positions are up for election on Nov. 3. He noted that two of the five candi- dates running for those four seats — current city councilor David McCarthy and newcomer Nancy Peterson — live in Ward IV and would be eligible to run for Doug Smith’s seat. City councilor Roy Barron stated he thought it made the most sense to wait to appoint an interim councilor until after the Nov. 3 election so that if McCa- rthy or Peterson lost the election and wanted to apply, they could. Other councilors agreed, and the council voted to appoint an interim councilor after Nov. 3 to fill the seat until the special elec- tion in March. New school will be called Loma Vista Elementary By JADE MCDOWELL neWs edItOr Hermiston School Dis- trict’s new elementary school, planned for Theater Lane, will be known as Loma Vista Ele- mentary School. The school board approved the new name during their Monday, Sept. 14, meeting. Loma Vista is a Span- ish phrase that translates into “Hill View” in English. The board had previously sup- ported using a Spanish name for the new school to reflect the school district’s demographics, where more than half the stu- dents are Hispanic. The name also reflects the desire voiced by 60% of respondents to a previous survey, stating that they wanted to see the school named for a geographical fea- ture instead of a person, in keeping with all the other ele- mentary schools in the district. The other two names the board had previously consid- ered were Artemisa Elemen- tary School and La Senda Ele- mentary School. After gathering initial feed- back and narrowing down sug- gestions to three choices, the district sent out a second sur- vey on Aug. 12. According to a news release from the dis- trict, there were almost 600 responses to that survey, and Loma Vista was the “clear leader.” Construction of the new ele- mentary school on East The- ater Lane is expected to begin in spring 2021. During the Sept. 14 meet- ing, the district also awarded the bid for its new softball fields to Nelson Construction. The district is building the new fields behind Hermiston High School on the old fairgrounds, in preparation for a new ver- sion of Rocky Heights Elemen- tary School to be built where the current softball fields stand adjacent to the elementary school. A WORC taxi will get you to and from your job anywhere in western Umatilla County. Anyone who comes in through the end of December, can get four FREE punch cards, which equals 40 one-way rides to/from work. Visit https://hermiston.or.us/public-transit to find out how to sign up, and how WORC and the HART bus service work together to connect Hermiston.
