NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2021
Legislature wraps up with
multi-million dollar gifts
to Eastern Oregon
By JADE MCDOWELL
and BRYCE DOLE
STAFF WRITERS
The Oregon Legislature
again played the role of early
Santa Claus as the 2021 ses-
sion adjourned, with plenty
of projects in Eastern Ore-
gon funded.
Both houses passed
House Bill 5006 — the
“Christmas Tree Bill” that
provides the funding for a
collection of projects for
local legislators to bring
back to their districts.
Umatilla City Manager
David Stockdale said the
city is planning to use the
$1.8 million allotted to Uma-
tilla in the bill to create the
Minority
Entrepeneurial
Development & Business
Center. The approximately
21,000-square-foot center
will be created by adding on
to and remodeling the former
post offi ce building on Sixth
Street next to city hall. He
called it a “one stop shop”
for business in Umatilla.
“We should provide all
the tools people need to grow
their business,” he said.
The city’s community
development
department
will be housed in the build-
ing, giving people a place
to access building permits,
business permits and more.
The fi rst fl oor of the two-
story building will con-
tain more than 2,500 square
feet of “business incubator”
space where entrepreneurs
can start their own busi-
ness. Stockdale said they’ll
be given space at “signifi -
cantly under market value”
while they get their business
up and running in exchange
for agreeing to participate in
trainings at the center that
will help them develop skills
to make their business more
successful.
The second story will
have more permanent com-
mercial tenants to help
drive foot traffi c to the
newer businesses down-
stairs. The building will
include space for trainings,
community events and pri-
vate events, with a com-
mercial kitchen. Part of the
business center project also
will include free Wi-Fi and
water, sewer and electric
hookups for food trucks at
Village Square park outside.
The fi nal piece of the project
is street improvements to I
Street and the alley along
the building.
Stockdale said the city
has been working with the
federal Economic Develop-
ment Administration, and it
looks like it will be able to
get a $3 million grant from
there, in addition to the $1.8
million from the state, an
additional $2.5 million the
city has saved up and pos-
sibly some additional eco-
nomic development funding
from Umatilla County.
“I think it’s pretty remark-
able to get an $8 million proj-
ect done without borrowing
a penny to do it,” Stockdale
said.
If all goes well with get-
ting the EDA funding, he
expects construction to start
in early 2022 and wrap up in
summer of 2023.
Other projects
Port of Morrow Manager
Ryan Neal said the $4.3 mil-
lion for the Cultural Alli-
ance and Training Center
at SAGE will “provide a
community space to assist
our regional education and
industry partners with addi-
tional programs and events,”
including workforce initia-
tives, continuing education,
regional conferences and
youth programs.
Local offi cials have been
pushing for state fund-
ing for years to renovate
the Umatilla County Jail to
accommodate people suf-
fering addiction or mental
health crises. County Com-
missioner George Mur-
dock called the allocation
of $1.75 million an exciting
development.
“We’re going to be able
to have all the facilities that
we need to handle the popu-
lation that we’re now seeing
on a daily basis at the jail,”
he said.
The new facilities will
allow jail staff to sepa-
rate people struggling with
mental health or addiction
from people who have been
arrested for violent crimes,
which Murdock sees as a
major benefi t.
The city of Echo is get-
ting a bit more than $7 mil-
lion for water and waste-
water improvements. City
Administrator David Slaght
said seeking the funding was
the fi rst time he had lobbied
for anything, so he didn’t
expect much, and he and the
city council were thrilled
with the results.
“We’re super excited,” he
said. “I’m still numb that it’s
even happening.”
The $1.5 million for
wastewater improvements
will help the city pay back
money it borrowed for a
soon-to-begin project that
includes dredging Echo’s
wastewater ponds, placing
fountains in the ponds to
help water evaporate faster,
and building a pipe to send
extra recycled water to
Stanfi eld when needed.
Slaght said if all goes
well, it could possibly help
lower residents’ water and
sewer bills.
The $5.53 million for
water improvements will
cover a range of projects
in the city’s new master
plan, Slaght said, including
replacing aged water meters
and possibly adding a new
water tower.
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Hermiston raises system
development charges
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
After nearly two hours
of presentation and dis-
cussion during its Mon-
day, June 28, meeting, the
Hermiston City Council
made the decision to raise
the city’s system devel-
opment charges for the
fi rst time since they were
implemented.
System
development
charges are a one-time
charge on new construction
projects, meant to help pay
for infrastructure needed
to support the growth. Cit-
ies in Oregon can charge
SDCs for water, sewer,
parks and transportation.
According to Assistant
City Manager Mark Mor-
gan, Hermiston adopted
water and sewer charges
in 1998 and added parks
charges in 2006. Neither
set of charges has been
increased since, despite ris-
ing costs.
The city hired FCS Con-
sulting, which specializes
in SDCs, to do an updated
calculation of how much
the city can charge, tak-
ing into account expected
growth, planned infra-
structure projects and other
factors. According to the
report, if the city were to
fully reimburse itself for
the costs, it could charge
developers up to $12,258
per single-family home.
City staff recommended
the city not go near the
maximum amount, and
instead use other sources
of revenue to help cover
some of the costs for things
like new water mains. But
staff did recommend some
increases to help bring the
city’s prices, set 22 years
ago, up to something with
more similar buying power
today.
Currently SDCs for a
single-family home are
$907.
The proposal, adopted
by the council Monday,
will break the increase up
into four, one-year incre-
ments starting in Janu-
ary 2022 and ending with
the new price at $1,768 in
January 2026. After that,
charges would rise 3%
each year to help keep up
with infl ation. The charges
would be split four ways,
instead of three, to add
money for the city’s street
fund in addition to water,
sewer and parks.
According to numbers
put together by FCS Con-
sulting, a $1,768 SDC
would keep Hermiston
below Pendleton ($1,913),
Umatilla ($3,402), Stan-
fi eld ($5,400), all three of
the Tri-Cities and several
Oregon cities of similar
size.
During the public com-
ment period, Luke Pick-
erell, owner of Monte Vista
Homes, said Monte Vista
has built more than 500
homes in Hermiston. He
noted his company under-
stood the need to keep
up with rising costs, but
also said higher SDCs get
passed on to homebuyers,
who then pay those costs
for years to come through
ongoing interest on their
mortgage.
He said the median
income in Hermiston can
aff ord about $200,000 to
$230,000 for a home, based
on a calculation that a fam-
ily can aff ord a home four
to fi ve times their annual
income, but the median list
price in Hermiston is over
$300,000 right now. He
also noted that homebuild-
ing costs are soaring due to
spikes in material costs.
“The (cost) of lumber
that it would cost to build
10 houses a year ago would
build two houses today,” he
said.
Hermiston city coun-
cilors discussed the need
to weigh two competing
goals against each other:
to encourage aff ordable
housing development in
Hermiston, and to be fi s-
cally responsible with the
city’s budget. Councilors
Roy Barron and Phillip
Spicerkuhn voiced concern
that the city was not raising
the charges enough to keep
up with the costs to com-
plete needed projects.
Councilor Nancy Peter-
son said she would be
the fi rst one to say if she
thought the charges were
too much, but the change
seemed reasonable.
“The numbers make
sense,” she said.
After approving the
increase to system devel-
opment charges, the coun-
cil also took care of the fol-
lowing business:
• The city council
voted to approve changes
to the city’s sidewalk
ordinance to modernize
the language and align
it with the public works
department standards pre-
viously adopted.
• The council voted to
approve an updated fran-
chise agreement with Cas-
cade Natural Gas.
• The council voted to
award Swaggart Brothers,
Inc. of Hermiston a con-
tract to rebuild the apron at
the Hermiston Municipal
Airport. The company was
the low bidder of fi ve bids,
at $1,474,266.
• The council voted to
name a new road going
into the South Hermis-
ton Industrial Park as East
Cook Avenue. City Man-
ager Byron Smith said the
name honors Ivan and Ver-
non Cook, who owned
most of the industrial land
south of Hermiston and
have used that land to
help bring in the Walmart
Distribution Center, Pio-
neer Seed and other major
employers for the city.
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