NEWS
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
HeRMIsTOnHeRaLd.COM • A3
City awards contract for Riverfront Park construction project
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITOR
Granite Construction will
handle a revamp of River-
front Park after the Herm-
iston City Council awarded
a bid for the project during
their Monday, June 14,
meeting.
The company was the
low bidder of three bids, at
$154,140.
After the park was dam-
aged significantly by flood-
ing in 2019 and 2020, the
city plans to move the park-
ing lot and playground to the
south side of the park, out
of the path of raging flood
waters when the Umatilla
River overflows its banks.
City Manager Byron
Smith said it was “really
kind of scary” to see the
power of the river last year,
when it ripped the asphalt
parking lot into large chunks
and carried those heavy
pieces away.
The parking lot has since
been gravel, but Granite
Construction will add a new
parking lot to the south end
of the park and the current
parking area will be replaced
by grass.
The city also plans to
build a new, larger play-
ground to replace the one
destroyed in 2020, and
Granite Construction will do
the site preparation for that.
Smith said the city would
like to move the restrooms
that are also on the north
side of the park, but the city
doesn’t currently have sewer
lines extended to the park,
and can’t move the restroom
away from the septic system
there until that changes.
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency is cov-
ering 75% of the project.
Budget approved
The
city
council
approved the 2021-22 bud-
get during their June 14
meeting, adopting a docu-
ment that includes millions
in new capital projects.
Smith told the council
that after the budget com-
mittee had reviewed and
recommended the budget for
adoption, city staff discov-
ered that some of the trans-
fers between funds were not
entered into the right places
according to proper fund
accounting procedures.
Since the essence of the
budget, including the city’s
planned expenses and rev-
enues, remained the same,
Smith said the city’s audi-
tors said the council did
not need to return the bud-
get to the budget committee
for a new approval before
voting.
The
proposed
bud-
get includes a 1% cost of
living increase for staff
in July 2021 and a 1.5%
increase that will take effect
in 2022 if revenues come
in as expected. The bud-
get includes a one-person
increase in staff, from the
equivalent of 121.47 full-
time employees to 122.47
FTE, with the hiring of an
extra water utility worker.
City summer camps, lessons are half price
HeRMIsTOn HeRaLd
Hermiston Herald, File
Roofers work on a home under construction in the Desert Sky
Estates in 2019 in southwest Hermiston.
Hermiston changes
rules for homes,
building fees
By JADE MCDOWELL
neWs edITOR
Housing developers will
have to adjust to new rules
and new prices after the
Hermiston City Council
adopted several housing-re-
lated changes during their
Monday, June 14, meeting.
Under mandate from
a new statewide housing
law, the city had to change
its zoning rules to allow
duplexes in all residential
zones, including those that
previously only allowed sin-
gle-family dwellings. Under
House Bill 2001, cities must
also treat duplexes and sin-
gle-family homes the same,
requiring Hermiston to
amend several chapters of
its code of ordinances.
“For the record, the plan-
ning commission wanted
to make sure that they got
it into the record that they
very much want to express
dissatisfaction with the pro-
cess taken by the state leg-
islature in mandating these
changes — that they repre-
sent a change to local land
use rules without, really, any
local input from the city, and
(they) request that future
legislative amendments be
more considerate of the local
character and not one size
fits all,” City Planner Clint
Spencer said.
One of the more nota-
ble changes is that duplexes
will now be allowed on
smaller lot sizes, matching
the 5,000 square feet pre-
viously reserved for indi-
vidual houses. Both sin-
gle-family and two-family
dwellings will be required to
provide two parking spaces,
and both types of dwellings
will now trigger develop-
ment requirements for pub-
lic improvements, such as
sidewalks.
In a separate action, the
city council approved new
fees for the building depart-
ment, raising them 17-33%.
City Manager Byron
Smith said the city is
required to adopt build-
ing permit fees matching
the state of Oregon’s estab-
lished fee schedule, in order
to use a free building permit
program from the state. If
the city doesn’t use that pro-
gram, he said, purchase of
a different system typically
costs about $35,000.
Smith said some of the
fees on the updated sched-
ule had not been updated for
20 years. In one example, a
building permit for a project
worth more than $100,000
would go from $592.15 to
$612.90 plus $3.25 for each
additional $1,000. Various
electrical and plumbing per-
mits increased as well.
In the same ordinance,
the council also established
a refundable $100 clean-
ing deposit for reservations
of the Hermiston Public
Library’s program space.
On Monday the city
council added new appen-
dices to its comprehensive
plan, as required by House
Bill 2003.
The city’s planning
department worked with
Angelo Planning to study
housing needs in Hermis-
ton. According to Spencer,
the city currently has 5,047
acres of unconstrained res-
idential land and 346 acres
that have constraints that
would make them unlikely
to develop in the future. Of
the city’s residential land
supply, about half of it is
developed or already com-
mitted for future develop-
ment, leaving 2,562 acres
available for future residen-
tial development.
Spencer said those acres
could theoretically support
18,075 more housing units
in Hermiston, but planners
estimate Hermiston will
only need 2,030 additional
housing units by 2040, with
about 38% of those being
rentals.
Hermiston Parks and
Recreation summer camps
and classes will be more
accessible this year thanks
to a $200,000 grant from
the Oregon Community
Foundation.
The Hermiston City
Council approved use of the
grant during their Monday,
June 14, meeting to tem-
porarily reduce all youth
recreation fees by 50% for
the remainder of the year,
including summer camps,
youth sports and swimming
lessons. The other 50% will
be paid for by the grant
from OCF’s summer learn-
ing fund.
City Manager Byron
Smith noted the city also
has a scholarship program
to cover the full price of
those activities for those
who can’t otherwise afford
it. He said the city is part-
nering with organizations,
such as Hermiston School
District and Made to
Thrive, to help more chil-
dren receive water safety
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald, File
Gabriel Montero, 3, leaps from the edge of the pool while playing at the Hermiston Family
Aquatic Center on July 7, 2020.
and swimming lessons this
summer. If they are able to
get more lifeguards hired,
they will be able to add
more slots.
Councilors applauded
Recreation Director Bran-
don Artz for pursuing the
grant, and said they were
thrilled to hear the news.
“You guys did a really
wonderful thing here,”
Council President Doug
Primmer said. “This is
actually one of the most
exciting things I’ve seen
(on the agenda) in a long
time.”
Umatilla County
remains in high risk
HeRMIsTOn HeRaLd
Umatilla County remains
in high risk status for
COVID-19
restrictions
for at least another week,
according to updated risk
levels released by Gov. Kate
Brown on Tuesday, June 15.
The county is one of nine
still in high risk as COVID-
19 cases trend down and vac-
cine rates inch up statewide.
Brown has stated that
most COVID-19 mandates
and the risk level restric-
tions, including caps on
restaurant capacity, will go
away when Oregon reaches
70% of adults vaccinated.
As of June 15, the state was
at 68%.
Umatilla County remains
third from the bottom in
vaccination rates, accord-
ing to data from the Oregon
Health Authority, with just
39.2% of residents age 16
and older with at least one
dose of the vaccine. Brown
said counties can automati-
cally drop to low risk status
when at least 65% of their
residents age 16 and older
are vaccinated, but Uma-
tilla County has 16,353 res-
idents to go to meet that
benchmark.
Morrow County remains
in low risk status for another
week, and 41.4% of its pop-
ulation ages 16 and older has
had at least one shot of the
vaccine.
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