Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1994)
Vol. 9, No. 24 Voice o f the Upper Nehalem River Valle\ Dec. 21,1994 Group files appeal Santa Claus visits. . . of Banks decision Zachary, Jo-Beth and Talon Murray enjoyed Santa’s comfortable lap long enough to te him what they want for Christmas. Filing open for district elections Filing is now open for spe cial district elections, includ ing Vernonia, Banks and Jew el, School Districts, Vernonia, Mist-Birkenfeld, Tri-City and Elsie-Vinem aple Rural Fire P ro te c tio n D is tric ts , and Columbia County Emergency Communications District (9-1 - 1). The Cose of filing will be January 26 at 5:00 p.m. in each county’s Elections De partm ent. Candidates may file nomination papers in one of two ways: With a petition Vernonia Cares food drive results The first annual Vernonia Cares Weekend Food Drive, Dec. 10-11, brought in 2,350 pounds of food and $1,281 in cash from bottle and can de- posit refunds and donations. As of Dec. 17, Vernonia Cares was planning to pro vide Christmas baskets for 52 families totaling 226 people. signed by 25 registered vot ers of the district, or by pay ing a $10 filing fee. Ballots for the March 28 mail election will be delivered in early March. Although voters in Novem ber approved m erging the Vernonia city and rural fire departments, only voters in the rural district will be eligible to vote for rural district direc tors in March because the merger doesn’t take effect un til July 1, 1995. Following are the positions Please see page 19 Spontaneous applause for o u tg o in g M ayor Howard Steinbach’s gracious state ments, and for his 20 years of service to the com m unity, ended the occasionally ran corous Dec. 13 meeting of the Banks City Council. Several members of Coali tion for Responsible Growth, Inc. (CRG), a citizens group which has appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals to rescind approval by the City of Banks for a residential subdivision called the South Banks development, attended the meeting. The appeal is based on the absence of a formal planning commission and what CRG considers inadequate public he aring s. The group c o n tends that dissolution of the city’s planning commission in 1992 was a violation of its C o m pre he nsive Plan and th a t, w ith ou t a p la n n in g com m ission , th e re w as a “lack of meaningful communi ty input as the project was being planned.” CRG President Jim Purs- ley told The INDEPENDENT “ It’s alm ost the 11th Com mandment: ‘Thou shaft have a planning com m ission,’ so the appeal was m ade to LUBA as the guardian of pro cess.” The development would add approximately 250 resi dences, effectively doubling the population of the city. If the appeal is successful, the project will go back to the public hearing phase and re hearings will be handled by a new mayor and a council with two new m embers. M ayor- elect Tim Crippen has said he plans to reinstate the plan ning commission. Byron Perry, representat- ing Aho Construction, which would do the actual construc tion, showed a video filmed by Channel 2 television that used Aho developm ents in the Vancouver, Wash., area as good examples of afford able housing. Perry also pro posed a change in the previ o u sly a p p ro ve d plan th a t would eliminate “tot lots” and enlarge a park that is adja cent to a wetland area in the development. Mel A ho, who o p e ra te s Aho C o n s tru c tio n w ith his brother, explained their plans to build affordable housing by using smaller lots, but build ing in ways that allow back yards approximately 20‘ x 60‘ for family activities. The hous es, Aho said, would sell in the $75,000 - $85,000 range. Councilors Norma Stewart and Bob Orlowsky both indi cated they wanted more ex pensive housing that would be purchased by people with h ig h e r in com e s, be ca u se they felt such residents would be more willing to approve a police department levy. Banks currently has no police de partment although there is an office of the Oregon State Po lice. Aho responded that, since only one-percent of the entire p o p u la tio n has an incom e greater than $100,000 per year, there would be far more families who would be able to Please see page 19 Vernonia seeks one police officer The Vemortia City Council this month gave Police Chief Jim Walters approval to apply for funding for one police offi cer through the federal COPS grant program. Walters want ed to apply for enough fund ing for two officers but only one was approved because, even with the grant, financial obligations to the city would total $160,000 over a three- year period for two additional officers. Two Corey Hill residents, Jeff P atterson and S hirley Daughtrey, expressed con cern about residents of an other household using a .22 c a lib e r rifle in a c a re le s s m anner. T he y a ske d the council to review city o rd i nances regarding the use of guns in the city. The C ouncil adopted an Please see page 19
