Vol. 14, No. 24
“ Voice o f the Upper Nehalem River Valley”_______________December 15, 1999
City seeks funds to
finish streetscaping
What’s old is new again...
•
Photo by Judy Hill
Only landscaping remains of the work needed to rehabilitate the old Scout Cabin, seen
here as a stroller walks past it in Vernonia’s Hawkins Park. For more photos and infor
mation about the building, please see page 6.
B-V Trail extension uncertain
By Noni Andersen
The Oregon Department of
Transportation, the City of Ver
nonia and Columbia County
just finished building a bridge
over Rock Creek to extend the
Banks-Vernonia Linear Trail to
Vernonia Lake. Expenditures
for the bridge were in the
neighborhood of $200,000 but,
at this time, it appears to be the
bridge to nowhere.
The city has an agreement
signed by both ODOT and
county representatives to com
plete the job, but both ODOT
and the county are dragging
their heels. Even while cutting
the ribbon for the opening of
the bridge, ODOT said no to
completing the job — unless
the county places the trail ex
tension ahead of work on
Beaver Falls Road.
The county road depart
ment, reportedly without first
clearing the project with the
board of commissioners, ap
plied for a grant to widen
Beaver Falls Road, which lacks
shoulders. They applied for
funds under the same alterna
tive transportation program be
ing used by Vernonia for the
trail.
There are several differ
ences in the two projects: The
trail extension is needed not
just for recreation, but to pro
vide a safe bicycle route
around O-A Hill instead of
putting bikes on a narrow,
curved section of Hwy. 47,
which has no shoulders and is
heavily traversed by trucks.
The Beaver Falls project
also is calling for a bike path on
a narrow, shoulderless road,
but it isn’t in a town and it does
n’t adjoin a bike path at either
end. It is a quarter-mile section
of road that really needs work,
but it’s a stretch to call it an al
ternative transportation route.
One argument used to justi
fy the Beaver Falls project is
that it is adjacent to county-
owned park land, and it is. But
it is undeveloped park land and
the county, which is presently
cutting back on park expendi
tures, has no plans to develop
Beaver Falls. In fact, some of
the grant would be used to in
stall a chain link fence to keep
people away from the water
falls.
There are additional con
trasts between the two pro
jects: The linear trail is nearing
completion and should be fin
ished; repairs to Beaver Falls
should be included in a com
prehensive plan to improve ac-
Please see page 22
The City of Vernonia has run
out of funds needed to com
plete the downtown “street-
scaping" project, city Public
Works Director Robyn Bassett
informed the city council at
their Dec. 6 meeting.
Light standards for the north
side of Bridge Street have
been delivered to the city, but
they can’t be installed until
there is money to finish the un
derground electrical work. The
city also needs to purchase
trees for the north side and
complete a small part of the
sidewalk.
Using every bit of elastic
available, the city stretched the
funds allocated for streetscap
ing the south side of Bridge
Street and managed to finish
most of the sidewalk and part
of the electrical work on the
north side.
The council authorized Bas-
sett and city Administrator
Michael Sykes to request fund
ing from the Northwest Oregon
Economic Alliance,
which
helped previously with an
$18,000 grant. The city added
about $97,000 to the project,
most of it from contingency.
Following a public hearing
held prior to the council meet
ing, councilors approved an
nexing 20 acres of city-owned
property above
Roseview
Heights and rezoning it Gener
al Residential. They also ac
cepted a bid from John R.
Wooden to appraise the prop
erty. The city’s intent is to sell
the 20 acres for residential de
velopment outside the flood
plain.
The council also approved
hiring Susan Knowlton as a
part-time library assistant, and
having Dan Brown build more
library tables.
Birthday ball
INSIDE:
Senior news..pg. 7
Bazaar & dinner
photos., pg. 12-13
School board
meetings... pg. 18
EMTs still help
community pg. 21
Banks Council
meeting.... pg. 22
Photo by Judy Hill
Jamey and Greg Mailer of Vernonia celebrated Jamey’s
thirteenth birthday shooting some hoops at the new, cov
ered play structure at Washington Grade School in Ver
nonia, Dec. 4, before heading out to a Winterhawks game.