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