Medford mail tribune., May 15, 1960, Image 3

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Proposals to Annex Islands'
Will Appear on City Ballots
Two proposals to annex
"Island" areas to the city of
MedforJ '! nprwsr n the
primary ballot next Friday.
These proposed annexations
were placed on the ballot by
the city council with seldom
used but legal methods.
Both of these areas are
completely surrounded by Uie
existing city limits.
One is the so-called "Y-is-land"
bounded by North Riv
erside ave., Bear Creek, Me
Andrews rd., and the city lim
its on the north.
This rrea contains some 46
acres of land and approxi
mately 171 persons.
The other area is a nine
acre tract containing some
eight persons. It is bounded
by Jackson st., Oregon ave.,
Barncburg rd., and Sunrise
ave. It Is located in the center
of a "high-class" residential
area.
P!s"d on Ballots
Both of thee iuca -,vr
placed on the ballot by city
council action April 7. There
was no petition from the prop
erty owners that they be an
nexed to the city, the usual
procedure.
The council was able to
place these proposed annexa
tions on the ballot under ORS
222.750, which reads:
"In any case where land or
territory is surrounded by the
corporate limits or boundaries
of any city it shall be wiiiiiii
the power and authority of
such city to amend its charter
so as to annex such land or
territory to the city and to in
corporate the same within the
city with or without the con
sent of any owner of property
within the territory and with
or without the consent of any
resident in the territory, pro
vided that the territory is not
an incorporated city or whol
ly territory belonging to the
state or federal government."
As pointed out by William
Doernbach, 143 Mace ave., at
the last city council meeting,
no attempt was made by the
city to contact the property
owners in the areas to be an
nexed regarding their feel
ings on the matter.
However, where Doernbach
feels the city should have done
this as a consideration to the
propel iy owners, . .the city
feels to the contrary.
City Manager Robert A.
Duff explained, "no attempt
was made to contact the prop
erty owners because it would
not have made any differ
ence." Besides, he said, the
city does not have the man
power to go out and poll these
areas.
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City Attorney Joel Reeder
added that the residents of
these areas "do not really
have any say" in this type of
annexation proposal anyway.
Casn Found L9l
Regarding Doernbach'i
opinion that the state supreme
court would rule the annexa
tion illegal if it passed, Reeder
said that there have been
many cases where this type of
annexation has been done be
fore and upheld as legal, even
in Medford.
The state legislature passed
the law providing for this
type of annexation solely for
the purpose of allowing cities
to bring in "island" areas
when it is in the best inter
ests of the entire city to do so,
Reeder pointed out.
Duff noted that on May 16,
1958, the Phipps tract south
of McAndrews rd. and the
Earhart tract south of Earhart
St., were annexed to Medford
under the same election pro
cedure.
The "Y" aia was origin
ally included in a larger Ber
rydale , annexation proposal
which was defeated by the
voters in that area in Novem
ber, 1956.
In the early months of 1957,
a number of residents of the
Berrydale area again applied
for annexation to the city,
only this time the boundaries
had been partially reduced to
omit some of the areas which
had voted against the annexa
tion in November.
Main Consideration
One of the main considera
tions in getting the entire Ber
rydale area annexed was a
serious sewage problem which
had developed. A group called
the Berrydale Sanitation com
mittee worked hard for an
nexation. Both the city and a
large number of residents in
this area felt the sanitation
problem was getting to be so
serious that it was endanger
ing public health.
The "Y" area was also in
cluded in the second annexa
tion proposal but, according
to Doernbach, after it was
made known that there were
51 negative votes in this area
which would possibly be
enough to defeat the entire
proposal a second time, the
planning commission exclud
ed it from the proposed an
nexation. Duff said that on Feb. 28,
1957, a petition bearing 49
signatures was filed with the
planning commission and city
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council requesting that the
area not be included within
the boundaries of the Berry
dale district annexation elec
tion. He added that the area
was then left out of the Ber
rydale annexation proposal.
Objects to Omission
On March 17, 19R7, Med
ford Attorney A. E. Piazza
appeared before the city coun
cil on behalf of residents in
the "Y" area and objected to
omission of this area from the
proposed annexation.
The council deferred action
on his objection until April
16. A quote from the April 17,
1957, edition of the Mail Trib
une, describes some ot the
action at that meeting:
"Attorney A. E. Piazza said
he represented Berrydale res
idents in a section bounded by
MqAndreivs rd. on the south,
Riverside ave. on the west,
Biddle rd. on the east, and
Crater Lak highway on the
north. The portion was ex
cluded from a proposed an
nexation area revised by the
planning commission in
March.
" 'If the proposed Berrydale
area is annexed,' Piazza said,
residents he represented
would be surrounded by in
corporated Medford land.
This would permit the city of
Medford to annex that portion
of Berrydale without consent
of the area's voters, he said.
Withdraws Objection
"Piazza withdrew his objec
tion after Mayor John Snider
said it would not be the 'pres
ent intention' of the council
to annex that portion to Med
ford if the larger Berrydale
area was annexed."
An election was called for
May 22, and on that day Ber
rydale voters approved the
annexation by the slim vote
of 219-191.
Piazza told the Mail Trib
une Friday that the article in
the Tribune of April 17, 1957,
is correct. Mayor Snider also
said this was right.
One of the residents of the
"Y" area who opposed omis
sion of that territory from the
Berrydale annexation in 1957,
said he was assured by Mayor
Snider at the time that the
area would not be annexed
without the residents first
being contacted.
He added that a number of
residents in the "Y" area are
objecting to the method now
being used to annex them be
cause none of them were con
tacted and the whole thing
came right out of the "blue."
Regarding the annexation
of these two areas on Friday's
ballot, Mayor Snider told the
Mail Tribune, "I do not now,
nor have I ever, favored, or
condoned an annexation poli
cy that is motivated by the
city's desire to gain additional
property or per capita taxes.
"Instead I believe that an
nexation should be made for
the extension of needed serv
ices to fringe areas, where it
does not result in a reduction
of services to the original city
users. It is also proper, I be
lieve, to annex for the protec
tion of the city to prevent un
controlled usage objectionable
to the residents in adjacent
areas.
"It is regrettable if there
has not been a full under
standing by all parties of the
need for consideration of an
nexation of the two parcels
appearing on the primary
ballot."
'Gerrymandered'
One city official has said
that the negative votes in the
"Y" area might have caused
the entire Berrydale annexa
tion proposal to fail in 1957,
so the boundaries were more
or less "gerrymandered"
around the "Y" area to assure
the Berrydale annexation pro
posal of passing. He said this
was entirely legal and was
done only because of the ne
cessity to annex the larger
area to alleviate the sanitary
problem which existed.
The city has several good
reasons for wanting these
areas on the May 20 ballot in
cluded in the city, not the
least of which are the lack of
zoning and building regula
tions. Duff expressed the feeling
of the city administration
when he said, "Without these
regulations practically any
type of a use can be construct
ed which could nullify the
planning and zoning estab
lished by the city around the
unincorporated areas.
"In a residential district the
establishment of commercial
uses within such a tract can
blight a whole neighborhood
with resultant devaluation of
property.
Undesirable Developments
"Once undesirable develop
ments are initiated in the dis
trict without zoning, it is Im
possible to control or prevent
them from being completed."
Another consideration In
annexing the "Y" area is that
practically all of the property
is served by the city water
system arid for the most part
by the city sanitary sewer
system, la addition a city
trunk aewer line traverses this
area.
One particularly bothur
some feature of the present
"Y" area, according to Duff,
i a car wrecking and car
body disposal area, located
immediately adjacent to the
proposed site of the U.S. 99
freeway.
He noted that the view from
the freeway of this site will
"certainly" create a bad im
plosion Lf ihe city Uidt may
not be justified.
"Even if annexation is ac
complished," he said, "the
task of clean-up will be diffi
cult and slow. Without it, it
may never be obtained."
Lists Some Effects
Duff listed some of the ef
fects of the annexation on res
idents in the "Y" area should
the annexation proposal pass.
1. "Water rates charged will
be the same as those charRed
other citizens of the city. This
will effect considerabie sav
ings as the minimum monthly
charge for metered service in
side the city is SI. 80 per
month, and all water used
over the 5,000 gallons is paid
for at the rate of nine cents
per thousand gallons.
"The outside water rate
now applying to these dis
tricts is $2.90 minimum for
residential service per month
plus 25 cents r one thousand
gallons for all over the 5,000
gallon minimum.
2. "Sewer rates will also be
reduced as the monthly
charge for metered residential
service inside city limits is 35
cents. Outside the city, the
rate for sewer service is dou
ble this or 70 cents.
3. "Insurance rates will be
reduced to ernifrirm with the
inside city rule which repre
sents the reduction earned
under a class five rating in
stead of the class nine grading
now used in these areas.
4. "Annexation would also
relieve property owners front
paying Medford Rural Fire
Protection levy. In the current
tax year Uns amounted to 4 6
mills.
5. "Property in the area
will be subject to the city tax
levy which during 1959-1960
was 28 6 mills." This would
be partially offset by the elim
ination of Uie 4 6 fire protec
tion levy, he said.
6. "The areas annexed
would receive complete city
services, including police,
fire, zoning and building pro
tection." Some of the benefits to
property owners In the city as
a result of a successful annex
ation of the "Y" area were
also enumerated by Duff.
Protect Investment
1. "Annexation of Uie Is
lands to the city would pro
tect the investment of neigh
boring property owners by
existing zoning ordinances
and building regulations.
2. "Annexation would ena
ble the city to attempt a clean
up ,of the Y-island before or
during freeway construction.
3. "Annexation would ena
ble the Island residents to
contribute to the support of
the city of which they are ac
tually a part.
4. "Annexation would ena
ble the city planners to In
clude the islands as part of
the city in the planning and
development program.
Local CAP Members!
Attend Conference '
Seven members of the Med
ford squadron o fthe Civil Air
Patrol attended a regional
CAP meeting in Portland this
week end.
They were Lt. John Keen
er, commander; Lt. Bill
Florey, Lt. Bette Miller, Chief
Warrant Officer K i c h a r d
Chapman, Warrant Officer
John Hall. Warrant Officer
Mary Lou Hall, and Sgt. Jan
Vermeulen.
Training and policy within
the CAP program was dis
cussed with representatives of
the Air Force and other CAP
squadrons in California, Ore
gon, Nevada, Washington,
Alaska and Hawaii.
Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Mc
Elroy, national commander of
the CAP, recently announced
a nationwide recruiting campaign.
The nickel mines In north
ern Ontario are believed to
be the richest in the world.
MAIL TRIIUNE. Meord, Or.
Sunday, M.y IS, 1960 A
J
Reeder to Lecture at
SOC Class Monday
District Attorney Thomas J.
Reeder will lecture on the re
sponsibilities of the district
attorney's office at 9 a.m.
Monday before Dr. M. E. Wad
dell's class on governmnt at
Southern Oregon college.
Reeder will detail the re
sponsibilities of public office.
This Is part of a continuing
series of guest lectures to in
form SOC students first hand
on the functions and respon
sibilities of local government
offices as part of the social
science course.
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